Heaven's gate.

[Neville]

I just saw in another topic that this one could be a good one to review here, and I agree (Andrew, please, put it in your list). Anyway, it just a few weeks ago that I watched the four-hour version on TV and I was thinking to comment it in here.

"Heaven's gate", for those who hasn't seen it, is an almost four hour running revisionist western (you know, like "Unforgiven" or "The shootist", films which try to analise or contradict genre topics). It explains the story of Kris Kristopherson, a law agent who tries to prevent the extermination of a group of european inmigrants by some landowners who believe that the massacre will end with cattle theft.

It was directed by Michael Cimino, the same one who made "The deer hunter", and it was so expensive and unsuccessful that it caused United Artists to go bankrupt, and this is why it is so well-known in certain circles.

Well, how is it? I have to say the movie is f**kING GREAT. Not that it is believable (actually, it is based on true events, but only one person died during them), or as good as it tries to be, but it is so over the top, so egocentric and out of any proportion that it just feels like fresh air to me.

Cimino tried to describe society just the same way as other italian or italo-american filmakers did (Coppolla, Visconti), that is, centering description in long, majestuous scenes where key characters meet. The result is an incredibly long series of extremely beautiful filmed set pieces where impressive actors do great jobs... but nothing at all happens. This is likely to drive lots of people nuts, specially when the plot is not developed at all until the last minutes. To others, like myself, it may look like a welcome change after watching too many Hollywood fils were absolutely everything has a narrative purpose.

So, people who enjoyed and understood "The deer hunter", a film built in a similar fashion, movie freaks of any sort and bad movie lovers are just going to love this. It is a fest, nothing short.

[Deej]

made me want to play Russian Roullete with an automatic weapon...ME FIRST!!! Awful..bad....can barely contain the vomit that is rising in my throat. It did look nice though. Great hats!!