Haven - L'enfer au paradis

I saw the second screening of this film, at the Toronto Film Festival. It reminded me a little bit like the film "Traffic" with a hint of Quentin Tarantino. The movie threads together multiple story lines and shifts back and forth through time.

Bill Paxton has a great performance as a shady business man who escapes with this daughter to the Cayman Islands.

Orlando Bloom's character is the most endearing. I found I could relate to his character the most. Shy (Bloom) was the classic boy from the wrong side of the tracks, who is completely in love with the rich girl, Andrea (Zoe Saldana).

Zoe Saldana has a great performance as well. Her character goes from a sweet girl who makes a complete 180 turn to a druggie /(how to put this politically correct) very easy girl.

Overall I really enjoyed the movie. Frank E. Flowers did a really great job with his debut. The story was really intriguing and the setting was beautiful. A really well done film.

I am glad to hear that this film will finally be released, albeit on DVD. I saw 'Haven' at the Toronto film festival and have been awaiting it's release ever since. I did think that the film was a bit choppy, which was mildly distracting, but that the overall ride was great. In following up his critically acclaimed short 'Swallow' with 'Haven', his feature film debut, Frankie Flowers proves that he is more than capable of writing and directing a full length film.

While it is a difficult task to jump back and forth in a timeline, from sub plot to sub plot, while keeping an audience interested; entertained; and able to follow, I believe that Flowers has done a splendid job despite sacrificing some of the continuity for stylistic shot making. Tarantino has tried, despite box office success, somewhat in vain in this regard for years. Movies such as Magnolia have come along and disappointed and perhaps the only film in recent years to truly excel in this style was Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu's '21 grams'.

With strong performances from an ensemble cast of well known Hollywood stars and unknown local talent, 'Haven' is well acted from start to finish. Orlando Bloom leads the way with an excellent performance as the going nowhere fast 'shy', and proves that he can portray a modern day man between timepiece and fantasy blockbusters. Dare I say he would be better off, from an acting portfolio sense, taking on more of these roles.

I highly recommend 'Haven', especially in this age of over the top; special effects no plot movies. I hope that Flowers continues to be given opportunities to hone his craft and I look forward to his next piece.

I just got back from a holiday in Toronto where I had the pleasure of attending the film festival there. One of the films I ended up seeing was Haven, which I knew very little about beforehand. What an absolute gem of a movie it turned out to be. Similar in structure to Amores Perros, the tale unfolds from different perspectives. All actors played their parts well but there were three who deserve special mention. Victor Razuk as Fritz and Zoe Saldana as Andrea are definite names to watch in future. However, Orlando Bloom was the real genuine surprise here. I don't think I have seen a more heartbreaking performance all year. The disintegration of his character - Shy - provides much of the emotional centre of Frank E. Flowers gripping first feature length movie. He is a director who is going to be talked about a great deal in the years to come. All in all , I would have no hesitation in recommending this powerful, though somewhat dark movie, to any discerning film-goer.

In Cayman Island, the daughter of a powerful man - Andrea (Zoe Saldana) - and the fisherman Shy (Orlando Bloom) are in a deep but secret love, hidden from Andrea's parents. When Andrea's father sails in a fish-trip, they have a night of love at Andrea's home; however they sleep and are surprised by the arrival of her family in the morning. Later, Andrea's brother Hammer (Anthony Mackie) throws acid on the face of Shy and spends four months in prison. In Miami, the dirty businessman Carl Ridley (Bill Paxton) is chased by Federal agents and escapes with his teenage daughter Pippa (Agnes Bruckner) to Cayman Island trying to reach his lawyer Mr. Allen (Stephen Dillane). Pippa meets the small time thief Fritz (Victor Rasuk) sleeping in her room and he invites her to go a party. Before leaving the condo, Fritz sees Carl counting lots of money. Fritz owes money to the dangerous drug dealer Richie Rich (Razaaq Adoti) and tells him about the fortune Carl has. Along a Friday 13th night, their lives entwine in a chain of tragic events.

"Haven" is an entertaining movie, with a complex non-linear screenplay with many characters that have their lives entwined. There are many credible sub-plots and considering the running time of 99 minutes, the situations and characters are very well-developed. The direction and acting are great, there are many beautiful locations but the screenplay is really top-notch. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): "Haven"

It all boiled down to one Friday the 13th night.

Haven takes place in the Cayman Islands, paradise on Earth, with beautiful beaches, friendly people, and of course, being the ideal place to stash cash, ill gotten or otherwise, free from taxation. In its seedier side, to paraphrase from another movie, weed is the currency, openly passed around in nacho chip bags. This movie ditches the idyllic moments, to peer beneath the veneer, of hell on Earth instead.

I like movies which have many characters, each with their own objectives, but being led by unseen forces as they relate to one another, and events bring them to within striking distance. They might belong to distinct story arcs, but given the geographical proximity, their lives, their decisions and the consequences all become intertwined.

There are three clear arcs in the movie, but the characters involved flit seamlessly from one arc to the next. You have the corrupt businessmen looking to escape the law at Miami, an affair, a daughter who hooks up with drugs and the wrong company, a sly thief of sorts, two star crossed lovers, a hot headed brother, good friends, and gangsters. On its own, they could be short stories. But when narrative style takes on the fragmented, non linear approach to spice and disguise an ordinary story, that's what you get in Frank E. Flowers' Haven.

Perhaps what will put bums in seats is the presence of Orlando Bloom, though the M18 rating would have restricted his girly groupie fans here from seeing their cinematic idol on screen in a role which is similar to what Tom Cruise did in Vanilla Sky, sort of. He plays the role of the Romeo in the star-crossed lovers arc, as Shy, son of a fisherman, still figuring out the meaning to his life, and having a lack of ambition which worries his girlfriend Andrea (Zoe Saldana). Parental disapproval gets into play, and the rest is a spiral downwards for both lovers and their relationship. Some say Bloom's role is intense, but there isn't enough room for his character to justify that.

And sadly, that was just about the better story amongst the three. In reality, all three could have been extremely short, as the scenes, though intercut with each other and had some overlapping moments, don't really contribute much to the characters or stories. You could have cut off half the fat, and still the story would hold water. One saving grace would be the score and soundtrack though, accentuating the illusion of paradise.

But this is not to say Haven's a really bad movie. It just had enough story elements to cruise along in auto-pilot, and in the process offer nothing groundbreaking stylistically, or earth shattering in having any twists and turns to the plot. Breaking up and juxtaposing a linear plot does not disguise the fact that it inherently needs a lot more oomph.