Higher Ground

Higher Ground is the first film directed by Vera Farmiga, an excellent actress who has created memorable roles in Martin Scorsese's The Departed (a social worker who cares too much for Leonardo Dicaprio's troubled undercover cop), in Jason Reitman's Up in the Air (as George Clooney's travel friend who ultimately breaks his heart) and probably most impressively as Irene (the girl just out if rehab and dropped back into the real world of her old friends and family), in Debra Granik's gripping Down to the Bone.

Higher Ground is neither abject failure nor soaring success. It is a film that sits somewhere in the middle, moderately entertaining, striving for authenticity, a glimpse into a dour world lifted at times by Farmiga's surprisingly comic touch. Farmiga's goal, it seems, is to give an accurate and entertaining view into a faith-based community without resorting to stereotypes, satire, or, conversely, a holier-than-though attitude of the truly converted. Adapted from the novel "This Dark World" by Caroline S. Briggs, the film is very much a fish out of water tale, following Corrine, a woman who grows into a life of religion. As a very young girl (played by McKenzie Turner) sitting in a nearly empty church, Corrine mysteriously volunteers to be "saved". When her mother arrives to get her and begins an animated talk with the pastor about the beach, Corrine has her first "vision”.  She sees the pastor and her mother "swimming" and laughing, belly to belly, in a pew. Her mind racing to interpret a tidbit of overheard dialogue, it is a sign that she possesses a vivid and playful imagination. Corrine has an older athletic sister who gets most of the attention while she spends much of her youth as an introspective writer. With a father who drinks too much and satisfies her mom less and less, Corrine falls into a quiet and private life that is suddenly disrupted by the attentions of a "rock and roller" who has heard about her writing skills. Their courtship is the most exciting part of the film as it explores the joy of youthful rebellion (his band--and this section of the film--is called "Renegades").  One of the best and funniest scenes in the film involves young Corrine (As a teenager she is played by Taissa Farmiga, Vera's younger sister) and Ethan (Joshua Leonard) as they "study", simultaneously exploring their growing physical and emotional attraction (cuddling songwriters) and expressing family rebellion by ignoring and offending her super-jock sister.

The only breath of fresh air in Corrine's life is her friend Annika (Dagmara Dominczyk), a free spirit unlike anyone else in the religious community. Annika is open to the improvisational religious experience of "speaking in tongues" (heresy to Corrine's increasingly tight-laced husband), manages to get Corrine to explore personal growth (they have a weird and funny encounter with a policeman during a driving lesson that hinges on Annika's experience with a deep and troubling "wedgie"), and, most fun of all, Annika has a thing for drawing her husband's penis. This is a very fun woman who suggests the kind of enjoyment that Corrine could have in life if she could just find a way to get away from the stiff and humorless religious community she has ended up living among.

The acting in Higher Ground is quite good--Farmiga has thought carefully about each role and put together a cast that has delivered some memorable performances. Corrine's father, a working-class guy who drinks hard, chain smokes, and makes life miserable for her mother, is played with painful realism by John Hawkes, who tore up the screen as Teardrop, the father in 2010's Winter Bone. Bill Irwin wears the role of Pastor Bud quite convincingly--he is sincere but also has a believable touch of world-weariness. Joshua Leonard does well as Corrine's adult husband, a repressed and tight-lipped man who (sadly) seems to have left his rock and roll past far behind. Taissa Farmiga, as Corrine in her teenage years--handles the transformation from bookish loner to sexual awareness with remarkable grace and attractiveness.

One of the biggest problems with Higher Ground, making the film much less interesting than it could be, is Farmiga's lack of experience when it comes to building scenes around action rather than dialogue. Her training as an actor is especially valuable when the scene is based on dialogue--the moments with her close friend Annika are wonderful because the relationship seems so real--we believe that friends really do talk this way. The same with the relationships with her father and mother--troubled as they are there is a believability that comes from the way that the characters communicate and express themselves. But the film could have benefited from a deeper understanding of the interplay between camera, actors and the potential for physical development within the mise-en-scene. Basically, the action scenes fall flat. This is most apparent during the penultimate transformational scene for Corrine and her husband - when the tour bus transporting the band, Corrine, and her small child goes off the road and plunges into a deep dark lake. All of the right ingredients are there--the band is playing around and creating dangerous driving conditions, there is a storm outside the windows, Corrine is tense about subjecting their child to the trip, and she even puts the baby into a large plastic cooler to "make her more comfortable". When the inevitable accident happens there is a bit of confusion about whether the baby can be found, then the scene cuts to a mellow bedroom scene in which Corrine and her husband read from the scriptures. They decide to let God into their lives because, it seems, he must have saved their child. The result (they become religious) is clear, but the way it happens lacks drama, tension and believability.

Higher Ground works as a vehicle for Vera Farmiga to explore her own conflicted views towards religion, being caught between a sense of obligation and the lingering desire that there might be something more out there. It is a solid character study of a woman who ultimately manages to hold onto her own self-esteem and even some of the sense of humor that finds so little means for expression as she settles into her new life. But the film itself feels less dramatic that it should and doesn't take the kind of chances that would elevate the storytelling into something more appealing. Farmiga has ultimately tried too hard, it seems, to be "real"--at the expense of telling a satisfying story.

                                               Thomas W. Campbell