Higher Ground (2011)
Average Rating: 7/10
Reviews Counted: 85
Fresh: 69 | Rotten: 16
No consensus yet.
Average Rating: 7.5/10
Critic Reviews: 30
Fresh: 25 | Rotten: 5
No consensus yet.
liked it
Average Rating: 3.5/5
User Ratings: 2,416
My Rating
Movie Info
Vera Farmiga's directorial debut, Higher Ground, depicts the landscape of a tight-knit spiritual community thrown off-kilter when one of their own begins to question her faith. Inspired by screenwriter Carolyn S. Briggs' memoir, This Dark World, the film tells the story of a thoughtful woman's struggles with belief, love, and trust-in human relationships as well as in God. -- (C) Sony Classics
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Cast
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Joshua Leonard
Ethan Miller -
Norbert Leo Butz
Pastor Bill -
Michael Chernus
Ned -
Vera Farmiga
Corinne Walker -
McKenzie Turner
Young Corinne Walker -
Donna Murphy
Kathleen Walker -
John Hawkes
CW Walker -
Matthew Dubas
Salesman -
Taylor Schwencke
Young Wendy Walker -
Jillian Lindig
Mrs. Tuttle -
Bill Irwin
Pastor Bud -
Alden Rosakranse
Tim -
Taissa Farmiga
Teenage Corinne Walker -
James Noon
Kirk -
Kaitlyn Rae King
Teenage Wendy Walker -
Robert Boyd Holbrook
Teenage Ethan Miller -
Brandon Boyer
Mike -
Harrison Basch
Renegade -
Noah Bowman
Renegade -
Booker James Winter
Biology Teacher -
Warren Haynes
Warren -
Luella Roche
Younger Abigail Miller -
Sarah Banks
Younger Lily Miller -
Dagmara Dominczyk
Annika -
Barbara Tuttle
Deborah -
Molly Hawkey
Molly -
Ebon Moss-Bachrach
Luke -
Frank Goodyear
Dr. Frank Barnes -
Reagan Leonard
Hope -
Charles Glaser
Woody -
Lucy Owen
Joanna -
Nina Arianda
Wendy Walker -
Joseph Sinagra
Cop -
Sarah Little
Older Abigail Miller -
Zoe Pipa
Older Lily Miller -
Mathew Biltonen
Gabe Miller -
Sonia T. Gittens
Nurse -
Eli Rubinstein
Seven Year Old Boy -
Amy Helm
Amy -
Machan Taylor
Machan -
Jorgen Jorgenson
Jorgen -
Tom Cherwin
Man in Counseling Offic... -
Laurel S. Andretta
Woman in Counseling Off... -
Karen Keefe
Receptionist -
Jack Gilpin
Dr. Adams -
Oliver Wood
Oliver -
Sean Mahon
Liam -
Natalie Thomas
Liam's Wife -
Terry McKenna
Pawn Shop Worker -
Deborah Hedwall
Faye
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Higher Ground Trailer & Photos
All Critics (85) | Top Critics (30) | Fresh (69) | Rotten (16) | DVD (1)
Vera Farmiga makes a heavenly debut as a director with Higher Ground, a compelling drama about a woman's spiritual journey.
Top CriticThe film's quiet realism demands from us our own act of faith: We're asked to watch closely and to listen intently in the promise of a greater reward to come. Well, the promise is partly kept.
Farmiga's first film is good enough to make us look forward to her next one.
The film is refreshingly free of proselytizing. In its place, however, is a whiff of condescension.
At times, these analogies feel forced. But give the rookie filmmaker credit for visual storytelling.
Farmiga is terrific, but her clear vision as a director and her ability to play fair with believers and skeptics alike provides the balance and insight needed to ground the film in thoughtful reality.
Farmiga challenges herself and the viewer. Some may shrink from that challenge, but thankfully, our gutsy director and star never does
Movies don't often show the religious fervor of characters like these with such earnestness, and Farmiga's layered performance helps the movie through some rough patches.
