Heaven's Burning (1997)

User Rating:

5.6/10   

Director:

Craig Lahiff

Writer:

Louis Nowra (writer)

Release Date:

3 April 1998 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Too Many Guns

Plot:

"Heaven's Burning" tells the story of a man and a woman who are inexplicably thrown together, amid violence and chaos...

Plot Keywords:

Wheelchair | Murder | Apostrophe In Title | Blonde Asian | Interracial Love Relationship

Cast

Russell Crowe	...	Colin
Youki Kudoh	...	Midori
Kenji Isomura	...	Yukio
Ray Barrett	...	Cam
Robert Mammone	...	Mahood
Petru Gheorghiu	...	Boorjan
Anthony Phelan	...	Bishop
Matthew Dyktynski	...	Moffat
Colin Hay	...	Jonah
Susan Prior	...	Sharon
Norman Kaye	...	Store Owner
Kate Fitzpatrick	...	Gloria
Kuni Hashimoto	...	Oshima
Salvatore Coco	...	Gullbuddin
Christopher Duncan	...	Confused Man (as Christopher Duncan)

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, language and a scene of sexuality.

Runtime:

96 min | Argentina:98 min | Japan:100 min

Country:

Australia

Language:

Japanese | English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

Singapore:M18 | Argentina:16 | Iceland:16 | South Korea:18 | Australia:MA | Finland:K-16 | Germany:16 | New Zealand:R18 | Portugal:M/12 (video premiere) | UK:18 | USA:R

Filming Locations:

35 Rose Street, Ottoway, South Australia, Australia

Company:

Duo Art Productions

Goofs:

Boom mic visible: When Yukio, after having a bike wreck, is standing at the side of the road, you can very clearly see the shadow of the boom mic falling on the dusty road.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "Supernatural: Lucifer Rising (#4.22)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

DON'T FORGET TO REMEMBER

Ill-fated lovers in tidy little noir film

I picked this up at the local video store recently as I am always looking for something that might not have been first run but still might turn out to be interesting. I wasn't disappointed with this noirish little flick that featured a rather sweet love story between Russell Crowe (Colin) and Youki Koudoh (Midori)as the lovers on the lam from just about everyone - the cops, the Afghan gangsters and Youki's husband Kenji Isomorua (Yokio).

The film is essentially a road movie as the two ill-fated lovers come together after Midori leaves her husband and Colin becomes a driver for the Afghan gangsters in a robbery that goes awry resulting in Midori been taken as a hostage. What follows is chase across the Australian Outback as the naive Midori falls for the quiet Colin and they try to elude their chasers to reach their paradise on the beach.

There is some lapses of logic as the chasers find the ill-fated lovers as well as some jarring violence but this tidy little Australian film is a worthy addition to the noir genre. Worth seeing.