It happened to be the 20th anniversary of Elliott Smith's self- titled that I watched Nickolas Dylan Rossi's portrait of the beloved singer-songwriter whose talents were taken far too soon from this earth. Elliott Smith was one of the finest lyricist and delivered his gut wrenching lyrics in a quivering, whispery fashion. Unfortunately, his career was tragically cut short at the age of 34, but Nickolas Dylan Rossi has kept his legacy alive in his new film, Heaven Adores You. Rossi's directorial debut, funded by Kickstarter, is an Elliott Smith fan's dream, as it is a celebration of the singer's career, full of unreleased material and insights into Smith's world.The film itself is beautifully painful. Visually, Rossi accentuates Smith's journey from his emergence in the Portland music scene to his brush with super-stardom in New York and Los Angeles with magnificent images of the surrounding landscapes. Interviews with Smith helped delve into his almost reluctant popularity, as at one point he stated, he did interviews and played concerts merely to continue to write and record music, his passion. The interviews with colleagues and friends, on the other hand, served more as catharsis for them, as they were semi-insightful, but overall mostly unremarkable. The pain is there though, 12 years removed from Smith's demise, his presence is felt, again evoked from Rossi's images, specifically of the tributes around the famous Figure 8 wall. Though it may have been sexy and appealing to show, the film's strength is the exclusion of the imprecise details that surround Smith's apparent suicide. The film serves as a tribute and introspection of Smith's talents and rise, rather than his flaws and fall.Photographer, Autumn De Wilde, couldn't have concluded the film in a more excellent fashion by stating, Smith used "the words we couldn't find when we were sad." He was the voice of common misery and made even the most desperate, disparaging of times seem so beautiful.

I hoped i could see more of Elliott, i.e unscreened interviews or unreleased songs, this documentary could have been 20 minutes, instead its one and a half hour of boring footage of streets trains houses and so on, also, Nicholas Rossi milked this for years until i finally could watch it outside of the states, man what a disappointment.Some of the interviews was interesting, but it just doesn't hold up at all, Nicholas Rossi made this to make money, and it shows, Elliott would turn in his grave if he knew this would be released. Im just so saddened that this was allowed.Lets hope someone that actually uses footage from his life, and actually knows Elliotts story, describing an proper "life and death" of this wonderful man makes a proper documentary.

Heaven Adores You is a wonderful, funny, heartbreaking, and real look into the life of late, singer-songwriter, Elliott Smith. There is an incredible collection of personal photographs, interviews, and new music for those, like me, who are die hard Smith fans. If you're someone who's never heard the music of Elliott Smith, you'll leave this film and run to the nearest record store to buy every album. The amazing team behind Heaven Adores You has really put together a beautiful tribute to a beautiful soul. This film will reach new generations and create Elliott Smith fans so that the music can continue to be spread. If you have the chance to see this film, do it.

I saw the international premiere in Toronto during Canadian Music Week and can't wait to see it again.By showing the overall history of Elliott's career, it's both easy for new fans to learn about his career, while older fans will hopefully discover something they didn't already know.The film contains plenty of music I hadn't heard, which was just one of many reasons to see the film.I honestly feel that Elliott deserves as much attention as possible, so detailed films like this one should make it easier for new fans to discover his music, either with his early bands or solo career.