Customer Reviews

Heights (Merchant Ivory Productions)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(13)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

In a long, hot summer of lackluster movies, HEIGHTS is a most pleasant surprise. Based on a one act play by the same name by Amy Fox, who wrote the screenplay for this Merchant Ivory production that is directed by Chis Terrio, the film stars Glenn Close as a middle-aged actress/drama teacher, Diana Lee, who is currently starring in a stage production as Lady Macbeth. The movie is all about the difficulty of relationships. Close's husband is having an affair with her younger understudy; her daughter Isabel (Elizabeth Banks) is engaged to Jonathan (James Marsden) who has some baggage that Isabel does not know about. He may not be gay but, as the T shirts say, his boyfriend Alec played by the winsome Jesse Bradford certainly is. This sophisticated plot brings these characters together in ways they don't expect. As Diana so accurately opines: it isn't six degrees of separation but more like two degrees. (Or at least two flights of stairs when she discovers that the young actor Alec lives just two floors up from her daughter and soon-to-be son-in-law in the same apartment building.)

Ms. Close, with shoulder-length black hair that makes her features very angular, emotes all over the place. There is a scene where she comforts her distraught daughter by reciting from memory the Edgar Alan Poe poem "Anabelle Lee," substituting "Isabel" throughout the poem. The scene is way over the top although it apparently works for these women since they are reduced to tears by Close's recitation. It is probably how a thespian of the likes of Diana Lee would handle such a situation.

The other actors give very fine peformances, particularly Jesse Bradford who is perfect as the young Alec. There is much subtle humor here, particularly in a scene where Jonathan, who is Jewish, and Isabel, who isn't, go to visit a rabbi, played by a very overweight George Segal, for premarital counseling. They are asked to pick up cards, read the questions on them and answer: for example, "Jonathan, how would you feel if you came home and saw Christmas lights?" Answer: "I like Christmas lights."

Although this certainly isn't the "costume" film we usually expect from Merchant Ivory-- this one is set in New York in the present-- nevertheless, the movie is beautifully filmed with an unobtrusive soundtrack and not to be missed.

Chris Terrio's Heights (adapted by Amy Fox from her stage play) tells an intriguing story of various people in Manhattan whose lives and relationships intersect in unexpected ways. The opening scene is a Julliard acting master class, with star actress Diana Lee (played by Glenn Close) interrupting two students needing improvement on their MacBeth scene, and giving an impassioned speech about how passion is missing from their performance, and from everybody's lives these days. "We put up bold fronts and a gracious face in response to seeing our husbands with other women, and then when no one is looking we cry into our soy latte," she bemoans. This set piece is of course the leitmotif for the film, as the teacher can act great Shakespeare but can't bring the advice to bear on her own life. We soon meet Diana's daughter, Isabel, a photographer, and her fiance Jonathan, a handsome Jewish professional, as well as Alec, an actor wanting to break out of the Fringe Festival, and Peter, the latest lover of the famous photographer Benjamin Stone, who has been given a tortuously cruel assignment by Vanity Fair. These characters are all going through the motions of their lives, strong gritty New Yorkers on the surface, but without passion, without really knowing themselves or those they love, and all with something eating them out from the inside. As their paths cross and their lives unravel all in one evening, it is like watching a windshield crack. One crack leads to the next, and the jagged patterns formed can fragment the light to a beautiful effect, but you can never look through the windshield the same way as before.

