Under Heaven (1998)

Too much of everything

I think this is a new genre that they're all sort of working their way through it and haven't got all the kinks worked out yet but it's a genre that works for me.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

Help. Can someone PLEASE guide me in the right place to buy this movie? Or does any of you have it for sale? I've been looking for this movie for quite a while now. I even wrote a letter to lifetime asking about it. They wrote me back saying, "it wasn't in their database. Can someone "PLEASE" tell me where to find this movie. I saw it like everyone else on lifetime under the name "In A Private Garden", and really, really, loved it. But I really didn't know that it had an aka title, "Under Heaven" or "In The Shadows". Which one is it on video? Someone please help me to find this great, great, movie. I would appreciate it, as I said. I've been looking for it for a long time now. I'm so glad I found these reviews of it on this site.

I understand most of the comments in here! But this film raises the questions of "how do you define love?", Questions of class inadequacy?" and "What is the true value of wealth and morality?". In this film 3 very different people come together and change each others lives with some very different results. Eleanor (Joely Richarson) despite dying, she achieves happiness by understanding that those around her felt love, jealousy or were deceptive toward her. Cynthia (Molly Parker)despite loosing her love & being deceptive, she was able to understand the true value of family. She also learned that one true value doesn't necessarily come through wealth. And Buck (Aden Young) despite of loosing his true love, was to love for the first time and stop being uncaring. The film the definition of love goes beyond the physical sense of human understanding & shows that people can be love for who they really are. Once this is done, you omit any notion of beauty, ugliness and sex as the attributes of love. The inadequacy between social classes in the film raises the issue that despite some of us being born privilege or underprivilege, everyone basic needs remain the same (sustenance, love, being love, etc). Lastly, the film questions the value of wealth and how much of an importance do we put in our lives to achieve it, since in the end, we cannot take any of it with us. But it is our families and our deeds that are our true treasures and measure of our value as individuals.

I've seen this movie so many times, and it still makes me cry. Spectacular performances, an excellent adaptation, and a good soundtrack. It makes Henry James so much more applicable. It's a little hard to find, but definitely worth the effort.

I first saw this movie on the Lifetime cable network under the title "In A Private Garden."I didn't have any great expectations at first, but I ended up liking it very much. It was an interesting story line (at least to me). I was drawn to the characters and developed a genuine empathy for them.I would recommend this movie to anyone who enjoys a drama/romance story with a twist.