Heaven Adores You (2014) User Reviews

A great tribute though not necessarily a great documentary

[bigmystery23 · 6/10 · 27 May 2014]

I was able to catch the world premiere of this film in San Francisco. When I came in, I had absolutely no idea who Elliott Smith was, and that's what made this experience good. Elliott Smith is a very talented musician (as most fans already know), and it was a great choice from the director to use his music to move the film forward and to be a part of telling this story. But not even his music could make this "documentary" any less bland.

I put quotations over the word because this did not feel like a documentary, rather a nice tribute to a renowned artist. I give props to the director for helping introduce this young man, showing his awkwardness, humbleness, messy look, and troublesome upcoming into the music industry. But what starts out as a promising look into Elliott Smith's mind is ultimately diminished by lack of substance. I felt that there wasn't enough of Elliott Smith's own perspective of himself, rather memories of family and friends. And though memories can be exciting, funny, etc., there is still something missing from the entirety of a memory when told to people who weren't there.

When watching the movie, it is obvious that the director has background in cinematography because there are some beautifully filmed things. But the shots are so gratuitous. Quite frankly, it drove me crazy to see shots of Portland after a while because it took up almost half the movie! The film shouldn't have revolved around Portland, rather Portland should have been an aspect of Elliott Smith's career.

Overall, this movie is definitely more for fans than for those who don't know about him.

An Elliott Smith fan's dream, as it is a celebration of the singer's career, full of unreleased material and insights into Smith's world.

[mdroel20 · 8/10 · 12 August 2015]

It happened to be the 20th anniversary of Elliott Smith's self- titled that I watched Nickolas Dylan Rossi's portrait of the beloved singer-songwriter whose talents were taken far too soon from this earth. Elliott Smith was one of the finest lyricist and delivered his gut wrenching lyrics in a quivering, whispery fashion. Unfortunately, his career was tragically cut short at the age of 34, but Nickolas Dylan Rossi has kept his legacy alive in his new film, Heaven Adores You. Rossi's directorial debut, funded by Kickstarter, is an Elliott Smith fan's dream, as it is a celebration of the singer's career, full of unreleased material and insights into Smith's world.

The film itself is beautifully painful. Visually, Rossi accentuates Smith's journey from his emergence in the Portland music scene to his brush with super-stardom in New York and Los Angeles with magnificent images of the surrounding landscapes. Interviews with Smith helped delve into his almost reluctant popularity, as at one point he stated, he did interviews and played concerts merely to continue to write and record music, his passion. The interviews with colleagues and friends, on the other hand, served more as catharsis for them, as they were semi-insightful, but overall mostly unremarkable. The pain is there though, 12 years removed from Smith's demise, his presence is felt, again evoked from Rossi's images, specifically of the tributes around the famous Figure 8 wall.

Though it may have been sexy and appealing to show, the film's strength is the exclusion of the imprecise details that surround Smith's apparent suicide. The film serves as a tribute and introspection of Smith's talents and rise, rather than his flaws and fall.

Photographer, Autumn De Wilde, couldn't have concluded the film in a more excellent fashion by stating, Smith used "the words we couldn't find when we were sad." He was the voice of common misery and made even the most desperate, disparaging of times seem so beautiful.

Beautiful tribute.

[CamiJoan · 10/10 · 5 August 2014]

Heaven Adores You is a wonderful, funny, heartbreaking, and real look into the life of late, singer-songwriter, Elliott Smith. There is an incredible collection of personal photographs, interviews, and new music for those, like me, who are die hard Smith fans. If you're someone who's never heard the music of Elliott Smith, you'll leave this film and run to the nearest record store to buy every album. The amazing team behind Heaven Adores You has really put together a beautiful tribute to a beautiful soul. This film will reach new generations and create Elliott Smith fans so that the music can continue to be spread. If you have the chance to see this film, do it.

A film for fans, both new and old

[altered_beast-56-449663 · 10/10 · 17 July 2014]

I saw the international premiere in Toronto during Canadian Music Week and can't wait to see it again.

By showing the overall history of Elliott's career, it's both easy for new fans to learn about his career, while older fans will hopefully discover something they didn't already know.

The film contains plenty of music I hadn't heard, which was just one of many reasons to see the film.

I honestly feel that Elliott deserves as much attention as possible, so detailed films like this one should make it easier for new fans to discover his music, either with his early bands or solo career.

