Dvd
Five Minutes of Heaven
Five Minutes of Heaven is a gritty drama exploring the trouble in Northern Ireland. Stars Liam Neeson.
The story begins in 1975 when 17-year-old Alistair Little, a member of the UVF (a Northern Irish paramililtary group), murdered a 19-year-old Catholic, Jim Griffin, in Lurgan. It was witnessed by Jim's younger brother, Joe. Thirty years later Joe Griffin (James Nesbitt) and Alistair (Neeson) are set up to meet, on camera and arranged by the media. The aim is to reconcile, but Joe has different motives.
Starring Liam Neeson, James Nesbitt, Anamaria Marinca, Juliet Crawford, Gerry Doherty, Paul Garret
Directed by Oliver Hirschbiegel ('Downfall', 'The Experiment')
Written by Guy Hibbert
Festivals & Awards Won Best World Cinema Director (Oliver Hirschbiegel) and World Cinema Screenwriting Award (Guy Hibbert), Nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance Film Festival, 2009.
Thriller, Drama, Crime | 1hr 30mins | Rated (M) | Origin: UK | Official Site »
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3
For a film that picked up a couple of awards at the uber-trendy Sundance film festival, Five Minutes of Heaven is a pretty bland albeit solid piece of work.
It starts out promisingly: a murder is shot in a muted, minimalist tone that doesn’t glamourise the on screen violence but reels you in with expressive sound design, turning atmospheric noises into a soundscape of genuine tension. The remainder of the film though fails to consistently deliver on its strong opening.
While the actors more than step up to the mark, with James Nesbitt’s jittery, psychologically crumbling victim finding its perfect foil in the sad melancholy of Liam Neeson’s repentant murderer, structural flaws in the script prevent a superbly performed dramatic duel from reaching its full potential. It appears more concerned with superfluous voiceovers and snippets of flashback than exploring the conflict at the heart of the story. As a result, the middle section sags and surrenders much of its narrative momentum. In a strange move, it also shifts the viewer's sympathies to Neeson’s killer.
Five Minutes of Heaven gets a second wind in time for a decent climatic sequence and for the most part gets its personal healing and terrorism related message across, but it never rises above the level of a mixed bag.
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Press Reviews
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Hollywood Reporter
Based on a true story -- that never happened. That might explain why the film circles and circles its subject but never strikes dramatic pay dirt.
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New York Times
A feature-length talkathon built on a sketchy premise, some unpersuasive psychology, a pinch of politics and strong star turns from Liam Neeson and James Nesbitt, the appeal of all those words runs out long before the director Oliver Hirschbiegel turns off the spigot.
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Otago Daily Times (Christine Powley)
4
Troubled pasts relived once the last bullet is fired.
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San Fransico Chronicle
An imperfect but intensely human movie that ponders the aftershock of violence, could have been an exercise in overacted sappiness. Instead, it's as hard and uncompromising as remorse.
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Total Film (UK)
4
Half-truth and reconciliation are the driving forces behind this powerful drama from the writer of Omagh (Guy Hibbert), which takes a real-life tragedy as the starting point for a hard-hitting exploration of Northern Ireland’s troubled past and uneasy future.
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Variety (USA)
Powerhouse performances by Liam Neeson and James Nesbit make this an intense, ultimately moving tale.
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