Heavenly Creatures (Jackson, 1994): BFI Southbank, NFT2, 6.40pm
This film also screens at BFI Southbank on May 21st. Details here.
Time Out review:
Based on a real-life murder case that scandalised New Zealand in the '50s, Peter Jackson's movie marks a welcome change from the splatter of Bad Taste and Braindead.
Rather than focus on the final act of violence, the film explores the
overheated encounter between two teenagers: clever, cocky Juliet
(Winslet), from a well-to-do English family, and pudgy, initially more
introspective Pauline (Lynskey), a working-class girl. The pair's
obsession with books, Mario Lanza, the fearsome Orson Welles and other
'saints' leads them to create their own 'Fourth World', a medieval
fantasy involving royal romance and bloody intrigue; but when their
parents decide that the friendship is 'wayward' and 'unhealthy', the
girls' terror at the prospect of separation impels daydreams to invade
reality, with deadly results. Jackson's film is distinguished by the
intensity of the girls' secretive relationship. If the busy camera
movements used to convey the heady exhilaration of their early
encounters are irritating, the sense of claustrophobic immersion in
private mysteries is palpable. Acted with conviction, and directed and
written with febrile vibrancy.
Geoff Andrew
Here is the trailer.
No comments:
Post a Comment