Friday, September 12
Heaven
dir. Tom Tykwer, Germany/USA 2002

The luminous Cate Blanchett (Elizabeth, The Lord of the Rings) stars as a British teacher living in Italy who's driven to plant a bomb on a drug dealer in cahoots with the police. When she is arrested and interrogated, she learns that her bomb went awry and killed four innocents; a young policeman (Giovanni Ribisi, Saving Private Ryan) is so struck by her grief that he falls helplessly in love with her and throws aside his entire life to help her. Directed by Tom Tykwer (Run Lola Run) from a screenplay cowritten by the late Krzysztof Kieslowski (Trois Couleurs, The Double Life of Veronique), Heaven is a film with an astonishing compassion for the power and fragility of human relationships, coupled with a faith that forces beyond our understanding can shape our lives. It's a stunning, mysterious movie that may affect you in surprising ways. - Bret Fetzer