Himmelskind (2016)

Himmelskind: Directed by Patricia Riggen. With Jennifer Garner, Kylie Rogers, Martin Henderson, Brighton Sharbino. Based on the incredible true story of the Beam family.

“Miracles From Heaven is directed by Patricia Riggen and stars Jennifer Garner as the mother of a sick child named Anna, played by Kylie Rogers. The child is diagnosed with a rare disease that doesnu0026#39;t allow her body to digest food. Stay away from the trailers for this movie if you plan on seeing it; they spoil the entire film. Thatu0026#39;s all Iu0026#39;m going to say, because I donu0026#39;t want to spoil the movie for anyone.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eI was somewhat excited about seeing Miracles From Heaven, but I was expecting the movie to be as the trailers said it would be, and it was a completely different movie, despite it still being pretty good. The marketing team for this movie should really be fired, because the advertisement for Miracles From Heaven was marketing a separate movie. The film does have some flaws, but it was good overall.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eMy favorite thing about Miracles From Heaven was the performances given by the actors that play the little girlu0026#39;s parents, that being Jennifer Garner as the mother and Martin Henderson as the father. These two did pretty great together, and made a very believable married couple that are struggling with their ability to cope with the sickness that their daughter has. Although I wish the film went a bit deeper into their conflicted relationship based on stress and disagreements, both actors did very well, and deserve some recognition by receiving future roles.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eHaving said that about the two parents, and the actors that played them, not many other characters, or actors, stand out. Most of the other actors do fine, and donu0026#39;t really have anything special to do with their screen time, while also not exactly doing bad. Queen Latifah was marketed as playing a big character in this film (her name is on the poster), yet her character was given a good amount of depth, and then forgot about by the script. Her character just disappears from the film entirely, and it was pretty disappointing, to be honest.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eKylie Rogers, who plays Anna, the sick little girl, does pretty good. Her performance isnu0026#39;t very distinctive, but she does okay for a little girl. Both of her sisters seem like wasted characters overall. I really wish the film wouldu0026#39;ve dived into the difficulties that the sisters were dealing with, as in having a very sick sister, but it didnu0026#39;t. The sisters, played by Brighton Sharbino and Courtney Fansler, were partially wasted as characters that couldu0026#39;ve been interesting.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe direction was pretty good. No shots really stood out as good or bad, and the overall camera work did what it shouldu0026#39;ve done, it just wasnu0026#39;t as interesting as it couldu0026#39;ve been. The script was pretty nice, with some very good dialogue at points, and some pretty bland dialogue at others. There were a couple different subplots that really shouldu0026#39;ve been either cut out, or given more attention to, that were kind of stuck in between the two, and those elements are what dragged the story down.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eThe absolute worst thing about Miracles From Heaven is the pacing, particularly with the time jumps. There are more than enough time jumps, yet the film fails to explain how much time has passed. Coming out of the theater, I didnu0026#39;t know whether or not the filmu0026#39;s setting lasted 6 months or 6 years. These time jumps really pulled the movie down by an entire letter grade (or so), and was pretty underwhelming.u003cbr/u003eu003cbr/u003eOther than the few complaints I mentioned, I liked just about everything about Miracles From Heaven. It didnu0026#39;t get too preachy, and was constructed as a film pretty well. Iu0026#39;d recommend Miracles From Heaven to anyone who can handle watching something somewhat sad, because there are a couple sentimental moments.”