KBT Presents: HEAVENLY CREATURES

Rather than recreate the trial and the hubbub for the film, Jackson and co-writer Fran Walsh instead opt to tell the story of the budding friendship of Parker and Hume while in school in Christchurch gleaned through passages the real Pauline Parker's diary, which serve as the voice-over narration in the film. The film focuses on the creative and positive energy of the girls imagination, which results their creation of a fantasy world, which is constructed and inhabited through the birth of the Weta-Digital effects house, clearly one reason why Jackson was entrusted with umpteen millions of dollars to later create J.R.R. Tolkien's world on film. Despite containing some elements of a fantasy film, Heavenly Creatures is a rather dark look at how children's worlds are viewed (and manipulated) by society and parents, and how a deep and intimate friendship can turn sour from the anxieties and fears imprinted there-on.
The confident 'ring-leader' Juliet Hume was notably Kate Winslet's feature debut and is a compelling and bold performance which not surprisingly launched a celebrated and diverse career. While not going on to as great of heights as her co-star, the shy but perhaps stronger Pauline Parker, is played with equal conviction by Melanie Lynskey.
Rich with period detail (including a scene involving Orson Welles and the sewer chase from 1949's The Third Man is stunning stuff), compelling visuals and intimate storytelling, Heavenly Creatures is an encaptivating piece of cinema. I'd love to see Peter Jackson drop with the big blockbusters (that being said, I'm a big fan of his version of King Kong as well) and return to this type of intimate filmmaking, which may just be the case with his next film, The Lovely Bones.