DVD Review: Heaven (B)

Heaven (1987)
Director: Diane Keaton
Starring: Michael, Mary Hall, Agbabian, Victoria Sellars and others
MPAA: PG 13
Grade: B

Review by Ellyn Elm

Diane Keaton directs this funny, off-beat and just plain charming documentary about peoples' views on the sweet hereafter. Utilizing interviews and vintage movie clips, Heaven presents us with a strange and wonderful array of what might be waiting for us in the afterlife.

Employing a standard question and answer technique, participants are asked a variety of questions such as: "What does heaven look like?" "How do you get to heaven" "Are you going to heaven"and most importantly, "Is there sex in heaven"? Responses vary from straightforward to bizarre and everything in between.

Keaton utilizes abstract sets in which to interview her subjects and juxtaposes these sessions with old film footage representing alternative ideas of what heaven might be like. The effect is very stylized and sort of strange but I think it does a good job of conveying the idea that heaven is not a static concept: it shifts and changes with the times.

Don't get me wrong, this movie is not terribly deep or penetrating. But, rather Heaven is a lighthearted and sometimes silly look at a subject that means many different things to many different people.

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