HEAVEN KNOWS WHAT Review

 Arielle Holmes and Buddy Duress in HEAVEN KNOWS WHAT

Courtesy of RADiUS

HEAVEN KNOWS WHAT

2015, 95 minutes

Rated R for drug use throughout, pervasive language, disturbing and violent images, sexuality, and graphic nudity

Review by Joshua Handler

This review was originally published on March 17, 2015 during the SXSW Film Festival.

Josh and Benny Safdie's gritty drug addiction drama, Heaven Knows What, is as realistic as it gets.  Based on Arielle Holmes' book, Heaven Knows What tells the story of Harley (Holmes), a young woman living in New York City who is addicted to heroin.  She is also in a relationship with the abusive Ilya (Caleb Landry Jones), a fellow addict.  As her life spirals further and further out of control, the hope of sanity and a normal life seem increasingly out of reach.

From start to finish, Heaven epitomizes the word "uncompromising".  The inherently horrifying subject matter, the disorienting techno score, and the hard realism with which the material is presented are among the many reasons that Heaven Knows What is a rough watch, but frankly, those things truly don't matter because they are all in the service of a film that itself serves a higher cause: Heaven gives a face and a story to those we New Yorkers see on the street every day.  In quite a few scenes, Harley sits on the sidewalk, holds a sign, and asks people for money.  In these scenes, I recognized countless people I see on the street in New York.  While everyone has a different story, I wouldn't be surprised if many matched with Harley's.

Heaven Knows What never judges the characters at its center, no matter how repugnant they can be.  It's the film's humanism combined with Holmes' raw lead performance that make this film the experience that it is.  Holmes' performance goes beyond acting, and the same can be said of the rest of the actors' performances as well.  No one feels as if they're acting.  Holmes has a naturally magnetic screen presence that makes her Harley a character we care for and are willing to stay with through thick and thin.

While one of Heaven's greatest virtues is its meandering, slice-of-life style of storytelling, it also works to its detriment.  Because Harley and her friends start in a bad place and effectively end up in the same one, there's a lack of narrative momentum that occasionally caused my interest to wain in the story.  Additionally, the score sometimes overwhelmed the already-powerful images onscreen, which lessened the film's impact.

Overall, Heaven Knows What is a good film that explores a very real problem that many people face. It's an impressive piece of filmmaking and hopefully marks the beginning of a very long career for Holmes.  While Heaven definitely won't be a crossover hit, there is definitely an audience for this film, and I hope they find it.

3/4

Summer Movie Preview Part 2

Courtesy of RADiUS-TWC

SUMMER MOVIE PREVIEW 

PART 2

By Joshua Handler

Summer is upon us. While many of you will be making your way to the multiplex to see the blockbusters (I will be as well), there are a large amount of independent films that may not be on your radar that really should be. This is part two of the Roboapocalypse summer movie preview featuring independent films that I personally believe are well worth the trip to the theater (or iTunes) - part one can be found here. The films are listed in no particular. On some of the films, the filmmakers provided exclusive statements or fun facts about their work.

Photograph by John Guleserian
Courtesy of The Orchard

THE OVERNIGHT 
(Dir. Patrick Brice) - Patrick Brice's The Overnight is a raunchy, weird, yet ultimately sweet sex comedy featuring excellent work from Jason Schwartzman, Taylor Schilling, Adam Scott, and Judith Godrèche. At 80 minutes, the film never overstays its welcome, while still packing in plenty of amusing twists and memorable scenes. The Orchard will release on June 19.

Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

GRANDMA 
(Dir. Paul Weitz) - Grandma is the film that Hollywoood needs right now. It features an older lesbian feminist as its lead (gloriously brought to life by Lily Tomlin) and deftly deals with a hot topic like abortion at its narrative center. Impressive work by its cast and a sensitive screenplay by Paul Weitz make this small film a delightful break from this summer's more serious films. Sony Pictures Classics will release on August 21. 

Courtesy of Oscilloscope

GABRIEL 
(Dir. Lou Howe) - Lou Howe's emotional debut feature, Gabriel, was one of the best films at last year's Tribeca Film Festival, and it's finally making its way to theaters. Featuring a raw, committed performance by Rory Culkin, this story of a young man looking for a girl he loved is heartbreaking, unsentimental, and moving. Gabriel is a very promising debut for Howe, who shows proves himself to be adept at creating a sensitive and humane character study. Oscilloscope will release on June 19. 

