The Edge of Heaven Review

Reviewed by: The Film Snob

Synopsis: A few people have sad stories.

Review: I know I know–this the review you’ve all been waiting for. This foreign film had a quite release in the U.S., but has earned solid reviews from film critics. I just don’t get the appeal. The movie tells the stories of six individuals—each of their stories has a sad twist to it. The only problem is–who cares? I found these characters to be without substance–I could not care less about their fates.

I really don’t know what this movie was trying to accomplish. Again, the critics like this movie–Robert Ebert said he found the characters to be fascinating. Let me say this–having a sad story does not make a person interesting! You want to know what happens in this movie–let me tell you–a few people die and a few more mourn their death. That’s it. And I would be fine with that–if only they had anything interesting to say! Some of my favorite movies consist of nothing more than people talking for 90 minutes, but you see here’s the difference–they actually talk about something! This was two hours of talking, yet nothing at all was said. You know what I felt at the end of this film–mercy–that’s what I felt–mercy that it was finally done with. I am mystified about what the attraction is for these critics. I think they confuse a sad story with a good story–just because a character has suffered in their life, this doesn’t make their story worth telling.

You know what the upside to this movie is? One of the characters looks like Topher Grace, that’s it! And what sticks me is that I like foreign movies and I like movies that tell the human story–and that is exactly what this film is–the problem is that they did a terrible job of telling the story–because the plot goes nowhere–at the end of this thing you are aware of this sequence of events that happened, but you have nothing to do with it–I watched it, thought “ok”, and turned the tv off–having been no better off for the experience. I could just outline the plot for you right here and you will have the exact same experience that I had–except you would have yourself the two hours.

Rating: 2.9

Recommendation: Please don’t waste your time with this thinking it’s a story about the human element, what it’s about is wasting two hours, nothing more.