Film
What's on at the cinema plus reviews of the latest movie and DVD releases
Bookmark this pageHeaven's Burning (1997)
Director: Craig Lahiff
Movie review
From Time Out Film Guide
It takes a while for this road movie thrillerto take off, as the director labours through an opening section which lays out how Japanese honeymooner Midori (Kudoh) happens to find herself on the run (and loving it), chased by bank robbers and her 'disgraced' ex-husband, with only a hot-rodder (Crowe) as reluctant helpmate. In a film of blunt genre strokes, Kudoh's transition to kooky 'liberated' chick is as rudimentarily sketched as the reactions to her foreignness are awkwardly played out. Nevertheless, director Lahiff manages to balance the action and human interest, using trans-port truck metal and the horizontal swaths of the Australian landscape to emulate the sweep and gleam of the American prototype, and undercutting the machismo through the sympathetic playing of Kudoh and, especially, Crowe.Author: WH
Cast & crew
Director: Craig Lahiff
Producer: Al Clarke, Helen Leake
Cast: Russell Crowe, Youki Kudoh, Kenji Isomura, Ray Barrett, Robert Mammone, Petru Gheorghiu full cast
Genre(s): Thrillers
Duration: 99 mins
Most popular on this site
Top Stories
Has David Cronenberg turned tame?
Has director David Cronenberg veered too far from his radical and bloody roots with new film 'A Dangerous Method'?
The 10 worst date movies
Just in time for Valentine's Day, we present ten of the least romantic films ever made
Where to watch this year's Oscar-nominated films
Find out where to watch 2012's Oscar-nominated films in London cinemas
10 unlikely badboy biopics
Featuring Phil Collins, Jeremy Clarkson, Nick Clegg, David Starkey and a host of other unlikely subjects
Interview: Sean Durkin on 'Martha Marcy May Marlene'
The first-time director of the brilliant new thriller discusses religious cults and robot boxing
Pop-up cinema for Valentine's Day
Side-step romantic clichés with some alternative Valentine’s viewing
What do you think?
Post your review now