Benny and Josh Safdie's 2015 drama drops straight into New York's Diamond District streets, following a young woman named Harley through a relationship as consuming as the drug she can't put down. Arielle Holmes, cast after the directors read her own unpublished memoir, anchors the film.
What is Heaven Knows What about?
Harley's days orbit around Ilya, a volatile presence who treats devotion as a test to be repeated. When he pushes her toward an act of self-harm to prove her feelings, she meets the demand with barely a flinch, heroin has already dulled her instinct for self-preservation. The film tracks her through shelters, sidewalks, and a rotating cast of addicts and hangers-on, including a would-be rival for her attention. Structure here is loose by design: incident piles on incident with the rhythm of a single ongoing day, mirroring how time actually moves for someone whose next fix is the only appointment that matters.
About the cast
Arielle Holmes plays a version of her own past, drawing on experiences she later expanded into a memoir. Caleb Landry Jones takes on Ilya with an unpredictable, cutting energy, while Buddy Duress, later a recurring Safdie collaborator, appears as part of the street ensemble. None of the principal cast had significant prior screen credits when the film was shot.
Context & significance
The Safdie brothers built the film's texture from real locations and, in several cases, real people they'd met while researching New York's homeless and addicted communities, blending scripted scenes with documentary-style camera work. Shot on 16mm, the movie carries a grainy, handheld immediacy that keeps it apart from more polished addiction dramas. It premiered at the Venice Film Festival before a limited theatrical run, building the reputation that would carry the Safdies toward their later, more widely seen features.
Watching Heaven Knows What on Ktime
Heaven Knows What streams on K-Time with Persian dubbing and subtitles available, so Farsi-speaking viewers can follow Harley's story in either format. A free K-Time account and login are all that's needed to watch.