Really Surprised!

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

It is interesting even when nothing much happens, which is for most of its 3-hour running time. Read full review

Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

Jackson tackles the Parker-Hulme murder case. In 1950's New Zealand, two teenage girls formed an intense friendship largely driven by a shared fantasy world they had created populated by a fairy tale royal family and movie stars they were obsessed with. When their parents became concerned that the relationship was too intense (and worries of lesbianism reared their ugly heads), the girls murdered one of their mothers in an effort to stay together. In what is Jackson's best film, he focuses on the intensity of their friendship and the heightened fantasy they lived in. A lot of Jackson's flaws as a filmmaker are present ... the film is too long and he encourages weird comedic overacting from some of his performers ... but it's definitely his most fully developed film, capturing the reasons that drove these girls as well as the tragedy of the story's outcome.

Heavenly Creatures is a story about the notorious duo Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme who, in their teenage years, killed Honora Parker, Pauline's mother, in cold blood. Parker's murder is one famous case of 1950s which later inspires many plays, books and also, movies. Pauline and Juliet like nothing more than each other's company. They came close as they both had experience of suffering from some kind of severe illness as children. During their friendship, the girls used to create imaginative worlds with kings and queens and knights and loved to dream about that instead of focusing on reality. In reality, their parents were getting suspicious of their friendship and hence, decided that the girls should be separated as their friendship is poisonous. All this and a lot happened after which the girls decided that killing Pauline's mother and running away is the only option left for them. Sure, you would say that their attachment was unhealthy. It is convenient to say that it wasn't love that brought them together but pure madness. Both of the girls lived in a fantasy world created by them in their head to escape the reality that they may not stay together forever.But this movie is not about that. Peter Jackson directed Heavenly Creatures is a portrayal of how innocent between two teenagers can wreak havoc. They movie shows us how close they were, almost inseparable. They lived as if there is no one else in the world. But, when you feel this much connected with someone, it is almost impossible to imagine how one will live if they get away somehow. You start feeling that everyone is your enemy as they are trying to take that one thing away which you cannot part with. Even if those who are trying to do this are your own parents. Step by step, the whole scenario is explained beautifully, right up to the murder. The movie gave a successful entry to Melanie Lynskey and Kate Winslet into the world of Hollywood. Both of them played the troubled teenagers quite efficiently. Winslet brought the craziness to her character and Lynskey brought the innocence. The screenplay is something to look forward to. The audience is taken on a ride which swings between the reality and the fantasy world. In the end, the movie will make you feel sorry for both the girls, even after knowing what they did. I think this movie is remarkable and gives everyone something to think about.

This film is about real-life teenage friends Pauline Parker and Juliet Hulme in New Zealand in the 1950s.Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey are excellent as the friends who are suspected by their parents of being a lesbian couple and who react very badly to being separated. This is Winslet's best performance.

This is really a particular movie as it's as much classic as iconoclast : the British education, the rebellious teen, the golden friendship, we have seen or read about these but friends turning into depressive « lovers » and next to criminals are really dramatic new tragedies. What's interesting with Jackson's approach is that he supports those girls, not giving them all the responsibility but rather describing a hard environment : fragile health, need for someone's compassion and out-of- this world dream ! For sure, Kate is really burning the screen as like nowadays she really opens her feelings like nobody else ! At last, we can only support Jackson's « patriotism » to shoot in his native country as New Zealand is indeed a beautiful land much unknown.