The film focuses on Smith';s life in the three cities he lived in during his music career, highlighted by his five solo albums from 1994-2000 and his 1998 Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. By threading the music of Elliott Smith through the dense, yet often isolating landscapes of the three major cities he lived in - Portland, New York City, Los Angeles - Heaven Adores You presents a visual journey and an earnest review of the singer';s prolific songwriting and the impact it continues to have on fans, friends, and fellow musicians.
Heaven Adores You is a fond remembrance of a talented musician by those who knew and loved him most. We should all be so lucky to score a tribute like this when we're gone.
Evocative location photography gives a strong sense of the indie rock scenes he inhabited in Portland, Oregon, and New York City, and there are affecting interviews with friends and colleagues who struggle to make sense of it all (as do I).
Heaven Adores You works best if you approach it like a mixtape or a fanzine. Watching the film feels just like discovering him on DIY mixtapes so many years ago.
Rossi may have aroused an appreciation of Smith's music but he may also have unwittingly refuelled more than a traducing interest in his gnomic demise.
While the documentary might be a bit lengthy, it is tied together with great spirit and any fan of Smith's would be remiss to skip out on Heaven Adores You.
The film is at its best when resurrecting the '90s Portland scene that shaped Smith musically and personally, drawing on intimate, original interviews with Smith's friends and colleagues of the period.
