Martin Donovan seems to have a knack for showing
up in oddball projects. I first saw him in "Amateur"
where he played a confused good guy who used to be a total sleazeball
until he got shoved out a third story window and got amnesia.
Then I saw him in "Nadja", a low-budget vampire jaunt
with a strong lesbian undercurrent. Then there was "The Opposite
of Sex", where Martin played a rich gay schoolteacher who
was somewhat of an anchor among a whole gallery of crazies. Not
your typical leading man...
And "Heaven" is not your typical thriller. Donovan plays Robert Marling, a compulsive gambler whose life has spun way out of control. He's entering the throes of a nasty divorce, all the while marinating himself in the low-life underworld of London, drinking and gambling his brains out. He finds a convoluted and unlikely salvation through Heaven, an exotic dancer with the ability to look into the future. I use the word convoluted because it's a pretty bumpy ride, and things get ugly at times... real ugly.
Like Donovan's other movies, this one is very unconventional. None of the characters are allowed to be cliche, and the storyline certainly isn't. The cast delves into the many but seldom visited shades of gray that exist between absolute good and absolute evil. Bit players refuse to stay on the sidelines and remain insignificant. The editing is very sophisticated, jumping ahead and back in time, tying various sub-plots together then splitting them apart. It's very ambitious, and it works! Much credit is due to writer and director Scott Reynolds. Unlike so many of the underwritten, under-written mainstream thrillers that inevitably cave in and subject the viewer to 10 minutes of test-screened closing mush, this film keeps it together right up to the ending credits.
It's not always easy to watch, but in the end, I found "Heaven" to be very refreshing, satisfying and effective as a psychological thriller.