Higher Ground Reviews
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
Farmiga challenges herself and the viewer. Some may shrink from that challenge, but thankfully, our gutsy director and star never does
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
Scene-Stealers.com
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.
Full Review
| Original Score: 2.5/4
Capital Times (Madison, WI)
Above all, Farmiga tells Briggs' story with authenticity, going for small, believable moments instead of big dramatic ones.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
Mountain Xpress (Asheville, NC)
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.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
KC Active
What makes 'Higher Ground' fascinating is that it also shows how communities like the one Biggs belonged to can also be appealing.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN)
A shaky but interesting directorial debut...
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
What the Flick?!
Vera Farmiga proves herself to be, right out of the box, a terrific director.
The Age (Australia)
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.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/5
Entertainment Spectrum
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.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
Times-Picayune
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.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
Top CriticVera Farmiga makes a heavenly debut as a director with Higher Ground, a compelling drama about a woman's spiritual journey.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
A dignified and graceful first-person account of how a belief system is created and sustained, and evolves.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
sbs.com.au
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.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
At the Movies (Australia)
All the performances are totally believable, no-one is satirised, the true faith of the believers is seen in a way as enviable.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/5
Matt's Movie Reviews
Higher Ground is a delicate exploration of faith gained and lost, told through strong acting and graceful direction by Vera Farmiga.
Full Review
| Original Score: 4/5
Urban Cinefile
A dense and sensitive exploration of life, love and spiritual enlightenment
Creative Loafing
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.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
LarsenOnFilm
...skeptical and yearning at the same time.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3.5/4
Jam! Movies
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.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/5
The 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.
Full Review
| Original Score: 3/4
