I rented this because I had heard great things about one of director Tom Tykwer's other films, Lola Rennt, and I couldn't find that anywhere. I certainly hope that film is better than this, because I didn't see any depth or value in this. I didn't really see anything past the nice visuals or the good score. The film starts out great, by one of the best setups for something bad to happen I've seen for a while. After that, it slows down to what is as close to a complete halt, while still moving. I'm not kidding, this is probably the most uneventful film I've seen for a few months. Nothing seems to happen. The very first scene of the film seems to be there only to have the last scene make sense. The film has the main characters running for the last portion of the film, from what must be the most ineffectual police force ever seen in a film, and the least seen. I get that it's not about the chase, that it's supposed to be a metaphor or something... what I don't get is what it represents. I couldn't find any hidden message in this, any moral to the story or any depth to it whatsoever. Yes, the film has a good musical score, and yes, some of the visuals are captivating and absorbing... but that doesn't make a great film. Without anything else than that, all you have is a shallow film that looks pretty on the surface. The ending holds some ambiguity, but apart from that, there doesn't really seem to be anything in the film to make it worth the effort. For being so short, it's a terribly poorly paced film. The plot starts out good, but doesn't keep it up. The acting is sufficiently good. There are a few good scenes of tension and/or drama. All in all, probably worth it for people into poetry and such, but us regular viewers, even those of us who are willing to dig deep in order to understand films probably shouldn't bother. I recommend this only to fans of cinema as an expression of poetry. I doubt anyone else will find any value in it. 7/10
Review of Heaven