This film explores some of the same themes as Sideways. In Sideways, we had an actor and a poseur-writer representing the superficiality of Los Angeles culture. In Heights, we have an actress and a photographer symbolizing the contrast between appearances (or performances) and "real life" in New York City artsy circles. (The metaphor is artfully deployed, both in Glenn Close's master class scene, and later in a scene with Elizabeth Banks photographing a mother and daughter on the subway. The latter called to mind a line from Rent, "Hey artist, get your own life!", as well as other echoes from that play in which the filmmaker cannot see and the songwriter cannot hear.) The difference between Heights and Sideways is that in Heights, the characters have inner lives that we eventually get glimpses into, and can develop some sympathy for. These people are more real. Like Sideways, the setting in Heights is an essential part of the texture of the film. While the Santa Ynez wine country scenery in Sideways added a camp note to the underlying cynicism, the rooftop, skyline, and street scenes of Manhattan enhance the sense of disconnectedness-despite-proximity in Heights. Often, we only started to get inside the characters when they stepped outside onto the roof. The use of cell phones added a subtle ironic underscore to the same theme, especially between the engaged couple who carried "direct-connect" phones, but with their emotional connections falling short of their technological ones. Ultimately, both Sideways and Heights end on a note of hope, but the hope at the end of Heights seems more genuinely promising, because the characters are more real.

The performances in the film were are top-notch, starting with Glenn Close brilliant as the diva who can express Shakespeare better than herself, with a strong exterior but vulnerable inside. Elizabeth Banks is flawless as Isabel, strong but lost and later shattered, and James Marsden is wonderful as Jonathan, who thinks he knows what he wants and has it, while Jesse Bradford is great as Alec, who knows what he wants but not how to get it. A number of good performances in other parts pull together a strong ensemble, beautifully woven together in Amy Fox's story and Chris Terrio's direction. It is beautifully filmed, and there are a number of great shots where looks and expressions convey volumes without words.

Chris Terrio's "Heights" follows in the tradition of such films as "Crash", "Magnolia" and others where everyone's life is effected by unknown people.

Around this time of year I found I'm at odds with most of the public. They tend to prefer such fare as "Batman Begins" and "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" while I'm in an empty theatre watching films such as this.

Isabel (Elizabeth Banks) is engaged to Jonathan (James Marsden) and the two will be married in a month. Isabel's mother, the well-known stage and film actress Diana (Glenn Close) has some doubts about the marriage. Diana feels Isabel is not ready for the married life, but Isabel does not want to hear a lecture about marriage from her mother. Diana's husband is having an affair, the two have agreed to see other people. Diana puts up the front of being okay with the arrangment, but clearly is not.

Meanwhile Alec (Jesse Bradford) is a young aspiring actor who gets his big chance to audition for Diana in a play she is directing. Alec also happens to live in the same apartment as Isabel and Jonathan, but claims not to know them. But that doesn't stop Diana from flirting with Alec.

The audience can pretty much guess what the film's big secrets are, but to me that wasn't so important because I found that I enjoyed the acting so much. Plus the movie is not really about plot twist, it's about the relationships between these people. The movie is not trying to surprise and shock us. Had this been a thriller, that would make it disappointing.

The film also creates characters that just don't seem believeable, or at least I don't know people like them. But I don't think the film wanted to create "real" people. I think it wanted to create stereotypes. I also don't question that somewhere in the world people may deal with the same issues the characters in this film deal with.

But why should you see this movie? It seems all I've done is describe the flaws of the movie. But there is much to recommend. Glenn Close is outstanding. The performance lights up the screen. It gives the movie life. Elizabeth Banks, a new face to me, reminds me of a young Elizabeth Shue. Hopefully her career will go better. In fact all of these performances are good. I also liked the tone of the film. It perfectly captures the despair these people are feeling by moving at a slow pace. The movie seems to be examing these people with intense close-ups. These aspects more than anything lead me to enjoy the film.

I don't think there will be much of an audience for this film. It is the kind of movie that can get lost in the shuffle, but if you seek it out I think most people will have the same reaction I had.

Bottom-line: Chris Terrio's debut film boast wonderful performances from Glenn Close and Elizabeth Banks. The movie works largely because of them. Has some flaws but the effect of the movie is still strong.

