Heaven Knows What
RADiUS-TWC | Release Date: May 29, 2015 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
75
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews
Positive:
17
Mixed:
5
Negative:
0
Watch Now
Buy on
Stream On

Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsJun 18, 2015
Heaven Knows What, will not appeal to the majority of casual moviegoers. Likewise, I have no doubts regarding the film's remarkable achievement. Read full review
100
Time OutJoshua RothkopfJun 2, 2015
As gritty as Heaven Knows What often feels, it’s leavened by empathy and poetic moments: desperate kisses, a passed-out couch nap lit by slanting sunbeams, the beautifully eerie synth music of Tomita. This isn’t an easy watch, but it validates every risk we want our most emboldened filmmakers to take. Read full review
100
New York Daily NewsJoe NeumaierMay 28, 2015
There’s never a false moment. Read full review
90
Village VoiceMelissa AndersonMay 26, 2015
In the thinly veiled version of her life that appears onscreen, the actress unforgettably shows the deadening toll of always being on the move, only to return to the exact same place. Read full review
90
The DissolveScott TobiasMay 26, 2015
Heaven Knows What isn’t interested in merely exploring the world of New York City addicts. It wants to make their experiences felt, with the dissonant, amp-cracking roar of a punk anthem. Read full review
88
Boston GlobePeter KeoughJun 11, 2015
All this desperation and squalor reeks of authenticity. Many of the actors are from the streets themselves, and such locations as a crash pad rented out by a dotty lady could never be dreamed up by a Hollywood screenwriter. Read full review
85
NPRBob MondelloMay 29, 2015
As captured by the Safdies, they are — one and all — persuasive, arresting and fiercely in the moment, whether scamming or shooting up or doing heaven knows what to get by. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianJeff BakerJul 14, 2015
Heaven Knows What is a hard movie to recommend because of its unrelenting intensity and hideously depressing subject. It's a hard movie, period, but it's exceptionally well-made and beautiful in its execution. Read full review
83
The A.V. ClubMike D'AngeloMay 27, 2015
Because there’s no real narrative — just the constant effort to score and survive, plus Harley’s dysfunctional on/off love affair with Ilya — Heaven Knows What doesn’t so much conclude as just stop, which is less than totally satisfying. Read full review
80
New York Magazine (Vulture)David EdelsteinMay 29, 2015
By the end of Heaven Knows What, you see Ilya’s fragile, unguarded soul through Harley’s eyes, and the film’s discordances sound like the music of the spheres. Read full review
80
SalonAndrew O'HehirMay 28, 2015
There’s an honesty and ferocity to Heaven Knows What, a refusal to flinch from depicting the marginalized and despised underbelly of a caste-divided city. Read full review
80
VarietyScott FoundasApr 22, 2015
Holmes may not have the polished technique of a formally trained actress, but she has an innate capacity for drama, and whether or not she can go on to play roles further removed from her own experience, she’s electrifying in this one. Read full review
75
Chicago Sun-TimesRichard RoeperJun 18, 2015
At times this is a beautifully shot film — but the Safdies never glamorize Harley’s world or turn her character into some gloriously tragic heroine. We feel for Harley and we like her, but only a fool would want to spend five seconds in her tattered shoes. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineKenji FujishimaApr 22, 2015
If nothing else, Heaven Knows What is one of the most harrowing cinematic depictions of drug addiction in recent memory, reliant less on formal gimmickry than on close observation of behavior. Read full review
70
The New York TimesNicolas RapoldMay 28, 2015
The Safdie brothers capture a density of activity as endemic to the city as it is to Harley’s daily hustle. By tapping into her routines, instead of framing her along solely tragic lines, the filmmakers fashion a diary of experience that’s all the more absorbing. Read full review
70
The Hollywood ReporterDavid RooneyApr 22, 2015
Heaven Knows What is a strange film, at once distancing and transfixing. If it's not as impactful as it might have been considering the experiences portrayed, it has potent atmosphere and an admirable refusal to put any kind of gloss on the bleak reality of its limbo world. Read full review
63
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzJun 11, 2015
Although the film is raw, intense and even beautiful at times, the queasy knowledge of how it all came together constantly threatens to uproot any artistry. This doesn’t mean Heaven Knows What is a failure – just hopelessly complicated. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesMichael RechtshaffenMay 28, 2015
Despite the undeniable novelty of having Holmes on hand to keep it real, the absence of traditional character development ultimately takes its toll on viewer empathy. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleJun 12, 2015
Alas, the main thing that comes through in Heaven Knows What is that a junkie’s life is really, really monotonous. Read full review
50
Washington PostAnn HornadayJun 11, 2015
What elevates Heaven Knows What above other run-of-the-mill wallows in aimlessness and self-destructive compulsion is Arielle Holmes. Read full review
50
RogerEbert.comGodfrey CheshireMay 29, 2015
The result is a work that—like a whole sub-species of French films of the recent decades—fetishizes its own hyper-naturalistic visual style and performances (all but one by non-actors) while offering no original or striking insights into the world it portrays. Read full review
50
Movie NationRoger MooreMay 26, 2015
The novelty of having a real homeless junkie play a version of herself drives Heaven Knows What, a gritty hand-held character portrait of heroin addict life in New York today. Read full review
More From This Movie

75 Critic Reviews

6.7 User Reviews

Details & Credits|Trailers

Current Movie Releases
By MetascoreBy User Score
1 81 28 Years Later: The Bone Temple
2 77 Project Hail Mary
3 75 Send Help
4 73 Hoppers
5 72 The Sheep Detectives
SEE ALL
Essential Links
New on Amazon Prime Video
New on Netflix
Coming Soon to DVD/Blu-ray
SEE ALL