Heaven (1998)

Director:

Scott Reynolds

Writers:

Scott Reynolds (writer)
Chad Taylor (novel)

Release Date:

30 April 1999 (USA)

Genre:

Crime | Drama | Thriller

Tagline:

Every Seduction Is A Gamble.

Plot:

A struggling architect (Martin Donovan), being sued for divorce by his wife (Joanna Going) and struggling with booze and gambling...

Plot Keywords:

Stripper | Nonlinear Timeline | Poker | Prediction | Psychiatrist

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Martin Donovan	...	Robert Marling
Danny Edwards	...	Heaven
Joanna Going	...	Jennifer Marling
Patrick Malahide	...	Dr. Melrose
Richard Schiff	...	Stanner
Karl Urban	...	Sweeper
Michael Langley	...	Sean Marling
Jeremy Birchall	...	Tree
Clint Sharplin	...	Nicely
Barry Spring	...	Wibber
Jon Brazier	...	Billy
Dean Stewart	...	David
Jane Fullerton-Smith	...	Candy
Jean Hyland	...	Mrs. Daniels
Valerie Williams	...	Claire

Runtime:

USA:103 min | Canada:103 min | Spain:105 min | Argentina:105 min

Country:

USA | New Zealand

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Certification:

Iceland:16 | Australia:MA (TV rating) | Portugal:M/16 (video premiere) | Spain:18 | USA:R | Argentina:16

Filming Locations:

New Zealand

Company:

Dimension Films

Soundtrack:

Clapper loader

Heaven is a violent film, a clever film and an original film.

This film, shown at both the Montreal and Toronto film festivals, is

so original that its merits passed over the heads of the busy

reviewers.

Scott Reynolds uses a very clever device to allow the viewer to

suspend disbelief that one of the characters could accurately

foretell the future. Heaven, the seer, is a transvestite stripper in a

regular strip club. The viewer focuses on this improbability and

lets the improbability that someone can foresee the future slip into

the film's reality.

Having created a believable character that can and does foretell

the future, Reynolds is then faced with another problem. How to

keep the viewer from knowing the future. He accomplishes this

with a series of carefully staged flashbacks (and flash forwards)

that, although accurate, are out of sequence and therefore lead the

viewer to believe in a series of events that is not accurate.

I have never seen a more cleverly thought up, worked out and

executed script.

With his plan in place, Reynolds creates one of the most

improbable plots imaginable, but because we have moved beyond

suspending disbelief and become believers, one that seems very

probable.

Richard Schiff superbly portrays the character of the strip club

owner, Stanner. Stanner has hired Heaven and brought him/her

under his wing because he has turned Heaven's ability to foretell

the future into profits. Stanner, however, is also involved with

Robert Marling, played by Martin Donovan (II). I would continue to

say superbly, but the fact is, the acting in the film is first rate all

around.

Marling is going through a bitter divorce with the stunning Joanna

Going as Jennifer Marling. Jennifer is seeing the sleazy

psychiatrist Dr. Melrose played by Patrick Malahide.

And in the pivotal coincidence, Heaven is also seeing the

unbelievably evil (but nonetheless believable) Dr. Melrose

because Heaven's visions of the future trouble him/her deeply (the

visions, not the sexual ambiguity).

Marling is a down and out gambling addict, an architect who is

designing a new club Stanner has commissioned with the

millions he has earned from following Heaven's visions of the

future. Marling is forever losing money to Stanner in poker games.

Heaven sets the plot in motion by foreseeing Marling saving him

from being viciously murdered by two sadistic thugs. Heaven sets

out to reward Marling by using his/her foretelling abilities to feed

Marling information on how the cards will fall in his poker hands

with Stanner.

Evil Dr. Melrose discovers this in his sessions with Heaven. He

seduces Jennifer. Advising her on her divorce settlement, the bad

doctor tells Jennifer to hold out for the fortune her husband is

about to come into as a result of Heaven's foretelling, intending to

take the fortune for himself.

Stanner has plenty of cash but can't resist playing the angles,

deciding to burn down his club to make way for the new one

designed by Marling. He hires two homicidal maniacs to do the

task for him, the same two sadists Heaven foresees murdering

him, and it is these two who initiate the mass slaughter that

makes the film so violent.

This film is a sleeper. It will be discovered, its clever features

copied and it will become a classic. Scott Reynolds does not have

a large body of work, but any director or writer would be proud to

have this film to their credit.