Often a film succeeds because of the story, or the writing, or the cast, or the direction. HEIGHTS succeeds brilliantly because of the combination of all of these elements in one of the finest films of the past few years. Beginning with the play and screenplay by Amy Fox, and as carefully and lovingly directed by Chris Terrio with a sterling cast, this film works its subtle magic of a story about serendipity and coincidences and how these alter our lives by accidental occurrences. Or are they accidental?

Each of the well-drawn characters in this story is functioning at a level that involves the masks behind which we each hide our personal secrets or idiosyncrasies: each character is either at a 'height' or approaching one, and it is the interplay of these disparate people that creates phrases of music which ultimately combine in a series of themes and variations like a well-composed work of chamber music. And this all occurs within a twenty-four hour period in Manhattan.

Diana (Glenn Close) is the reigning New York actress currently preparing a production of 'Macbeth' with friend director Henry (Eric Bagosian) while simultaneously giving Master Classes at Julliard to a group of acting students who she declares lack passion! Diana's 'height' is challenged by her current anxiety over her open-marriage husband's rather serious affair with one of her students. She holds auditions and a young, struggling, and handsome actor Alec (Jesse Bradford) catches her interest and she sees in him the passion she craves and invites him to her party that evening. Alec, fearful of his chance at his 'height', hesitantly accepts.

Meanwhile Diana's photographer daughter Isabel (Elizabeth Banks) is fired from her portrait job only to be offered an important gig in Eastern Europe by an ex-lover, offering Isabel a chance at her own 'height'. Isabel is engaged to young ambitious lawyer Jonathan (James Marsden remembered for this superb acting in 'The 24th Day') who in preparing to marry a non-Jew is in counseling with his Rabbi (George Segal): there are obviously stresses on the incipient marriage that Jonathan has not revealed.

In another area of Manhattan, at Vanity Fair, Liz (Isabella Rosselini) taps reporter Peter (John Light) to do a story on a famous and gifted photographer known for bedding his nude male models. Peter is to interview each of the models for the story, and one of those models happens to be Jonathan!

The entire group comes together at Diana's party and there the secrets of each of the characters gradually surface in coincidental ways and the story of how each of these interesting but tainted people respond to discoveries makes for the resolution of the story. Director Terrio uses finely honed techniques to slowly introduce each character, adding layers of information gradually, until the magnitude of these coincidences becomes dramatically tense and fascinating. This film is like standing in a darkroom watching a photograph slowly develop, revealing more of the details with each washing, until the final picture is filled with extraordinary details - some expected, others not. The cast is wholly superb and the degree of ensemble acting surpasses that of films of the recent past. If there is a criticism of the film it is a minor one: the ambient sound and musical scoring at times cover the dialogue which make us strain to hear the whispered interchanges. But this is a brilliant film that immediately assumes a role in the pantheon of fine cinematic art. Highly recommended. Grady Harp, November 05

... I simply wanted more. Heights is a really good film, with several convincing portraits - especially Glenn Close and James Marsden. Telling the story of a group of intertwined New Yorkers over 24 hours it is adult in its themes of sexual interplay and the delights and troughs of entanglements, love and remorse.

If it were an hour longer, to develop the characters further, I'd have been even happier.

What's considered common knowledge is the opinion that Glenn Close, as theater goddess Diana Lee, is Oscar-worthy while the rest of "Heights" is simply mediocre. I'm here to present the case as to why this is not true. You see, "Heights" unexpectadly touched me. Aesthetically, it presents a unique image of New York with pale blues, greens, and greys merging into a blurred, sometimes beautiful landscape; it symbolizes all that is there and all there needs to be. It is as if director Chris Terrio wants New York City to be a series of mirrors, reflecting and refracting the conflicted characters who in the film ultimately decide whether or not their lives are being lead correctly or with purpose: with what they believe to be love. Luckily, this is an effective method and, with subtlety, you feel the characters' emotions being reaffirmed.

