Heaven Adores You (2014)

Simply Perfect

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Some people want to know about the music. Some people want to know about the tragedy.I'm glad that this take on the Elliot Smith story will have some reach for the generations to come who discover him.Sometimes, it's best to be remembered for what you gave to society with the talent that you had, and how it impacted thousands of people long after you were gone, than to focus on the drama, the tabloid fodder and the allegations of your personal life for strangers to obsess over.I'm glad this film focused on the music. After all, what were you doing going to see an Elliot Smith film if it wasn't about the music in the first place?

It happened to be the 20th anniversary of Elliott Smith's self- titled that I watched Nickolas Dylan Rossi's portrait of the beloved singer-songwriter whose talents were taken far too soon from this earth. Elliott Smith was one of the finest lyricist and delivered his gut wrenching lyrics in a quivering, whispery fashion. Unfortunately, his career was tragically cut short at the age of 34, but Nickolas Dylan Rossi has kept his legacy alive in his new film, Heaven Adores You. Rossi's directorial debut, funded by Kickstarter, is an Elliott Smith fan's dream, as it is a celebration of the singer's career, full of unreleased material and insights into Smith's world.The film itself is beautifully painful. Visually, Rossi accentuates Smith's journey from his emergence in the Portland music scene to his brush with super-stardom in New York and Los Angeles with magnificent images of the surrounding landscapes. Interviews with Smith helped delve into his almost reluctant popularity, as at one point he stated, he did interviews and played concerts merely to continue to write and record music, his passion. The interviews with colleagues and friends, on the other hand, served more as catharsis for them, as they were semi-insightful, but overall mostly unremarkable. The pain is there though, 12 years removed from Smith's demise, his presence is felt, again evoked from Rossi's images, specifically of the tributes around the famous Figure 8 wall. Though it may have been sexy and appealing to show, the film's strength is the exclusion of the imprecise details that surround Smith's apparent suicide. The film serves as a tribute and introspection of Smith's talents and rise, rather than his flaws and fall.Photographer, Autumn De Wilde, couldn't have concluded the film in a more excellent fashion by stating, Smith used "the words we couldn't find when we were sad." He was the voice of common misery and made even the most desperate, disparaging of times seem so beautiful.

Heaven Adores You is a wonderful, funny, heartbreaking, and real look into the life of late, singer-songwriter, Elliott Smith. There is an incredible collection of personal photographs, interviews, and new music for those, like me, who are die hard Smith fans. If you're someone who's never heard the music of Elliott Smith, you'll leave this film and run to the nearest record store to buy every album. The amazing team behind Heaven Adores You has really put together a beautiful tribute to a beautiful soul. This film will reach new generations and create Elliott Smith fans so that the music can continue to be spread. If you have the chance to see this film, do it.

I was able to catch the world premiere of this film in San Francisco. When I came in, I had absolutely no idea who Elliott Smith was, and that's what made this experience good. Elliott Smith is a very talented musician (as most fans already know), and it was a great choice from the director to use his music to move the film forward and to be a part of telling this story. But not even his music could make this "documentary" any less bland.I put quotations over the word because this did not feel like a documentary, rather a nice tribute to a renowned artist. I give props to the director for helping introduce this young man, showing his awkwardness, humbleness, messy look, and troublesome upcoming into the music industry. But what starts out as a promising look into Elliott Smith's mind is ultimately diminished by lack of substance. I felt that there wasn't enough of Elliott Smith's own perspective of himself, rather memories of family and friends. And though memories can be exciting, funny, etc., there is still something missing from the entirety of a memory when told to people who weren't there.When watching the movie, it is obvious that the director has background in cinematography because there are some beautifully filmed things. But the shots are so gratuitous. Quite frankly, it drove me crazy to see shots of Portland after a while because it took up almost half the movie! The film shouldn't have revolved around Portland, rather Portland should have been an aspect of Elliott Smith's career.Overall, this movie is definitely more for fans than for those who don't know about him.