di Craig Lahiff (Australia/1997/96min.)

Trama
Dopo una violenta rapina in banca, Colin, un poco di buono in cerca di fortuna, salva la vita a Midori uccidendo uno dei complici che vuole eliminare la ragazza dopo averla presa in ostaggio. Midori e Colin sono costretti a fuggire e a nascondersi: Midori dal marito da cui è appena fuggita, Colin da una gang criminale determinata a vendicare l'uomo che ha ucciso.Con la polizia alle loro calcagna comincia l'emozionante, travolgente avventura di due anime ribelli in cerca di libertà che si lasceranno travolgere da una improvvisa, divorante passione...

Russell Crowe stars in this excitingly original and offbeat Australian crime thriller. When a dispassionate newlywed, Midori (Youki Kudoh), leaves her Japanese businessman husband, Yukio (Kenji Isomura), she fakes her own kidnapping and inadvertently draws the attention of the international media and the police. But soon she is the victim of a real kidnapping when she witnesses a failed bank robbery and is taken hostage. When the gang attempts to execute her, their driver, Colin (Russell Crowe), betrays his tenuous allegiance and rescues Midori--and in the process kills one of the gang members. Soon Colin and Midori are on the run through the Australian outback, with the cops, the gang of Middle Eastern bank robbers, and Midori's jilted, homicidal husband all hot on their trail. With a playfully macabre mix of dark humor and underworld violence reminiscent of the films of the Coen brothers and Quentin Tarantino, HEAVEN'S BURNING is a classic crime drama filled with wry humor, local color, and an explosive climax--an absoulte must-see for all Russell Crowe fans.



Recensione
"What I personally like about Heaven's Burning, as it stands now," says Australian director Craig Lahiff, "is how it often takes audiences a while to catch on to the fact that what they're watching is actually meant to be fun. That's because we deliberately went through and took out all the usual cues other movies throw in to tell people if a scene is going to be comic, or sexy, or scary, or what, which means they're never quite sure when... or if... to laugh."
He pauses, then adds, with an evil grin: "So even when they do break down and giggle at something, a lot of them still seem to immediately feel like they shouldn't have."
High praise indeed for a movie best classified as an intentionally guilty pleasure. As penned by acclaimed fellow Aussie playwright/screenwriter Louis Nowra, Lahiff's latest effort is a screwball Kabuki film noir road trip that splices the hairpin-curve plot twists of Something Wild with the main premise of Excess Baggage -- an international, interracial love story about two lost souls whose mutual longing for freedom without responsibility ends up packing a considerable body count.
While honeymooning in Adelaide, a young Japanese woman -- Midori (Youki Kudoh) -- tries to extricate herself from a disastrous arranged marriage by pretending she's been kidnapped. Just as her plan begins to fall through, however, she is first really taken hostage by a bunch of equally inept Afghani bank robbers, then rescued from summary execution as an undesired witness by their Australian driver, Colin (Russell Crowe).
Sparks fly, naturally -- and soon enough these star-crossed lovers have fled deep into Australia's empty interior, seeking refuge with Colin's estranged father. Midori's mild-mannered salaryman husband Yukio (Kenji Isomura), meanwhile, has already snapped under the shameful pressure of being suddenly known as Japan's most publicized cuckold. He buys a gun, shaves his head and joins the ever-growing list of people out to track Colin and Midori down.

Much reckless romanticism ensues, framed by some suitably strange and gorgeous scenery. But considering its frothy premise, the movie's denouement is a surprisingly ruthless one -- a sizeable point in its favor, for myself and Lahiff alike.
"Right from the moment we started developing the idea, Louis and I both knew this would end up as something a little unusual for an Australian film -- to juggle this range of different moods, mixing humor with violence in an operatic kind of way," says Lahiff, in town for last year's Toronto International Film Festival. "With so many different nationalities called for, 50 speaking parts and a relatively short shoot, done mostly on location, I knew we were letting ourselves in for trouble. Which, of course, soon became part of the attraction."
Heaven's Burning first began to take shape back in 1995, when Lahiff and producer Helen Leake approached Nowra, wanting him to adapt a novel they had optioned for the screen. Although the project never came to fruition, Lahiff and Nowra were determined to work together.
"We talked about the kinds of directors and films we both liked -- Sam Fuller, Don Siegel, that film noir atmosphere done in daylight and rural, not urban and dark. And before we really knew what we were doing, we found we had brainstormed most of the current story."
From the beginning, both Lahiff and Nowra wanted Kudoh -- previously best known for her role as one half of the Elvis-worshipping Japanese tourist couple in Jim Jarmusch's Mystery Train -- to play Midori. And Kudoh loved the script... much to her family's dismay.
Lahiff laughs. "Youki's mother hated the idea of her making a movie in Australia, because she'd heard about how Alex Proyas -- an Australian --directed The Crow. She said: 'Don't go! They kill actors there!' But she turned out to really love the end product, which I suppose makes sense, since it's a rather Japanese kind of movie -- emotional, sensual and right over the top."
So there you have it: Heaven's Burning, a truly international offering with potential international appeal -- Japanese, Afghani, Aboriginal, Australian... and now Canadian.
Lahiff nods. "Exactly," he says. "Something for everyone."