Heights (2005)

Director:

Chris Terrio

Writers:

Amy Fox (play)
Amy Fox (screenplay)

Release Date:

8 December 2005 (Israel)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

Spanning twenty-four hours, Heights follows five New Yorkers challenged to choose their destiny before the sun comes up the next day.

Plot Keywords:

Acting Coach | Pop Tart | Actress | Play Within Film | Answering Machine

Awards:

1 win

Cast

Chandler Williams	...	Juilliard Macbeth
Bess Wohl	...	Juilliard Lady Macbeth
Glenn Close	...	Diana
Elizabeth Banks	...	Isabel
James Marsden	...	Jonathan
Jesse Bradford	...	Alec
Daniel Neiden	...	Wedding Rabbi
Thomas Lennon	...	Marshall
Matthew Davis	...	Mark (as Matt Davis)
John Light	...	Peter
Isabella Rossellini	...	Liz
Susan Malick	...	Rachel
Rachel Siegel	...	Autograph Seeker
Katie Kreisler	...	Helen
Philip Tabor	...	Paul

Also Known As:

En la cumbre (Spain) [es]
Gizli iliskiler (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Mia nyhta sto Manhattan (Greece) [el]
Por Conta do Destino (Brazil) [pt]
Tempo de Recomeçar (Brazil) (cable TV title) [pt]

MPAA:

Rated R for language, brief sexuality and nudity.

Runtime:

USA:98 min (DVD version) | USA:93 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Spanish | Hebrew

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

UK:15 | Canada:14A (Ontario) | Brazil:18 | USA:R | Australia:M

Filming Locations:

Bryant Park, Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Company:

Merchant Ivory Productions

Trivia:

The poem that Diana lovingly recites to Isabel when they are sitting on the steps near the end of the movie is from Edgar Allan Poe's "Annabel Lee," with Diana substituting "Isabel" for "Annabel." Eight lines are spoken from the poem, but not in order they were written: I was a child and she was a child, In this kingdom by the sea: But we loved with a love that was more than love - I and my Annabel Lee. For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams Of the beautiful Annabel Lee; And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.

Goofs:

Factual errors: The film takes place in the winter or fall season and yet the Fringe Festival which Alec is doing is always in August in New York City.

Quotes:

[looking at Peter's copy of Benjamin's catalog]
Diana Lee: Well, he still has impeccable taste.

Movie Connections:

References Persona (1966)

Soundtrack:

Masturbation Session

Passion and Urban Ennui in NY

This film begins with the Glenn Close character, a famous actress who could be Close herself, giving a master class in Shakespeare to a bunch of Juilliard acting students, in which she laments the lack of passion she sees in their performances and, more broadly, in the world she inhabits. Which is a fitting, and ironic, prologue for a movie that looks at the ennui of urban lives and the emotional earthquakes that disrupt them. This is a contemporary New York character-driven drama, but it reminds me of a 1970s movie -- in a good way. There are slightly retro split screens, long-lens conversations like mid-period Woody Allen movies, and a sense of lightness in the directing style that never becomes slickness. It's also refreshing to see an independent film that doesn't completely deteriorate in the third act -- it's almost become taboo to tell a story that is satisfying in the world of independent film, because it's seen as a concession to Hollywood. But this manages to do it in a convincing way without selling out to the forces of cheesiness or convention.