Heaven Knows What

This extraordinary indie chronicles young junkies on New York’s West Side. If it feels authentic, that’s because its writer and star Arielle Holmes, a former addict, based the script on her own experiences. She plays Harley, a teenager who is as frighteningly committed to her daily fix as she is to her emotionally remote boyfriend (a scary Caleb Landry Jones).

As gritty as ‘Heaven Knows What’ often feels, it’s lightened up by empathy and poetic moments: desperate kisses; a passed-out couch-nap lit by slanting sunbeams; a beautifully eerie synth score by Japanese composer Isao Tomita. This isn’t easy to watch, but it is bold, brave filmmaking.