I almost *never* get truly disturbed by movies. I don't know why - I just don't, but within the first ten minutes *Heaven Knows What* left me cold with overwhelming fear, it made me feel internally sick and I couldn't watch any more so I gave up on the movie. Now, two days later, I saw the scene in question and it once again grinded on my bones - it's fucking unsettling...I continued this time though, and wow! This is a fantastic film about drug abuse.

I will admit to the thing I love most about this project is the true story behind it. Josh Safdie approached Arielle Holmes on the street, exchanged numbers with her and eventually persuaded her to write a memoir about her drug-filled life. Even at the time of shooting, she was still deep in this lifestyle and the name is supposedly the only thing different to her real life. Even the majority of the supporting cast is people she knew - this is almost a documentary, no question.
I'm so fucking happy for Arielle Holmes for entering rehab after the film's release and now being completely free from drugs. She gives a great performance in this film and her being cast as a version of herself was a no-brainer. She is perfect, she even has the right look of the character (I can't explain it, she just does). She has expressed that seeing this very film was a major part of her escaping the life of drugs, and losing the real Ilya (Caleb Landry Jones's character) from an overdose just months after the movie's release must have made this journey extremely difficult.
To me, this story behind the movie is beautiful. I have practically grown up around heavy drug users and I hugely respect anyone who is able to get clean.
Hats off to Arielle Holmes! :clap::clap::clap:

The Safdie brothers have a truly unique vision if you ask me, and their direction of this and more recently *Good Time* honestly seems like an important breakthrough in independent cinema.
The film is deeply harrowing and difficult to watch, and *Heaven Knows It* so she gives it to Hell.