The most startling thing about this movie is how much of the senior production staff of Lord of the Rings Peter Jackson had already brought together for this earlier film. Jackson's superb skills as a cinematic visualizer are also already evident in this polished production. The man 'thinks movie.'
But alas Jackson is still thinking out loud here. The ventriloquist's lips are moving, and the dummies are too obviously made of wood (I mean the characters, not the animated clay figurines). In this film, Jackson's abilities at directing actors were, let us say, still latent.
In "Heavenly Creatures," Jackson set out to make a 'true crime' version of George Roy Hill's "The World of Henry Orient." That film missed perfection because of the affected cornball performance of Peter Sellers in the title role. If this was the performance Hill wanted, shame on him. But if this wasn't bad direction but rather mis-casting, then double-shame on the director for failing to replace Sellers when he found he could not control him. When Peter Jackson found he could not control his original 'Aragorn' in making "Lord of the Rings," he fired him and hired Viggo Mortenson.
By contrast to the one bad casting choice in "Henry Orient," in "Heavenly Creatures" nearly everyone seems mis-cast, with the single exception of Sarah Peirse. The rest of the performers never let you forget that they are playacting -- which is fine on the stage, but not on the silver screen. If this was intentional on Jackson's part, well 'nice try,' but it doesn't work. I suspect it was not intentional, because this same weak direction is evident in the first scenes Jackson filmed for LOTR -- the four hobbits pursued by the black riders. Luckily for Jackson, and for all of us viewers, he found the confidence to begin directing realistic performances around that time (I suspect that his veteran producers on LOTR might have taught him a thing or two about this).
Besides "Henry Orient," "Heavenly Creatures" invites comparison to two other films I have seen recently -- "A Real Young Girl" by Catherine Breillat, and "Lost and Delirious" by Lea Pool.
Breillat has certainly mastered the art of getting realistic performances from her actors. But she goes much too far in that direction, forgetting that the seemingly unedited intimate reality of relentlessly ordinary people is boring to watch for an hour and a half (then again, if you like "Reality TV," which I loathe, then you might also like Breillat's films).
Pool's film is a lot like "Heavenly Creatures," and just misses success for pretty much the same reasons: it is not possible to believe in or sympathize with the characters -- the problems not being so much in the script or the production, but in the nuances of direction, the failure to "make it real," to transcend stereotypes and create authentic individual characters.
(For girls school movies done right, check out "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" and "Mona Lisa Smile.")
5/10
But alas Jackson is still thinking out loud here. The ventriloquist's lips are moving, and the dummies are too obviously made of wood (I mean the characters, not the animated clay figurines). In this film, Jackson's abilities at directing actors were, let us say, still latent.
In "Heavenly Creatures," Jackson set out to make a 'true crime' version of George Roy Hill's "The World of Henry Orient." That film missed perfection because of the affected cornball performance of Peter Sellers in the title role. If this was the performance Hill wanted, shame on him. But if this wasn't bad direction but rather mis-casting, then double-shame on the director for failing to replace Sellers when he found he could not control him. When Peter Jackson found he could not control his original 'Aragorn' in making "Lord of the Rings," he fired him and hired Viggo Mortenson.
By contrast to the one bad casting choice in "Henry Orient," in "Heavenly Creatures" nearly everyone seems mis-cast, with the single exception of Sarah Peirse. The rest of the performers never let you forget that they are playacting -- which is fine on the stage, but not on the silver screen. If this was intentional on Jackson's part, well 'nice try,' but it doesn't work. I suspect it was not intentional, because this same weak direction is evident in the first scenes Jackson filmed for LOTR -- the four hobbits pursued by the black riders. Luckily for Jackson, and for all of us viewers, he found the confidence to begin directing realistic performances around that time (I suspect that his veteran producers on LOTR might have taught him a thing or two about this).
Besides "Henry Orient," "Heavenly Creatures" invites comparison to two other films I have seen recently -- "A Real Young Girl" by Catherine Breillat, and "Lost and Delirious" by Lea Pool.
Breillat has certainly mastered the art of getting realistic performances from her actors. But she goes much too far in that direction, forgetting that the seemingly unedited intimate reality of relentlessly ordinary people is boring to watch for an hour and a half (then again, if you like "Reality TV," which I loathe, then you might also like Breillat's films).
Pool's film is a lot like "Heavenly Creatures," and just misses success for pretty much the same reasons: it is not possible to believe in or sympathize with the characters -- the problems not being so much in the script or the production, but in the nuances of direction, the failure to "make it real," to transcend stereotypes and create authentic individual characters.
(For girls school movies done right, check out "The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie" and "Mona Lisa Smile.")
5/10