Heavenly Creatures

Inspired by true events, Heavenly Creatures details the friendship that forms between two young girls (Melanie Lynskey’s Pauline and Kate Winslet’s Juliet) in 1950s New Zealand – with the characters’ increasingly obsessive bond eventually paving the way for a brutal murder. It’s somewhat disappointing to note that despite an air of impressive authenticity and a raft of stellar performances, Heavenly Creatures remains unable to wholeheartedly (or even partially) capture the viewer’s interest for the duration of its overlong running time. There’s a pervasive lack of momentum here that grows more and more problematic as time slowly progresses, as filmmaker Peter Jackson’s predilection for flashy visuals over character development proves disastrous – with the continuing emphasis on over-the-top dream/imaginary sequences resulting in a lack of tangible, down-to-earth elements. (It doesn’t help, either, that the director spends far too much time on Pauline and Juliet’s lighthearted frolicking.) And although the movie closes with an admittedly tense stretch, Heavenly Creatures has long-since established itself as a profoundly misguided endeavor that squanders a seemingly foolproof premise – with Jackson’s relentlessly flashy approach striking all the wrong notes virtually from the get-go.

** out of ****