Leading this ensemble of unsure New Yorkers is the young actress Elizabeth Banks, who has improved considerably since her supporting turn in 2003's "Seabiscuit." She plays Isabel Lee, a photographer overshadowed by the fame of her mother Diana. Her fiancee, Jonathan (James Marsden), is a successful man with a secret, which ends up being what you may not expect it to be (though some claim they knew far before the film ended, the film is not about plot twists but what happens to the characters and how they each deal with their decisions, providing for a more lasting effect). The rest of the cast includes Alec (Jesse Bradford), a minor actor who meets Diana through an audition, and the unseen Benjamin, a renowned photographer who is a major player in the film despite not having a physical presence on screen. In fact, that Benjamin is not seen is one of the most effective techniques in the film. That he is not embodied physically allows for self-interpretation, which enhances the situations in which Benjamin is involved given their emotional complexity (it's a shame I can't elaborate further, but trust me when I say the conflicts with Benjamin are successfully involving, complements of the fantastic screenwriter Amy Fox).

As a film its greatest strength is Glenn Close, who does turn out the best performance in the film, and she also resonates as probably the best performance in her category of the worthy actresses I've seen so far this year (which excludes Joan Allen, though I will be seeing "Yes" and "The Upside of Anger" quite soon). Close, being the great actress that she is, handles Diana's myriad dimensions incredibly well; she is at once confident and conflicted, amused at life and suffering underneath its emotional weight. The film's greatest weakness is its inevitable tendency to come off as slight, useless, recycled, etc. However, the perspective it brings to its message is made interesting through the intensely observent DP work reflective of Isabel's chosen vocation, which she further explores during the film till a devastating line crushes her willingness to bloom artistically. But consider that this message may not simply be "live your life how you want and don't live for others, or you'll never be happy," which was already studied in 2002's "The Hours." Instead, I believe the message to be that happiness cannot be achieved by gaining or by manipulating what is outside of ourselves; that happiness is ultimately a lifestyle, a point of view, a decision, not a forever distant goal. As the film ends, the theme unfolds into a sense of hope; that hope has shown itself as a uniting theme in '05 cinema is a strong sign that what we as a people desire is the potential for change, even a better future. As the characters in "Heights" demonstrate, we decide our happiness. That right there is where this film's punch exists: in its case for hope, which transcends the film and thus gives it purpose as art.

Heights is the first screenplay by Amy Fox which she adapted from her abbreviated play of the same name for Merchant Ivory. It premiered at Sundance and was released shortly before Ismail Merchant's untimely passing.

It is an intelligent, literate ensemble piece following the lives of several New Yorkers over the course of 24 hours. The first rate cast is dominated by Glenn Close, who plays Diana Lee, an imposing Broadway and screen actress. To the outside world, Diana is an intimidating performer, highly successful and respected, at the top of her game. She is established in a long-term open marriage enabling her to (at least on the surface) have the best of both worlds, with a beautiful and intelligent daughter, Isabel (Elizabeth Banks), who is on the eve of her own wedding to a conservative businessman, Jonathan (James Marsden). In reality, Diana's life is quite a bit different than it appears. The open marriage does not afford her any buffer from the pain she experiences at her husband's obvious disinterest or when he falls in love with a younger woman (her understudy no less), even escorting her to Diana's birthday party. Her daughter, a photographer, makes no secret of the fact that, while she loves her mother, she has absolutely no interest in her mother's theater life or friends, and certainly doesn't intend to take any marital advice from her.

Isabel and Jonathan are on the surface an attractive, happy couple one month away from their wedding, and who are undergoing premarital interfaith counseling from Jonathan's rabbi (George Segal). Rabbi Mendel actually provides one of the more comical scenes in the movie when he attempts to test the couple with a series of absurdist flash card questions theoretically designed to test their sensitivity and compatibility. ("If you came home and saw your spouse reading "Mein Kampf", how would it make you feel?") In reality, this is a couple who are keeping secrets (big time!) from each other and will soon face far more serious issues than whether or not to hang Christmas lights during the holidays.

