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Location, location, location. It's the punch line to several jokes, but it's also a topic I've been thinking about lately. I had the privilege of seeing Vertigo in 70mm at the Music Box last week. Having just been to San Francisco this spring, I watched that movie with new eyes, noticing how Hitchcock used various locations around the city to tell a story. The week before, I caught Batman Begins; and though the movie's fight scenes are a mess and the plot is fairly predictable, I found myself marveling at how director Christopher Nolan utilized downtown Chicago (as well as Iceland) in various set pieces. Filming on actual streets and mountains seemed to provide a concrete foundation that shooting in front of a green screen (ala Star Wars) would've lost.

The film that actually got me thinking about location shooting is a little film called Heights. It's a multi-character drama set in Manhattan. It stars Elizabeth Banks (Seabiscuit) and James Marsden (X-Men) as Isabel and Jonathan, a young couple preparing for their wedding. She's a photographer reduced to shooting other people's weddings. He works in an office, though he also has his family's money to fall back on. Not that her family is poor. Her mother is Diana (Glenn Close), a world-famous actress who's about to make her triumphant return to the stage in Macbeth. The film opens with Diana conducting a master class, haranguing the students for not having enough passion in their lives and their acting. The not-so-subtle irony is that there is no passion in Diana's marriage (her husband is openly having an affair), and so she constantly questions Isabel whether her upcoming marriage is such a good idea.

There's also Peter (John Light), a writer researching a biographical piece on Benjamin, a famous photographer who scandalously sleeps with all of his models. It turns out that one of those models a few years back was Jonathan, and the arrival of Peter digging up old dirt provides one of the movie's conflicts--will Isabel find out about her fiance's past? Isabel's past shows up in the person of Mark (Matt Davis), an old flame who might have a job for her at the New York Times, though taking it would require her to put off her wedding, which wouldn't bother Mark at all. And then there's Alec (Jesse Bradford), a struggling actor, who ends up reading for Diana on a film she's directing. She takes a liking to Alec, despite their age difference. Other characters floating around the edges of our story include Eric Bogosian as the director of Macbeth and George Segal as a rabbi who's trying to help Isabel and Jonathan through pre-marital counseling.

Director Chris Terrio, making his debut, got his break working as an assistant to the team of Ismail Merchant (who passed away just last month) and James Ivory, and they're two of the producers for Heights. Though this film takes place in America, rather than Merchant and Ivory's usual English locations, it feels like a Merchant/Ivory picture. It features the same strong ensemble acting--Glenn Close is brilliant, but Elizabeth Banks, in her first big role, is the real eye-opener. It's also somewhat conventional in the way Merchant/Ivory movies can be, with a predictable storyline focusing on the big issues of love and marriage. It also concentrates on the lives of the upper crust, as every major character, with the exception of Alec, is part of New York's financial or cultural elite. Even Alec is surprisingly independent; his status's only handicap is that he has to work as a caterer a few hours on a Friday night.

But what sets Heights apart is its New York location. Terrio grew up in Staten Island, and his familiarity with Manhattan pays off in spades. My friend Garth remarked after the screening, "I haven't seen New York look like that before," and it's true. Terrio avoids the usual New York settings (though there is a nice moment in Bryant Park) for unusual and striking compositions. A number of scenes take place on top of buildings (hence the title), and the way Terrio and cinematographer Jim Denault (_Maria Full of Grace_) capture the skyline is fantastic.

The impact of shooting on location goes way beyond pretty pictures, though. Many of the street scenes have an authenticity that can only come from small-scale moviemaking in the midst of city life. As Banks said in a recent interview, "It's the little things, like I'm talking on the cell phone, and I go to cross the street, and an actual taxi is going to run me over. So when I walk, I'm really making sure to look both ways." Even the interior sequences were filmed in actual apartment buildings, which helps guide the performances. In the same interview, Terrio stated, "There's a scene where James Marsden is talking outside of an apartment. And that's a real apartment building in Chelsea. And there was a baby next door, and from time to time the owners would come out and ask us to keep it down. So James's performance is informed by the fact that it's a real apartment building." And James and Isabel's apartment is small enough that the cramped quarters lend an authentic claustrophobia to the story.

Unfortunately, not all of the plot is as authentic. There's a schematic element to the narrative, as supposedly random characters turn out to be separated by only one or two degrees instead of the usual six, and the storyline marches inexorably towards a big party (to which everybody has been invited) that forms the climax of the film. Furthermore, pieces of dialogue are unfortunately obvious. Early in the film, someone is described as "gay but not gay." A scene later, we find out about Jonathan's earlier affair. Convenient, that.

Nonetheless, Heights has a lot going for it. It's great to see Glenn Close in a meaty role, it's fun to watch Banks show what she can do, and it's fantastic to watch how a film can utilize its city location in a powerful, compelling way. 

J. Robert Parks