Dear Shaded Viewers,
Just back from an extremely disturbing screening of Heaven Knows What by Josh and Benny Safdie, it opens in Paris February 3rd. The film is based on the star, Arielle Holmes who was a junkie living on the streets of New York. She wrote a book which is the basis for the film. It is about a homeless addict in love with another …addict who treats her like dirt. Her first introduction to crack was with her mother at the age of 12, heroin came at the age of 17 followed by 3 years homeless on the street. The film feels like a fictionalized document. The Safdie brothers cast Holmes when they encountered her at the age of 19 living on the streets as an addict, they encouraged her to write about her experiences, she did, the 150 page manuscript slightly fictionalizes her real liThe cast has only one professional actor, Caleb Landry who plays the love interest. The other characters were people Holmes hung around with on the street, they played junkies and misfits, basically referencing their real selves.The character Mike is played by Buddy Duress and pretty arresting as a irst time actor as is Holmes and the other characters.Not an uplifting film for sure but one well worth watching.
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