Review of Heavenly Creatures (1994) by Chucho E. Q — 25 Aug 2008

The power of movies relays on touching people's lives, souls and minds. Even in a trashy blockbuster you can be touched: your brains get touched with hyperkinetic movement and explosions and something inside you changes, even if it's just a tiny piece of heartstring. But sometimes movies are painful, emotional and hard to follow.

Peter Jackson's first "serious" film (his fourth one, after three gory, wicked masterpieces) may be great, owner of unforgettable performances, unforgettable moments, awesome talent and ability from a man who knows how to manipulate our minds with fantasy beyond our wildest dreams (and BELIEVE ME, I'm not talking just about the LOTR trilogy as I know most of his filmography besides those movies), but it is, after all, and maybe only for me, a painful experience.

Everything surrounding these girls' minds touched me in ways I don't want a movie to do so. Must of us (it's safe to say "everyone") has dreamed about getting rid of our parents, as there's always a moment in our lives (mostly everyday of our adolescence) when we just hate them with all our guts. I thought about it and so did you, but, will you murder your parents? Now, on the verge of getting into Film School and being 19, I just find the sole thought of it disgusting and disturbing in the full meaning of the word (not as a "weird" movie being "disturbing" but REAL disturbance, the one you can't get rid off at night) and I felt actual physical pain when the movie reached its last 20 minutes or so, it was just too much.

It's not only the murder per se (even if it is awfully long, sloppy, childish and maybe extremely well translated into film) but everything behind it: childhood obsession, loneliness, sick friendship, rejection, self-hate... in short, adolescence in its worst case scenario. That makes us (you know, us who went through that stage of life) capable of matricide at any moment, except, we chose not to murder our own mothers and cope with immature feelings like "hate" until we were old enough to realize everything our parents did was for our own good. So, what's the difference between murder and maturity? A choice. Maybe you disagree (because there are, after all, other elements to consider behind murder) but, for me, that is the truth behind Jackson's movie: everything in this life is a matter of choice and obsession along with a weak mind can blind our eyes to the right one.

Back with the movie, I loved how Kate Winslet's character was irritating and annoying yet she managed to create a cute background for her tantrums and weird personality. In the hands of other actress, the character would've been simply unbearable and the movie wouldn't have worked as it did, situtation which reminds me of Chloe Webb in the lead role of "Sid & Nancy".

Melanie Lynskey is definitely awesome but she gets eaten by her character and her co-star, which brings me to the best thing about "Heavenly Creatures": Peter Jackson's talent. The extraordinary thing about Peter Jackson's Big-Budget-Serious-Super-Movies (the ones beginning with and after this one) is how he manages to mix with amazing dexterity and knowledge of his craft (along with a gigantic imagination) the funny-cute-gore charm of his earlier films (which featured sadistic muppets, chubby aliens getting their brains blown off and, of course, a zombie mom) with more mainstream plots, actors, crews and audiences, resulting on a style we all love. That's why "The Two Towers" and "King Kong" wouldn't even exist if it isn't for "Bad Taste" and "Meet the Feebles". Same here: the fantasy sequences (and even some "reality" scenes) take a sheet out of this man's book and become true trips to somebody's mind. The delight of those bits and pieces (clay people, Mario Lanza being young and thin, Orson Welles haunting the girls) reaches levels and emotions words can't begin to describe and they get the best of the gore and imagination of the young Jackson with the maturity of his (back then) future work. Not to mention the insane character development through the film: we love the girls, we love their relationship and we relate to them in ways you shouldn't even dare to think about relating to a murderer, but yet, you do. All because of a solid screenplay that takes us far away into a lonely girl's mind.

So, after all my blabbering, let's just say "Heavenly Creatures" is an extraordinary piece of filmmaking... but I didn't enjoy the last 20 minutes because I found the thought of murdering my mom absolutely disturbing.