[yasr_overall_rating]
Harley loves Ilya. He gives her life purpose and sets her passion ablaze. So, when he asks her to prove her love by slitting her wrists, she obliges with only mild hesitation, perhaps because of her other all-consuming love: heroin.
“Heaven Knows What” is inspired by the experiences of Arielle Holmes, who also plays the lead character Harley. The Safdie brothers plucked Arielle out of nowhere and were intrigued by her story. They encouraged her to write about her experiences (the soon to be published “Mad Love in New York City”) and based the film on them. The film is riddled with non-actors such as Buddy Duress who plays Mike a small-time drug dealer that supplies Harley her fix and also cares about her despite Harley’s obsession and love for Ilya. Duress’s performance is on par with any professional actor. He’s a hustler with the endurance of any predatory cat but once night settles and his money and fix is in he’s glaringly rabid, body and tongue sluggish, unbalanced but the anger emanates in desperation all the same. While the inclusion of performances from people who genuinely do come from the streets adds to the rugged authenticity of the film, Caleb Landry Jones as Ilya is something to speak of. He takes on the character of Ilya as if he never knew there was any other way to be. Landry Jones is a true chameleon, a faceless man, who is or will be capable of being any character given to him.
While the film itself seems to not have a strong narrative, one thing is clear, Harley loves Ilya regardless of his cruelty and ambivalence, and she will die for him if it pleases him. Ilya is cold and damning, a nihilistic prince of death metal and substance abuse, attracting people only to saunter away unforgivingly. He goads Harley into killing herself, so she’ll shut up and just do it. On the street corner, hovering above her, agitating her further, she finally bursts her vein with a razorblade that she bought with money she begged or “spanged” for. The events to follow unravel in a haze of heroin filtered lenses: recreational gatherings, overdoses, love triangles, fights, and abandonment.
The film is interesting and in some way reminds me of Larry Clark’s “Kids” but what makes this film truly intriguing is the soundtrack it is paired with. The music by Isao Tomita gives the film a Kubrick-esque via “A Clockwork Orange” quality. It is disorienting, almost nauseating at times, but truly wonderful and trippy. It enhances the experiences of Harley, whether she is in a psychiatric ward or having it out with Ilya, you can feel the emotion, the intensity of it making your heart race or skin crawl.
The Safdie brothers, Josh and Benny, have created a low key junkie street drama and quasi-love story. It carries with it an authenticity that many other drug laden films lack and often come part and parcel with a moralizing tone and are overwrought with misery pointing out that nobody wants to be on drugs and anyone who is on drugs is always looking to get off can’t. The grip of the pusherman and overwhelming physical need for drugs is the demon they can never tear away from. Heaven Knows What is a step away from that and simply displays a dope sick street lifestyle full of self-induced drama, obsession, and mad love. There is no overarching narrative to speak of just a flow of motions, manic, delirious, raw, and cutting.
Now playing at the Angelika Film Center in Dallas
