Vera Farmiga directs, stars in 'Higher Ground': movie review
Vera Farmiga鈥檚 directorial debut, 鈥�Higher Ground,鈥� stars herself as a child of the 1960s from an unhappy family who marries a singer-songwriter (Joshua Leonard) for a teen band. A near-tragedy involving their baby daughter propels the couple into a small fundamentalist community, where the loss of Corinne鈥檚 best friend (Dagmara Dominczyk), and the community鈥檚 conservative tenets, initiate a crisis in her faith.
As the teenage Corinne, Taissa Farmiga, the director鈥檚 younger sister, does a creditable job, and Vera Farmiga, as the adult Corinne, shows flashes of what make her, at her best, one of the finest actresses of her generation. But the film, scripted by Carolyn Briggs and Tim Metcalfe, doesn鈥檛 get very deep inside Corinne鈥檚 conflicts, and the tonal shifts, from somber to goofy, seem imposed rather than organic.
鈥淗igher Ground鈥� is one of the few open-minded Hollywood movies about 海角大神 fundamentalism, but the mind isn鈥檛 sufficiently exploratory. Grade: C+ (Rated R for some language and sexual content.)