Courtesy of RADiUS-TWC

GOODNIGHT MOMMY 

(Dirs. Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala) - Disturbing and directed with remarkable control by Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, Goodnight Mommy is a nastily entertaining delight about two twins who suspect that their mother isn't quite herself after an operation. A slow-burning atmospheric thriller with crisp cinematography and two frightening performances from Elias Schwarz and Lukas Schwarz, this is a debut narrative feature that will push audiences to their limits (in a good way).

According to directors Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala, "We had 2000 trained Madagascar hissing cockroaches on the set. Before the shoot, the twins had got two of them to take them to their home to get used to them. Their names were Rocky and Rambo. Susanne Wuest, the main actress, also tried to train her own personal stunt cockroach, Mathilder, so that it would crawl willingly into her mouth." RADiUS-TWC will release on August 14.

Courtesy of Open Road Films

DOPE 
(Dir. Rick Famuyiwa) - Rick Famuyiwa's Dope tells a tale that's been told before, but in a way that's so original and satisfying that it doesn't matter if we hear it again. It also has a few brilliantly-placed moments of social commentary. Shameik Moore gives a star-making performance and the phenomenal supporting cast (Tony Revelori, Kiersey Clemons, Chanel Iman, A$AP Rocky, Kimberly Elise, and Zoë Kravitz, among others) match Moore's energy and charisma. Lee Hagen's unconventional editing won a special jury prize at this year's Sundance Film Festival. Pharrell Williams contributed original songs (and served as an executive producer) and Sean Combs served as co-executive producer with Forrest Whitaker producing. The film has an excellent pedigree, but when you actually see it, it'll become immediately evident why so many great artists attached themselves to this film. Open Road Films will release on June 19.

Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

INFINITELY POLAR BEAR 
(Dir. Maya Forbes) - Maya Forbes' autobiographical directorial debut, Infinitely Polar Bear (executive produced by J.J. Abrams), is a small film with a huge heart. The film tells the story of a man (Mark Ruffalo) with bipolar disorder who takes care of his kids (Imogene Wolodarsky and Ashley Aufderheide) after his wife (Zoe Saldana) leaves to go to graduate school in New York to make a better life for the family. Heartbreaking, funny, touching, and personal, this is a film that has a number of beautiful moments and one of Mark Ruffalo's strongest performances.

Director Maya Forbes said the following about what she hopes audiences take away from the film: "People respond to all different things in the film and I think that's cool, I don't want to guide their response.  But I hope they feel like they went on a satisfying emotional journey. I'd like it if they walk away from the movie crying, and at the same time think to themselves: "That was fun." I hope it stirs memories of their own family."

Courtesy of Drafthouse Films

THE TRIBE 
(Dir. Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy) - Pure cinema. Myroslav Slaboshpytskiy's feature debut and Cannes sensation, The Tribe, is told in single-take scenes without any spoken dialogue due to the fact that its characters are deaf. An uncompromising, uncommonly disturbing film, The Tribe won't be for everyone, but for the most adventurous filmgoers, this is must-see cinema from one of the most exciting new voices to come onto the scene in the past year. Drafthouse Films will release on June 17. 

Courtesy of Zeitgeist Films

COURT 
(Dir. Chaitanya Tamhane) - Easily one of the most impassioned and brilliantly-scripted debuts in some time, Chaitanya Tamhane's Venice Film Festival award-winner, Court, is a searing indictment of the Indian judicial system. Featuring a level of directorial control and focus rarely found in debut features (or frankly most features by any director with any level of experience), Court is a film of power and intelligence that filmgoers shouldn't miss. Zeitgeist Films will release on July 15.

Courtesy of Drafthouse Films

THE LOOK OF SILENCE 
(Dir. Joshua Oppenheimer) - Joshua Oppenheimer's profoundly disturbing follow-up to The Act of Killing, The Look of Silence, is another exploration of the Indonesian genocide, yet this time, it's far more personal, as it follow around an optometrist who confronts the men who murdered his brother. While not quite as dazzlingly original or as much of a punch to the gut as The Act of Killing, The Look of Silence is nonetheless a brave, masterful piece of documentary filmmaking that needs to be seen by as many people around the world as possible. Drafthouse Films will release on July 17.

