With an Academy Award nomination under her belt for “Up In The Air,” Vera Farmiga followed her awards season recognition by taking on a mix of roles in films as diverse as the unfortunately awful “Henry’s Crime,” the sci-fi time looper “Source Code,” the studio action film “Safe House” and the indie drama “Goats.” But perhaps the biggest move the actress has made is deciding to get behind the camera with her debut feature “Higher Ground,” a film that earned strong notices out of Sundance in January and will hit theaters later this year.
With Farmiga starring as well, and surrounding herself with a strong crew of talent including John Hawkes, Dagamara Dominczyk and Ebon Moss-Bachrach, the film is an adaptation of Carolyn Briggs‘ book “This Dark World: A Memoir of Salvation Found and Lost” centering on her journey as an awkward young teenager who grows up lost and finds herself attracted to the world of an American Christian fundamentalist cult among hippies in the 1970s. A trailer for the film has landed and it seems to be an intriguing blend of drama and sly comedy, weighing the more absurd aspects of fundamentalist faith with sincere questions about God. It definitely looks promising though if we had one minor quibble, it’s that Hawkes appears to be playing the same kind of role he did in “Martha Marcy May Marlene.”
“Higher Ground” will hit theaters on August 26th. Check out the synopsis and trailer below (or in HD at Apple).
Vera Farmiga’s directorial debut, HIGHER GROUND, is a coming-of-age drama in which Farmiga delivers a subtle, nuanced performance completely from the gut, with equally strong and compelling supporting characters. Set against the backdrop of the Sixties, when feminism reached its zenith, the film expertly depicts the landscape of a tight-knit spiritual community. Inspired by the resonant memoir from Carolyn Briggs (who also wrote the screenplay) the film is an exquisite study of one woman’s internal struggle with the primary love relationships in her life. John Hawkes, Donna Murphy, Bill Irwin, Dagmara Dominczyk, and Joshua Leonard round out the cast, along with Farmiga’s younger sister Taissa, who proves herself to be an extraordinary new talent as Young Corinne.