The Right Doc about Elliot

[HelloCruelWorld · 10/10 · 26 August 2015]

Some people want to know about the music. Some people want to know about the tragedy.I'm glad that this take on the Elliot Smith story will have some reach for the generations to come who discover him.

Sometimes, it's best to be remembered for what you gave to society with the talent that you had, and how it impacted thousands of people long after you were gone, than to focus on the drama, the tabloid fodder and the allegations of your personal life for strangers to obsess over.

I'm glad this film focused on the music. After all, what were you doing going to see an Elliot Smith film if it wasn't about the music in the first place?

Raises many questions, but gives few answers and little insight

[Dragonfly777 · 4/10 · 12 August 2015]

I did learn that Elliott grew up in Dallas, but apart from that, I learned very little. It was as if everybody involved in making this were committed to being intentionally vague and uninformative.

Is there any explanation for why or how he left Dallas for Portland as a kid? No, nothing apart from his sister saying he didn't get along with his dad. His Portland girlfriend says that she thought the song he wrote for her was sweet, but follows with a statement suggesting its delivery was hurtful, but no explanation as to how or why. Off to New York. All is going great. The Oscar nomination. XO. Then without any explanation as to why, it's revealed that he was making distressing phone calls at night from the road, and an email hinting at suicidal thinking, leading to an "intervention" by friends and handlers... with zero explanation as to what was going on. Then off to LA. Figure 8. Big on the scene. A couple of people mention drugs becoming a problem, then that he knew when to stop. His manager quit, saying he'd gotten too mean. The guy who'd shot videos for Elliott for years says he suddenly realized that the person everyone loved wasn't there anymore. No explanations, no details, only vague nondescript hints at a darkness. No mention of his relationships in LA.

It's as if there is a gag order placed on everyone involved in this film, preventing anyone from revealing what was going on in Elliott's life that would make a scratch below the surface. There are many problems and stories hinted at throughout the duration of the doc, raising questions that are then dodged, left unanswered. This doc stumbles along in this way with far too many stretches of pseudo-artistic shots of building, trains, Portland neighborhoods, houses, bridges and over-passes, and lazy views from inside a moving car. The music that accompanies these interludes is good. Still, as a doc, there is very little actual substantive content, and there seems to be no interest in providing any insight into either Elliot's life or music that isn't already obvious. I watched the doc in its entirety twice in one day, and I know very little more about the life and music of Elliott Smith now than I did before watching it.

This doc looks like a home movie, shot for only a small company of friends and associates, with restraints on anything that might be considered personal or negative. Sadly it lacks the restraints imposed by the old 8mm film once used for home movies. This camera can run and run and never run out of film, chewing up a great deal of repetitive scenery.

I hope a real documentary is made, one that answers the questions this one only hints at and skirts by, one that isn't afraid to dig in and get real, like Smith did with his music. I don't see the point in only stating the obvious, Elliott Smith was someone special and wasn't always sad or biographical, and only touching his story like a stone skipping across deep waters, hinting at much more but revealing very little. This attempt to NOT be like a VH1 expose went too far in the other direction, and ends up being nothing more than a tight-lipped tribute to Elliott's talents, and to Portland. The subject was and is ripe for something outstanding and illuminating. This was only a wisp of smoke.

Disappointing to say the least

[megamoto85 · 1/10 · 19 July 2015]

I hoped i could see more of Elliott, i.e unscreened interviews or unreleased songs, this documentary could have been 20 minutes, instead its one and a half hour of boring footage of streets trains houses and so on, also, Nicholas Rossi milked this for years until i finally could watch it outside of the states, man what a disappointment.

Some of the interviews was interesting, but it just doesn't hold up at all, Nicholas Rossi made this to make money, and it shows, Elliott would turn in his grave if he knew this would be released. Im just so saddened that this was allowed.

Lets hope someone that actually uses footage from his life, and actually knows Elliotts story, describing an proper "life and death" of this wonderful man makes a proper documentary.

Amateurish

[Nimz12345 · 20 June 2021]

An amateurish production of one of the great Indie Rock talents. It's half formed - nice interviews with his clean and respectable friends from the early years but not the people who knew him on the downslope. His manager hardly features and his descent into drug hell, the squandering of his unique talent and his mysterious death are all completely glossed over. His fans all wanted an in depth documentary and this piece ruins any prospect of that happening. A missed opportunity.