Photographer: Matthew Heineman
Courtesy of The Orchard

CARTEL LAND 

(Dir. Matthew Heineman) - Matthew Heineman's bleak Sundance multi-award-winner, Cartel Land, is an exploration of the  unstoppable drug war, told from both sides of the Mexican-American border. Featuring pulse-pounding action scenes that rival those in Hollywood action films and a complexity rarely found in docs that deal with such hot-topic issues, this is a miraculous feat of filmmaking that's as compelling as it is timely. The Orchard will release in theaters July 3. 

The following is a director's statement from Matthew Heineman: "I was compelled to make CARTEL LAND after reading media accounts of Nailer and El Doctor, the film's main characters. I was immediately drawn to know more about their worlds, in which everyday citizens have been forced to take the law into their hands. I wanted to tell their stories from an intimate, yet action-driven verité perspective, without outside experts or text cards. It took many months to gain their trust and to gain the access that I needed to tell this story.

Over the year that I was embedded with both Nailer and El Doctor and their vigilante groups, the story unfolded in incredible and surprising ways that I could never have predicted when I first got started. Having no experience filming in risky situations, CARTEL LAND pushed me into some pretty precarious places – I’ve been in shootouts on the streets of Michoacán and in Breaking Bad-like meth labs in the middle of the dark, desert night. Utilizing small crews or shooting by myself, my goal was to be there to capture in real time each chapter of the ever-evolving and arcing stories, with the camera in the action, not observing it from the outside. It was a wild adventure and a grueling film to make.  

The more time I spent down there, the more complex the story became: it was partly an ascent of people seeking to fight evil and partly a descent into hell as they took the law into their own hands, with many twists and turns in between. It is about elemental issues of order and chaos, of the desire for law but also of terrifying brutality and lawlessness.  

I became even more motivated, almost obsessed, as the lines between good and evil became ever more blurred. The film doesn't offer pat answers and, instead, presents a story that I believe will be interpreted and understood in many different ways. 

It is this moral ambiguity that intrigues me, and it emerges naturally in the story and in our characters. For me, it became a timeless story of the conflict between idealism and violence, which has eerie echoes throughout history and across the world today."

Summer Movie Preview Part 1

Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

SUMMER MOVIE PREVIEW 

PART 1

By Joshua Handler

Summer is upon us. While many of you will be making your way to the multiplex to see the blockbusters (I will be as well), there are a large amount of independent films that may not be on your radar that really should be. Today and tomorrow, I'll be publishing summer movie previews featuring independent films that I personally believe are well worth the trip to the theater (or iTunes). The films are listed in no particular. On some of the films, the filmmakers provided exclusive statements or fun facts about their work.

Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

TANGERINE (Dir. Sean Baker) - Sean Baker's technically innovative, iPhone-shot film about a transgender prostitute's search for her cheating pimp/boyfriend on Christmas Eve in LA is an electrifying look at a group of people rarely depicted on film. Featuring high-energy, raw performances by Kitana Kiki Rodriguez and Mya Taylor, this is a film of power, insight, and love. One of my personal favorites of the summer. 

On the film, director Sean Baker said, "I think this film is a response to those who told me that I'd go soft if I moved to LA. I've made five features now and this is the one I'm most proud of." 

Magnolia Pictures will release on July 10. 

Photo by Anne Marie Fox.
© 2015 Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation
All Rights Reserved

ME AND EARL AND THE DYING GIRL 

(Dir. Alfonso Gomez-Rejon) - Winner of the 2015 Sundance Film Festival's U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award, Alfonso Gomez-Rejon's touching Me and Earl and the Dying Girl is a showcase for its talented leads, Thomas Mann and Olivia Cooke, and for screenwriter Jesse Andrews (who adapted his own book) and director Gomez-Rejon. Andrews and Gomez-Rejon balance drama and comedy quite well, creating a film that's simultaneously tear-jerking and laugh-out-loud funny. And, because Me and Earl is loaded with clever obscure film references, this one will be a special treat for cinephiles. Fox Searchlight will release on June 12. 