Rounding out the piece are Alec (Jesse Bradford), a struggling young actor who is also keeping secrets (his own and others), Mark (Matthew Davis), who is attempting to lure Isabel out of the country with the offer of a serious photojournalist assignment (but who has his own ulterior motives), and Peter (John Light), a soft-spoken journalist writing an article for Vanity Fair about his lover, a famous photographer whose work is about to be exhibited. This lover is never seen, except through his work product, but his mean-spirited presence is felt throughout the film and serves as a catalyst, impacting almost all of the other characters' lives. Smaller cameo roles go to Isabella Rosselini and Rufus Wainwright.

Although deceitful and self-absorbed, these characters are almost all strangely likeable. Witty and intelligent, you feel they would really like to be the people they are pretending to be. Their motives seem to lie more in self-protection and self-interest than a wish to do any harm to others.

The 24 hour timeframe is densely packed, tight and fast-paced. The characters meet, part, connect with other characters. Relationships are forged and irrevocably broken. Layers are peeled back and secrets revealed. You can just feel an Oscar nomination looming down the road for Glenn Close, but all the other actors more than hold their own. The subject matter is very adult, but handled with the taste you expect from Merchant Ivory. All in all, a rich and satisfying 90 minute film experience.

It would be hard to add much to the well-presented reviews that have already been registered here over the past two years. Nevertheless, because of the inescapable "wow factor" of the film, I feel impelled to toss in -- damn, what a fine piece of work. Entertaining in every way. Wonderful writing--the reader comes to care about and appreciate all of the characters in the piece. Great, attractive cast with consistently smart acting. And, unusual for a film that involves gay people, there was depth and dimension to their characters and lives. The story could only have been set in New York--or so this non-New Yorker imagines--but it does present a credible backdrop of sophistication that probably isn't matched in many other parts of the U.S.
Wonderful film which I wish I had heard about a lot sooner.

This is a tightly constructed film that covers the lives of 5 characters over the course of a single day. Whereas the film starts with the characters feeling apparently satisfied with their lives and relationships, all this changes as old bonds are examined and broken and new bonds are created.

There are three primary themes of the film that are centered around three of the main characters. The first theme is resiliency as expressed by the young photographer Isabel, played by Elizabeth Banks; the second theme is human limitations as expressed by her famous mother, Diana, played by Glenn Close; and the third theme is denial of the self as expressed by Isabel's boy-friend Jonathan, played by James Marsden.

Isabel, the daughter of a famous actress and director, has become a photographer and with her camera as her shield, she trys to capture the lives of real humans. I say 'real humans' because Isabel comes from a world of sophistication, wealth, and privilege. She is engaged to her live-in boyfriend, the charming, sweet, handsome, smart Jonathan. Yet, as the film progresses things tend to go very wrong and the complexity of human nature and the multifaceted nature of human desire begins to reveal that every character is not as they seem.

Elisabeth Banks plays Isabel and does a great job of showing her taking an unexpected look at her lover, and then quickly following her instincts to move beyond her crisis toward situating herself for meeting her own needs.

James Marsden plays Jonathan, an attentive bright young man that is unable to determine his genuine needs. In many ways he is the emotionally weakest character in the film for he aspires to illusions of happiness rather than happiness,and despite his incredible male beauty, is highly dependent upon others.

It is with Glenn Close as Diana that more mature viewers may identify. She is incredibly successful, mature, talented, connected, and yet fragile to the point of being brittle when her younger husband brings his new lover to a cocktail party at their home. However, when her daughter is on the verge of making a major mistake by her planned marriage to Jonathan, Diana becomes a Lioness protecting her cub. Despite her theatrical talents, she is limited in how she is able to express her motherly affection for Isabel. But she does try and Isabel realizes her mother is there for her when she needs her. In some ways the pivotal point of the film is not that Isabel discovers that Jonathan is not who she thought he was but rather than her mother, despite her emotional limitations in her personal life, is exactly who she needs.

