Higher Ground follows the life story of Corinne (Farmiga). The movie starts slow and never picks up much speed. We see Corinne’s childhood home-life her introduction to Christianity her intellectual curiosity her marriage at a young age and finally her â€coming-to-God†moment. This is all before we finally get to see Corinne as an adult and her total devotion to Christianity. While everything in the first act isn’t unnecessary it could have been condensed and more creatively explained. Religion is a tricky topic. It’s incredibly easy to mock it or to preach it. But an honest exploration of faith requires complete commitment and a willingness to let non-believers scoff and the holier-than-thou scorn. Vera Farmiga’s directorial debut Higher Ground manages the impressive task of fully committing to its characters’ faith. Unfortunately it never transforms that commitment into a more fulfilling experience. Despite an earnest approach to the Christian faith Farmiga never finds anything interesting to say about it. Once we see Corinne’s life as a devout Christian the film picks up a little bit of steam but can’t maintain its pace. Watching Corinne go through the paces of her Christian life is curious but Farmiga doesn’t seem to know what’s worthwhile in the story and what’s not. She also isn’t able to bring a spark to the proceedings. There are some laughs from the oddities of her Evangelical faith but almost everything is presented so matter-of-fact that there rarely seems to be much joy in Christianity. When Corinne expresses her desire to speak in tongues so she can be closer to God it’s a wonderful moment because the film rarely shows the love from these people who love Jesus. To its great credit Higher Ground never thumbs it nose at faith and that is incredibly admirable. The film has the potential to be something special because it makes no judgment on the devotion of its characters. It questions their discriminatory practices and close mindedness but it nurtures their total belief in God and the Devil as physically real entities that can be called upon and fought against in one’s daily struggles. But Higher Ground never connects the faith of its characters to something grander. There are no deep insights or even much of an emotional connection. It’s not a film that’s about big performances and it’s clear that Farmiga is actively making a choice not to go big (except in brief bizarre fantasy sequences that feel like a comic crutch) and that’s fine if you’ve got intensity or complexity simmering beneath the surface. Higher Ground could have been divine but the story and Farmiga’s direction rarely manage to raise the film’s spirit. It's really hard to classify Warren Miller's Higher Ground. All of Warren's films have a mix of awesome skiiing and entertaining extras mixed in. This one seems to have more emphasis on the entertainment than any other of the films I've seen. In addition while many of Warren's movies have a progression of locations that are tied in well to the title this one is perhaps most confusing because the title "Higher Ground" seems to have little to do with many of the sequences. The movie starts slowly with many spoofed comic sequences. More on this later. When they get to Cordova you get the kind of classic pan and zoom shots that I have come to expect from Warren Miller. YOu get to see some nice ski cuts against big mountain backdrops. Obviously there is an emphasis on heli-skiing in this video. The music on this one is also mostly the typical eclectic mix of ski documentaries. There's some Incubus thrown in with Pearl Jam and plenty of fast paced hip hop and rock tunes to provide a backdrop for all the tricks.
Please Rate this Article 5 out of 54 out of 53 out of 52 out of 51 out of 5
Not yet Rated
