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Overall Rating : 6.5/10
Directed By : Frank E. Flowers
Bill Paxton (Twister)
Orlando Bloom (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest)
Zoe Saldana (Drumline)
Agnes Bruckner (Venom)
Supplied By : Fox Home Video
Film Reviewed By : Rick Blalock
Date Reviewed : Dec. 12, 2006
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| PLOT On the idyllic shores of the Cayman Islands, Shy and Andrea share a secret her parents can never know – they are in love. But a night of passion leads to their discovery and a devastating act of vengeance by Andrea's brother. Meanwhile, a shady American businessman has fled with his daughter to the Islands to avoid federal prosecution, only to be drawn into a dangerous web of deceit. As lives intersect and truths are revealed, a chain reaction of violence is set in motion that will determine whether love can survive the fall of paradise. |
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| THE REVIEW In the vein of films such as TRAFFIC and CRASH, come HAVEN from young Writer and Director, Frank E. Flowers. In HAVEN, two stories are uniquely intertwined and at one point crossing to create one moving story. The majority of the film taking place on the Cayman islands our main story, I guess you'd call it, follows a young fisherman by the name of Shy. Shy works for a Cayman Native, and unbeknownst to the boss, he has been having a love affair with his daughter Andrea - and when he and her Brother Hammer find out about the fling they are not too happy. From that pont on we follow Shy as he deals with a number of problems, one of which being that Hammer and his Dad have accused him of raping his love Andrea...and a second being that all of the controversy ends up with Hammer ambushing Shy - burning one side of his face (which lands Hammer in jail for for months) during those months the two lovers' lives seem to be going into a tailspin, as Shy once very social has now become secluded and Andrea once innocent and virginal has now become the equivalent of a street-walker and drug fiend. On the other side of the beautiful island we have Carl Ridley and Daughter Pippa. Carl along with his partner "Mr. Allen as he is mostly referred to, have been engaged in some shady business affairs and as a result, the feds are on to them. So to avoid jail time, Carl along with a reluctant Pippa fled to the cayman islands where Carl has a condo set up for them to live. But as they arrive, Carl finds that he may have a little more to worry about then going straight, as his daughter the freshly 18 Pippa has found a friendship in a young hoodlum named Fritz whom is into thievery and all things of the like, whom ultimately introduces Pippa to the drug scene. In the end the two stories lightly clash, both ending rather tragically but one on a happier note than the other. HAVEN is a film that was made nearly three years ago, but for some reason it was pushed back several times, that is until now as it is set to release at the end of this month. Most reviews I have read about this film first complain just how confusing it is and that the stories do not tie together - in which both cases are true but I am not complaining. Confusing yes, at first, but the way it occurred to me is that it did all come together after awhile....a little patience is all that is needed. As for not tying together, I saw haven as an anthology like picture that instead of stopping it continues seamlessly within one film.... and to be honest I saw not problem with it..... a tie together would've been nice for the stories, but in my opinion was not really necessary. The film actually starts out with Carl and Pippa living in Miami, and it goes on to the move to the islands and towards middle of the film Pippa and Shy cross which moves us on to the next story. The story of Shy and Andrea is rather touching one and is unfortunately most of the time true for today's society. Shy a white man is in love with Andrea a black woman and due to the interracial stipulation of their relationship this is frowned upon by her relatives and they will do anything to stop it (more so, her brother Hammer will). This story ends one a powerful note as it drives Shy over the edge all in the name of love causing heartbreak from him as well as Andrea's family... in the end delivering the strong message that prejudice is the worst tragedy of all. The second story is one that felt was the less developed of the two and I would've really liked it to have been more solid as well, Basically the story of Carl and Pippa is one is which the daughter feels alienated by her father because he is too busy dealing with his shady on goings - so she seeks refuge in someone else. That person is Fritz and he almost sends her on the wrong path and by then Carl realizes his distance with Pippa. But by the time Carl realizes this it is too late as the feds have caught him - but what he leaves behind for her, sends the message to Pippa that he really did mean well all along. Shot on location in the Cayman islands HAVEN is a story that has a feel of realism to it. Growing up on the island Flowers wanted to give us an insight of what it is like to grow up on the island, and although not perfect, it is a fairly entertaining look at the gritty side of such a beautiful place. I really liked watching the film, in some points in the film it seems really SCARFACE-esque(maybe it's just the setting and then drugs....who knows?) and some of the relationships - mostly the one between Shy and his best friend a local native, give the vibe of a Larry Clark type film - it truly is a mixture of different styles. But for as much as the stuff I did like about the film there are a few things I didn't as I mentioned the Carl Pippa storyline is too loose. For one, we don't really know what it is that Carl has done, what is he being charged for? For that, my guess would be embezzlement - but one never knows for sure and on top of that for less time is spent on there story. The winning portion of the story is the Sly/Andrea love story, as I thought it was great. Bloom and Saldana are both highly believable in their characters, thus conveying to the audience, a feeling of true love, Bloom's character's love firmly comes across in the plots climax a heated confrontation with Hammer. Overall, I thought the two stories to be very thought provoking and deep, and with great performances by virtually all, it is a film I greatly enjoyed despite a little confusion. |
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| GORE
METER N/A No Gore. |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 5/10 As with the setting of the film, the soundtrack is very tropical, and in the end I thought it worked ok. |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM I have read a lot of negative and fairly negative reviews for HAVEN, but they all seem to compare it to other films and since they do not believe it to be as good as those, they are quick to slam it. On my end, I went in with a clear head and open mind, not comparing it to anything, and I find a film that was great, and was really surprised this didn't get a wider theatrical run than it did. With that said, I enjoyed it and maybe you will too... maybe not, it's just a matter of opinion. This DVD will be released on December 26, 2006 |
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