The film is thoughtful and sophisticated. George Segal offers the film's best moments of comedy as a well meaning but goofy elderly Rabbi. Jesse Bradford as the young actor Alec is also excellent in his role as the catalyst that pulls our main characters apart so that they can rebuild again.

Heights opens with Glen Close, admonishing her class of drama students for not having enough passion in their lives. Close plays Diana, a theatrically, egocentric New York acting diva, ironically aching for some passion and ardor in her own life. Diane is about to open on Broadway in a new production of Macbeth, and posters of her as Lady Macbeth gaze out upon her subjects from bus shelters and theatre marquees.

Diana's husband has been having an affair with her understudy in the play, and even though Diana is supposed to be in an open marriage, the situation has given her very real heartache. Isabel (Elizabeth Banks) is Diana's beautiful and introverted daughter who is also having problems with her husband.

A successful New York photographer, Isabel is planning to wed Jonathan (James Marsden), a thriving and similarly ambitious young lawyer. But recently Isobel and Jonathan have been drifting a part - blame it on the stress of the wedding plans, or even the problems of conducting an interfaith marriage. Jonathan is Jewish, and Elizabeth gentile, and he seems to be handling that well, but something more is bothering him about the union.

One morning in his office, he gets a phone call from Peter (John Light), a British journalist who wants to interview him about his friendship with a famous photographer, gradually it is revealed that half the men in the movie qualify as an ex of this busy photographer's. The call causes Jonathan to become preoccupied and petulant as he once did some nude modeling for the photographer. He also doesn't want to know that Isabel has a great opportunity for a photography job, but if she takes it, she'll have to travel to thousands of miles away to Eastern Europe.

While poor Diana is watching her personal life slip away, in spite of the fact that she desperately clings to the trappings of stage stardom, her daughter sees others around her in much more honest terms than she sees herself. Her camera is her filter for the world, including Jonathan. On the surface, Jonathan is the perfect husband for Isabel, and he has it all: a beautiful, smart and artistic fiancée and a stage star for a future in-law. But a terrible secret threatens to derail their marriage, affecting Jonathan's ability to be intimate.

Alec (Jesse Bradford) lives upstairs from Jonathon and Isabel. He's a young actor auditioning for part in Diana's Shakespearean stage production. He's a good actor and aches to break away from low budget fringe theatre. Diana takes an instant liking to him, she thinks he's cute, and ends up inviting him to her party that night.

But Alec is also struggling; life is a role for him, just as life is a play for Diana, and a photograph is for Isabel. Alec waits tables in a nightclub to make ends meet, while sexual partners perform on scaffolds at the cavernous end of the club and patrons view them through binoculars.

Based on the stage play by Amy Fox, Heist is an absolutely terrific film, which offers a brief glimpse into the lives of sophisticated Manhattanites in the habit of pointing out the "heights" of their urban sophistication. Each sees life from a distance and through a distorted lens; actually seeing inside themselves is what they do least of all.

Heights is packed with spot-on performances, not the least of which is Glen Close. She's very good at portraying both Diana's extreme egotism and her motherly concern for her child, whom she fears may be rushing into a marriage that is not for her. Close is an absolutely powerhouse, whether rehearsing the role of Lady Macbeth or corralling a stranger who appears at her party, her eyes focused deeply on his inquiring, "Do you merengue?"

The rest of the cast is equally distinctive and uniformly suburb, with kudos especially given to Banks who does a fine job of showing Isabel's frustration with Jonathan; she's a young woman with keen insight into others who is ultimately blind to her own needs and concerns.

First- time director Chris Terrio does a commendable job of opening the story up so it never feels stage bound. The disparate elements of the movie work like a little jigsaw puzzle, seducing us into the lives of characters via little slivers, then keeping us guessing about how those characters will collide and change one another.

Terrio is also effectively able to delve into what it means to live life rather than observe it, examining the many of the shades of gray between being less-than-honest with one's self, and being completely devious. Mike Leonard October 05.