Heaven Knows What

Plot

Harley (Arielle Holmes), a homeless girl in New York City, loves Ilya (Caleb Landry Jones). He gives her life purpose and sets her passion ablaze. So, when he asks her to prove her love by slitting her wrists, she obliges with only mild hesitation, perhaps because of her other all-consuming love: heroin. After the attempted suicide, she is taken to hospital.

Harley leaves the psychiatric hospital and meets her friend Skully (Ron Braunstein). Skully tries to persuade Harley to break up with Ilya, but Harley doesn't listen to Skully. Harley goes meet a drug dealer Mike (Buddy Duress) and gets some drugs. Angry with Harley's attitude, Skully has a quarrel with her and goes away.

After spending a night with Mike, Harley starts living together with him. She makes a living by begging, shoplifting, and stealing. Some weeks later, Harley meets Ilya again. Mike fights a duel with Ilya at the park and gets injured. Treating his wound, Harley tells Mike that she still loves Ilya.

One night, Harley receives a phone call from one of her friends and goes to a fast-food restaurant. There, Ilya lies unconscious of a drug overdose at the restroom. Harley practices artificial respiration on Ilya, and Ilya comes back to life.

Falling in love again, Harley and Ilya get on the bus bound for Miami. While Harley is sleeping, Ilya gets off the bus alone and enters a vacant house. At night, the candle near his bed causes a fire, and Ilya is enveloped in flames.

Harley wakes up at the bus and notices that Ilya is not there. Confused, she gets off the bus and goes back to New York City. She enters a fast-food restaurant, where Mike boasts his friends about his story. From a distant seat, Harley watches them in silence.

Cast

Release

The film premiered at the 71st Venice International Film Festival on August 29, 2014. On October 1, 2014, RADiUS-TWC acquired the film.

Reception

Heaven Knows What received positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 84%, based on 56 reviews, with a rating of 7.6/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Grueling and rewarding in equal measure, Heaven Knows What hits hard -- and serves as a powerful calling card for its captivating star, Arielle Holmes." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 75 out of 100, based on 22 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Kenji Fujishima of Slant Magazine described the film as "one of the most harrowing cinematic depictions of drug addiction in recent memory, reliant less on formal gimmickry than on close observation of behavior." Jordan Hoffman of The Guardian gave it 5 stars out of 5 and praised Arielle Holmes' performance, saying: "While her accent is reminiscent of Linda Manz, her energy recalls Gena Rowlands in the best of Cassavetes' films."

David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter noted that "[among] the film's most impressive qualities is the Safdie brothers' boldly textural use of music — predominantly Isao Tomita's electronica versions of Debussy, but also a little Tangerine Dream and James Dashow as well as some hardstyle and black metal." Nicolas Rapold of The New York Times commented that "[the] director of photography, Sean Price Williams, skillfully orchestrates lingering close-ups and up-the-street long shots, which are beautifully interwoven in the editing by Ronald Bronstein and Benny Safdie."

It won the Grand Prix and the Best Director award at the 27th Tokyo International Film Festival.