THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, February 25, 1995 TAG: 9502240069
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E2 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Movie Review
SOURCE: BY MAL VINCENT, MOVIE CRITIC
LENGTH: Medium: 60 lines
THE TWO teenage girls who are the center of things are giddy, intense and hopeful of becoming ``great writers.'' They are fans of the movie tenor Mario Lanza. They are, above all, infused with hopes. They may be many things, but they are NOT ``heavenly creatures.''
``Heavenly Creatures'' is a remarkably adventurous movie that is more about friendship than it is about murder. It takes a famous murder case and does the unexpected with it.
As written and directed by Peter Jackson, this is anything but a typical case. This is friendship gone mad - a study of innocence that turns to obsession.
The infamous Pauline Parker-Juliet Hulme murder case that rocked New Zealand in 1954 is the subject, but Jackson chooses to examine the background rather than the foreground. Pauline and Juliet were an odd couple from the first. Pauline was frumpy and shy. Juliet was worldly and outgoing. They became a team - inseparable and giddy in their girlish glee. Pauline kept a diary in which she eventually wrote of ``the joy of sin, the peace of bliss,'' among other things.
Together, the two created their own imaginary world - a world of medieval knights and princesses. It all seems quite charming and harmless until . . . well, until they snap.
There is a murder and there is a trial, but what makes this movie so far above the ordinary is the treatment, not the content.
Two remarkable performances are contributed by Melanie Lynskey as the painfully shy and repressed Pauline and Kate Winslet as the blonde and pert Juliet. They are depicted as giggling yet intelligent teens - perhaps too intelligent for their own good. Aspects of religion and sexuality are explored in dramatic terms that sneak up on the audience.
In a kind of interlude, the film even pictures the weird, make-believe world the two not-so-heavenly creatures like to imagine (computerized special effects that have a unique cinematic look).
This is quite an original movie that, with the help of the two teen actresses, succeeds in doing something special with commonplace material. MEMO: MOVIE REVIEW
``Heavenly Creatures''
Cast: Melanie Lynskey, Kate Winslet
Director: Peter Jackson
Screenplay: Frances Walsh and Peter Jackson
Music: Peter Dasent
MPAA rating: R (a chilling murder, some sexuality)
Mal's rating: four stars
Locations: Naro in Norfolk ILLUSTRATION: MIRAMAX FILMS photo
Melanie Lynskey, left, and Kate Winslet star in ``Heavenly
Creatures,'' based on a 1954 case.
by CNB