Courtesy of Broad Green Pictures

10,000 KM 

(Dir. Carlos Marques-Marcet) - Opening with a 23-minute uninterrupted take and never losing steam from there, Carlos Marques-Marcet's heartbreaking romantic drama, 10,000 KM, is a love story for the modern age. The film received special jury recognition at SXSW 2014 for Best Acting Duo for Natalia Tena and David Verdaguer's naturalistic, emotional performances. Most films leave my memory soon after I view them, but this one is nearly as fresh in my mind as it was moments after screening it last summer. Broad Green Pictures will release on July 10. 

Photo Credit: Francois Duhamel

LOVE & MERCY 

(Dir. Bill Pohlad) - Biopics are frequently a snooze, telling essentially the same story over and over. While Love & Mercy, a biopic of The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson, does follow some structural conventions, it breaks quite a few others, and showcases superb direction, sound design, production design, and performances (John Cusack, Paul Dano, Elizabeth Banks, and Paul Giamatti give some of the best performances of their respective careers). Roadside Attractions will release on June 5. 

Courtesy of Steve Dietl.
Copyright STANFORD PRISON, LLC. 
An IFC Films Release.    

THE STANFORD PRISON EXPERIMENT 

(Dir. Kyle Patrick Alvarez) - A clinical, complex, deeply disturbing immersion into Philip Zimbardo's notorious experiment, Kyle Patrick Alvarez' double Sundance award-winner, The Stanford Prison Experiment, is a horrifying, yet highly intelligent and thought-provoking filmgoing experience. Even though many viewers already know the outcome of the experiment, viewing it is no less fascinating and intense because Alvarez and writer Tim Talbott don't get too lost in the experiment itself to develop their characters and make them human. Billy Crudup, Ezra Miller, and Michael Angarano give standout performances.

According to director Kyle Patrick Alvarez, people have been trying to make the film for nearly 30 years. IFC Films will release The Stanford Prison Experiment on July 17. 

Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

BEST OF ENEMIES 

(Dirs. Robert Gordon and Morgan Neville) - Hot off his Best Documentary Oscar win for 20 Feet From Stardom, Morgan Neville returns with this entertaining chronicle of the Gore Vidal/William F. Buckley debates during the 1968 political conventions. While focused around the debates and the larger-than-life personalities involved in them, this film has much more on its mind than simply telling the story of two opinionated political pundits who verbally battled it out on TV. Magnolia Pictures will release on July 31.

Courtesy of Sundance Selects

PHOENIX (Dir. Christian Petzold) - Christian Petzold's follow-up to his haunting Barbara, Phoenix, is even more haunting and features a handful of scenes that will be burned in your memory. Nina Hoss' performance is a masterclass in acting, and the ending is a stunner. Sundance Selects will release in theaters July 24. 

Photo by Laurie Sparham

Courtesy of Sony Pictures Classics

TESTAMENT OF YOUTH 

(Dir. James Kent) - James Kent's Testament of Youth is a powerful anti-war film adapted from Vera Brittain's memoir of the same name. Featuring an radiant, emotionally vivid performance from Alicia Vikander and some stunning cinematography by Robbie Ryan, Testament is a good piece of filmmaking about an important woman who too few know about. Sony Pictures Classics will release the film on June 5.

Photo courtesy of Magnolia Pictures

THE WOLFPACK

(Dir. Crystal Moselle) - Winner of the 2015 Sundance Film Festival's Grand Jury Prize for Documentary, The Wolfpack, is one of the more unusual documentaries to come out in some time, as it centers around a group of brothers raised in the Lower East Side of NYC who have only been outside of their apartment a few times in their entire lives and know much of what they do about life outside through the movies. Sad, yet ultimately uplifting, The Wolfpack is the rare kind of documentary that will interest filmgoers of all kinds. Magnolia Pictures will release on June 12.

From the Mouths of Horror Filmmakers: Ryan Turek

FROM THE MOUTHS OF HORROR FILMMAKERS: 

RYAN TUREK

With the success of IT FOLLOWS and the recent discussions it has sparked about the number of original, critically-acclaimed indie horror films being released, I wanted to reach out to some of the most original voices in horror cinema to ask them a few questions about the state of horror cinema today and why they believe there has been a resurgence of sorts of great horror.

The responses below are from Ryan Turek, Director of Development at Blumhouse Productions. Turek previously co-founded DreadCentral.com and created ShockTilYouDrop.com.

Why do you believe there has been a surge of critically-acclaimed horror films recently like IT FOLLOWS, THE BABADOOK, YOU'RE NEXT, and others?