Above all, Farmiga tells Briggs' story with authenticity, going for small, believable moments instead of big dramatic ones.
A rich, sometimes rewarding, yet deeply flawed work that sometimes gets things so right that it's hard not to forgive it when it doesn't.
What makes 'Higher Ground' fascinating is that it also shows how communities like the one Biggs belonged to can also be appealing.
A shaky but interesting directorial debut...
Vera Farmiga proves herself to be, right out of the box, a terrific director.
This cool, calculated who's-hunting-who piece that brings home all the requisite tension, gunplay and fighting with a great deal of cinematic style.
Farmiga makes an astounding directorial debut in this emotionally-charged film in which doubt brings challenging questions and faith proves to not be the magic elixir in dealing with life's misfortunes.
It lubes its audiences' mental gears and sets them to spinning without insulting anyone and without issuing threats of eternal damnation. Subtlety, thy name is Vera.
A dignified and graceful first-person account of how a belief system is created and sustained, and evolves.
Farmiga has etched something deeply personal and idiosyncratic here: a movie about a character who is simply trying to understand herself and her world -- and that opens up a lot of angst and conflict.
All the performances are totally believable, no-one is satirised, the true faith of the believers is seen in a way as enviable.
Higher Ground is a delicate exploration of faith gained and lost, told through strong acting and graceful direction by Vera Farmiga.
It's repetitious and simply boring for anyone not touched by the holy spirit.
A dense and sensitive exploration of life, love and spiritual enlightenment
Higher Ground grapples with weighty issues in a mature and pensive manner, reinstating a measure of faith in the way Hollywood's disciples are willing to tackle this thorny subject.
...skeptical and yearning at the same time.
Give first-time director Vera Farmiga credit for literally aiming high with Higher Ground, her adaptation of Carolyn S. Briggs' loss-of-faith tome, This Dark World.
Audience Reviews for Higher Ground
Super Reviewer
It is an interesting first film and one that had a lot of really good ideas. Sadly though, they werent fleshed out as well as I would have wanted and it was hard to get really immersed in the film.
Super Reviewer
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- Kathleen Walker: You cannot let sexual chemistry burn out. You cannot!
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- Corinne Walker: Come on holy spirit!
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That's a pretty good way to describe this, the directorial debut of its star Vera Farmiga. It's loosely based on some novelist's memoirs, and it follows a woman named Corrine who has spent the vast majority of her life immersed in a tightly-knit community of Fundamentalist Christians. Her life with them has been fine, but the older she grows, thew more her closeness to them begins to fracture. She starts to have a crisis of faith, and her task of trying to be simultaneously holy and worldly really takes a toll on her and those around her.
This is an emotional, challenging, and thoughtful film, and Expected it to be no less than this given it's and indie, and someone like Farmiga is at the helm. She's a great actress, an intellectual feminist, and very sensitive when it comes to shedding light on the particular subjects the film deals with, namely, how to be a good faithful Fundamentalist, yet also be a believer in feminism.
Besides herself, Farmiga acts alongside a crack cast that includes reliable supporters like John Hawkes, Joshua Leonard, Norbert Leo Butz, and Dagmara Dominczyk among others. All of the performances are quite good, and you can see that this was really an earnest labor of love for them.
Movies like Saved! had previously tackled this kind of subject matter, but I found this treatment to be quite fresh and absorbing. As someone who has personally had his faith tested, I felt I could relate to this film to some degree, but I really don't know how an atheist or some other type of person would react to this. As such, maybe it's best to just treat this as primarily a character study instead of a specific treatise or something.
The music is good, the camera work is decent, and the film is actually about something important, yet is also entertaining. As such, this is definitely one I recommend. I also hope to see more directorial work from Farmiga in the future, because, even though I love her acting, she really shows a lot of promise behind the camera, too.