{"id":1092,"date":"2015-06-16T12:02:01","date_gmt":"2015-06-16T17:02:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/culturated.com\/?p=1092"},"modified":"2015-06-16T12:04:25","modified_gmt":"2015-06-16T17:04:25","slug":"heaven-adores-you-movie-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/heaven-adores-you-movie-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Heaven Adores You Movie Review"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1434456874312_28804\">Before his untimely death in 2003 from a grisly suicide (knife wound to the heart) at the age of 34, <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/?title=Elliott_Smith\" target=\"_blank\">Elliott Smith<\/a> was regarded as something of a national treasure of the indie-rock world.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1434456874312_28767\">Like Kurt Cobain before him, Smith emerged from the Pacific Northwest punk scene, starting out in Portland with the band <a href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Heatmiser\" target=\"_blank\">Heatmiser<\/a>. He became an unlikely celebrity after the song \u201cMiss Misery\u201d appeared on the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B000002TM0\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B000002TM0&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=greglotra0a-20&amp;linkId=MLXA6326VVSBAQGN\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Good Will Hunting<\/i> soundtrack<\/a> and landed him a gig performing in front of a global audience at the Academy Awards. And it was this unexpected, unwanted fame that ultimately proved to be the sensitive (bordering of fragile) singer-songwriter\u2019s downfall.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div style=\"text-align: center;\"><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/ELTtAzt1NzQ\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" frameborder=\"0\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1434456874312_28768\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/gp\/product\/B00WHZZBTQ\/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B00WHZZBTQ&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=greglotra0a-20&amp;linkId=SAHXW4ANPSXAZ33X\" target=\"_blank\"><i>Heaven Adores You<\/i><\/a>\u00a0 tracks Smith\u2019s slow, steady rise and gradual decline from the cumulative effects of depression, alcoholism and drug addiction. It\u2019s an intimate, meditative portrait of an under-recognized (and often misunderstood) artist, and it\u2019s clear that director Nickolas Dylan Rossi is a huge fan of Smith\u2019s work. If you\u2019ve never heard the soft, whispery vocals (which recall early Nick Drake) and simple stick-in-your-craw melodies, the film will provide a perfect introduction to Smith\u2019s distinctive sounds.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1434456874312_28769\">The story unfurls via archive footage of Smith as well as interviews with his close friends, bandmates, girlfriends and admirers in the Portland scene, each offering their take on the enigmatic musician. There\u2019s an awful lot of b-roll footage as well, designed to give us a sense of place in the three scenes (Portland, NYC and LA) that left Smith feeling increasingly isolated by his success.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_1095\" style=\"width: 658px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Elliott_HAY-648.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-1095\" class=\"wp-image-1095 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Elliott_HAY-648.jpg\" alt=\"Elliott Smith, photo via Heave Adores You\" width=\"648\" height=\"405\" srcset=\"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Elliott_HAY-648.jpg 648w, https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Elliott_HAY-648-300x187.jpg 300w, https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/Elliott_HAY-648-330x206.jpg 330w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 648px) 100vw, 648px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-1095\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Elliott Smith, photo via Heave Adores You<\/p><\/div>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1434456874312_28776\">What\u2019s missing here is any sort of illuminating insight into the enigmatic musician\u2019s life that could help to explain why he felt like ending it was his only possible recourse. Rossi\u2019s hero worship seemingly prevents him from digging deeper into the depression and addictions that apparently plagued Smith for much of his life, so the film ultimately leaves the viewer with more questions than answers.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p id=\"yui_3_16_0_1_1434456874312_28771\">\u00a0Then again, maybe that\u2019s too much to expect from a movie about a man who turned obfuscation into an art form. Maybe the poetic beauty of Smith\u2019s songs are more important than the tragedy of his self-inflicted demise. But, as a longtime fan, I was left strangely unfulfilled. \u00a0<em><strong>\u2013Bret Love<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><em>RATING:<\/em>\u00a0 Unrated<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><em>GENRE:<\/em>\u00a0 Documentary<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><em>DIRECTOR<\/em>:\u00a0 Nickolas Dylan Rossi<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><em>STUDIO<\/em>:\u00a0 SpectiCast Entertainment<br \/>\n<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Before his untimely death in 2003 from a grisly suicide (knife wound to the heart) at the age of 34, Elliott Smith was regarded&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":1094,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[3,11],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/06\/HeavenAdoresYou_ElliottSmith3.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5slei-hC","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1092"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1092"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1092\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1094"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1092"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1092"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culturated.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1092"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}