Last night I watched the movie Heaven for a class. (Class, noun – The only way I can find an excuse to watch movies these days.) I had no idea what to expect as I popped it into my computer – and no, I did not bother to leave my dorm room to find a TV to watch it on. All I knew was that Heaven is a 97-minute movie starring Cate Blanchett.
Now, after seeing Blanchett in several movies (i.e. Lord of the Rings, Benjamin Button, Lord of the Rings, Ponyo, Lord of the Rings), and seeing her live as Hedda Gabbler at the BAM theater in Brooklyn (bragging/squee-ing rights!), I knew she was going to be amazing. And she was. Wow. What a powerhouse of emotion.
What I wasn’t expecting was that the movie’s dialogue would be about 60%* Italian, with Blanchett – an Australian actress, of course – speaking about as much Italian as anybody else in the film. Even more surprisingly, her accent didn’t sound half bad. I mean, I’m no expert, but just sayin’…
Unfortunately for the rest of the cast, Blanchett’s stellar performance as the heroine, Philippa, made everybody else pale in comparison. Although some actors still shined in their own right – especially Remo Girone, who played the hero Filippo’s father and Stephania Rocca as Philippa’s friend, Regina. However, Giovani Ribisi was not so shiny and sparkly as Filippo. He was quite adorable, but he still gave off the air of an actor in a Kuleshov experiment.
But what I liked most about Heaven was the cinematography. The scenery was astoundingly beautiful and many of the images used at the beginning of the film come round cleverly full circle at the end. My favorite scene? Philippa and Filippo (Not a cheezy choice of names at all – wink wink, nudge nudge) sitting under a tree. Almost the entire scene is a series of long shots, with just their silhouettes and the tree against the sunset. The two love birds are perfectly framed by the tree and the audience can tell what they’re doing even without watching extreme closeups as they make out or take of articles of clothing.
*Source – absolutely nowhere. Unless you want to count me pulling this percentage out of my ass.