Heaven

Heaven (1998): Well, here is another mystery movie centered on a strip club. This one is a little different because it also has an architect as a major character. Architects seem to be frequently portrayed in movies as eccentrics and ours is no exception leaning toward being a gambling addict and an excessive alcohol imbiber. He is the architect for a sleazy owner of a run down strip club who is designing a new improved den of iniquity. One of the dancer type sort of gals doesn’t exactly have a heart of gold but a third eye….I mean she can see the future….sort of….well, I’m not sure exactly how she does it but she does get headaches and sees an evil doctor. This leads to flash backs, hidden flash backs that turn out to be flash forwards, and well……you really have to pay attention because what happens isn’t always what happens if you get my drift. Don’t worry; I had trouble with this too. Made in Australia with US actors taking the major roles (Martin Donovan & Joanna Going) it is not a bad little mystery playing with our perceptions and assumptions about what we are seeing at any particular time. While the main heavy is not a nice guy, there are plenty of heavies to go around and not too may good guys. The mystery is how is the architect going to solve all of his problems and what the heck does everyone see in the giant, prescient, he-she dancer? Overall, not a bad movie and is worth a rent. The movie is rated R for: brief nudity at the strip club, detailed head wounds, graphic dead bodies, bad psychologist, bad marriage, bad luck, bad furniture, and for the ‘Sweeper’.