To me it boils down to perspective. With the examples you provided, you have a group of filmmakers who are channeling familiar tropes through a fresh, exciting viewpoint with characters you care about. Also, there's something deeply emotional anchoring these characters, whether it's where they're coming from or where they're going or what they're being put through. Audiences need more than just a simple monster movie or slasher movie or home invasion thriller. While I greatly enjoy movies that go back to the basics, I think these days you need to at least offer your audience something a bit more.

What do you think the wide release of IT FOLLOWS means for future indie horror films, if anything?

I think it's definitely a positive thing. It shows that a unique indie horror film can find its wide audience. Right now, the nature of film distribution is back in "wild west" mode as everyone tries to figure out how people want to watch their films. So I'm not sure if there is a definitive answer for your question. I do know that indie horror filmmakers have - now more than ever - myriad avenues through which people can view their movies.

Why do you believe horror films are important to cinema as a whole?

They're important for all of those reasons we've heard time and time again: On the surface, they can provide release much like a roller coaster ride, but the films that truly resonate deliver a potent message, reflect today's climate of fears, or provide a sobering commentary on any given subject from what it's like to be a mother to dealing with sexuality, grief or bullying. The best horror films are those that can deliver the scares and offer something to think about in equal doses. 

What's your favorite horror movie?

Toughest question of all time for a horror fan to answer, but my go-to favorite is Tom Holland's 1985 film Fright Night. It was the first film to show me a horror movie could be scary as well as funny. It's a really clever film.

From the Mouths of Horror Filmmakers: Ciarán Foy

Ciaran Foy © NIFFF (Gaël Dupret)

FROM THE MOUTHS OF HORROR FILMMAKERS: 

CIARÁN FOY

With the success of IT FOLLOWS and the recent discussions it has sparked about the number of original, critically-acclaimed indie horror films being released, I wanted to reach out to some of the most original voices in horror cinema to ask them a few questions about the state of horror cinema today and why they believe there has been a resurgence of sorts of great horror.

The responses below are from Ciarán Foy, director of the highly-anticipated Sinister 2 and SXSW Midnight Audience Award-winner, Citadel.

Why do you believe there has been a surge of critically-acclaimed horror films recently like IT FOLLOWS, THE BABADOOK, YOU'RE NEXT, and others?

Most of these are indie releases, and I think the biggest surge is more to do with the fact that we hear about these movies today than the fact that they exist.  Every year there are great horror films on the festival circuit and most will fade into oblivion.  Some win festival awards or garner great word of mouth and get picked up.  But many we'll never hear about.  The difference in 2015 has a lot to do with technology and the fact that almost everyone today has a smartphone - social media, streaming and something that gets overlooked - download speeds can exponentially effect a good movie getting its due notice.  I can watch a movie trailer on my device in HD while I travel.  You couldn't do that a few years ago.  So word travels fast.  And genre fans are parched for good material.  

What do you think the wide release of IT FOLLOWS means for future indie horror films, if anything?

People will always want to go see good horror movies.  It's convincing the distributors and exhibitors a certain project will find an audience.  They are nervous, they second guess, they don't want to financially be in trouble.  After all, it is a business at that end of the spectrum.  You must remember, IT FOLLOWS grew.  I would wager that if a movie like IT FOLLOWS was released five years ago it would not have gone wide.  But today word travels at lightspeed and this positive word of mouth alleviates some of the nervousness the distributors and exhibitors feel and gives them the confidence to go wider with the release.

Why do you believe horror films are important to cinema as a whole?

I think horror films, the best ones, are important because they give us the opportunity to try to understand our own fears and the nature of terror and allow us to take note of the fact that life, like nature, is both beautiful and horrific.  You cannot have light without creating shadow.  Also gothic stories force us to consider death and in doing so, teach us to embrace life all the more so.  In terms of cinema, I believe horror is important as there are few genres that require the kind of inventiveness of craft in different disciplines in order to be effective and work - dramatically striking use of lighting, operatic camera work, sensual and affecting sound design, audacious use of make-up, brash use of editing to create shock and to build suspense and dread, etc.  It is cinema at its most bold and inventive, and I believe this is important for the craft in general.  

What's your favorite horror movie?

Goes between JAWS and JACOB'S LADDER depending on the time of the month!