Review:Tom Tykwer, the man who brought us the popular and pumped up comic book storytelling of Run Lola Run has yet another flick and it is called Heaven. It is based upon a script by the late Krzysztof Kieslowski (the writer-director of the "Three Colours" trilogy) and comes off more as three one act plays in spite of the straight narrative it follows.

Like his previous outings with Franka Potente like The Princess and The Warrior and the aforementioned Run Lola Run Tykwer seems to like dealing with the overblown elements within a realistic setting.

There is a sequences before the credits I still wonder about and think is basically unnecessary...not completely...just seems a lot of work so as to convey a simple point, unusual for Tykwer. After the opening credits though the movie really starts to click.

We have a teacher, Philippa Paccard (played by Cate Blanchett), an English woman who lives in Italy who has watched her husband and students die thanks to a drug czar and when the local police have done nothing she takes the law into her own hands and plants a bomb in his garbage can. This makes for one of the most nicely executed sequences as we watch Philippa escape, call the receptionist to get her out of the office, and call the police to tell them what she has done.

However, a maid comes along and empties the can and heads off on the elevator with a man and his two children. It's an easy enough way to create tension, bombs always are, but it is effective and leads us into the next scenario of Phillipa's capture and interrogation. Phillipa insists on using her mother tongue as it is her right and so a young police office Filippo (Giovanni Ribisi) translates for her.

These scenes are where the two characters come alive. Cate Blanchett is great here, especially in the scene where they tell her she has murdered innocents and left her intended victim alive. As for Ribisi, usually playing a slightly greasy thug or teen or teen thug is all cleaned up and seems less creepy than usual. Which is to say he is not completely creepy, just less so.

Oh...you will notice the similarity in the names...this is far from unintentional. As Filippo aids in Phillipa's escape from jail (because he has obviously fallen in love with her) they begin to blur the line between them. They are soon dressing alike, shaving their heads and looking the same as they run away from the law throughout the Italian countryside.

Think of this as an art house crime film. It's full of little symbolic moments, some great character moments, a few lagging spots, without ever wandering too far into pretentious territory or going the other way into action/violence. In fact, for the most part, the violence is all off screen though we do see the results of a silencer going off and killing a man.

I have always thought Cate Blanchett was a good actress...her resume speaks for itself, but here (before she shaves her head that is) she is gorgeous, and for a large chunk of the interrogation scene she seemed dressed to remind me of Tykwer's Lola/Potente connection. Like Josef Von Sternberg and Marlene Dietrich Tykwer has a certain look he seems to go for visually and with the clothing, the hair, and even certain shots echoing this earlier success I was surprised.

As for Ribisi, I have to say, although I have never hated his work I have rarely been a big fan of his and this is easily some of his best to date. Less whiney, more mature and more interesting as a character all the way around. Still, he has to be playing off Blanchett and she is amazing, overshadowing him...and there is one other glitch. The emotion side. When he says I love you it seems more a simple statement than a proclamation, devoid of any real emotion. However, a man helping a woman to escape from jail, and throwing his job out in the process would need some motivation and this was probably the easiest way to go.

Heaven is not a great film...but it is interesting. I can go as high as 3 stars out of 5, I'd be pushing pretty hard to argue for a half star more though...so 3 is where I'm leaving it.

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Copyright© Written By: Rob Paul
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