Heaven Before I Die

this movie could be one of the best movies ever made, for it's atmosphere so ironic and dramatic, wrapped in soft melancholy so to let you feel everything that's Canadian in Leonard Cohen's songs. if anyone doesn't understand that, they should probably not watch the movie. this is not a movie for stupid people to brag afterward that they have seen "the worst movie ever"... the movie is tagged as a "comedy". well then, this is the comedy to watch, for it doesn't get more comical then life not for an instant. it just acutes the senses and wakes the spirit by wrapping the action into a

kind of slow, drifting carelessness. Canada, "the promised land", is where everything is new, but easy to accept, if not to understand. this is what makes it like heaven for before death. the entire movie gives the feeling that life is being allowably watched taking its course, but the soft ironic-sadness feeling does not disappear. maybe because the only one watching that the human spirit reaches heaven is the spirit itself and that infinity only allows a heaven before we die.

Right off the bat, this is demonstratively the most singular offering from pyrotechnically-inclined action merchants PM Entertainment, as their uncharacteristically sensitive, melodramatic dramedy 'Heaven Before I Die' is an earnestly told adult fairy tale about the quirky Canadian exodus of withdrawn, physically disabled young man, Jacob (Andy Valasquez Jr), leaving behind his close-knit loving family in Palestine in the sincere hope of living a more fulfilling life in the far-flung promised land of metropolitan Toronto! With whimsical shades of 'Being There' and 'Benny & Joon', you certainly have to credit indie writer/director Musallam for attempting to imbue his film with an elegiac sense of the mystic, but, sadly, he was unable to fully suspend this viewer's disbelief.

'Heaven Before I Die' has warmly optimistic qualities, but is ultimately a frustratingly episodic experience, there's a nagging sense that some essential magical component was either lost in the edit, or, perhaps, wasn't on the page to start with. At its best, an amiable misfire, the playful indie comedy's strengths are its endearingly innocent Chaplin impersonating protagonist, Jacob, and the wonderful cast, with an especially colourful performance from, Giancarlo Giannini as the charismatic, small-time thief who takes a shine to the kindly, ingenuous émigré, drawing him into his murky world of petty larceny which the gentle, childlike, physically impaired, Jacob is profoundly ill suited for! Technical aspects are solid, rather than exceptional, while the text provides some laughs and moderate pathos, the romantic elements felt contrived, but cinema icon, Omar Sharif's final act cameo as poet Kahlil Gibran is genuinely charming.

I cannot understand why anyone should describe this as a terrible film. If it were terrible I would not have been able to watch it as many times as I have. Technically it may have its faults, but overall it has a certain charm and some of the performances are a joy to behold.

It is true that much of the film is baffling. It is true that much of it doesn't make a lot of sense, but in the real world things don't all add up nicely, and many things are never explained (or capable of explanation).

I particularly liked Selma, the thief and Jacob, and was fascinated by the final scene with the violinist. No I don't understand the film, but I must say I enjoy it enormously.

This movie was funny, romance, had some twists thrown in. It really held my interest. It had some situation comedy that really kept my attention. Worth a watch for sure.