trlrtrax

There are so many poorly made, self-conscious and annoying so-called art house films out there, and then there is this gem of a movie. I sincerely hope it gets a U.S. art cinema release. It's not often I am still remembering the characters, the passion of the heart, the location and faith awakening all in one post-viewing memory.

The actors are all uniformly true to to their characters, and really excellent at involving us in their personal tests of faith and moral dilemma. The orthodoxy of their faith, positioned against a seeping modern day sensibility surrounds us as effectively as the location photography transports us (American audiences) to a world we know little about.

A friend told me to see "this lesbian movie." It's not that. It's a story of girls in a repressed society dealing with their first sexual awakening and affection confused bonding as a portion of the story of immersion in their faith and how it transforms their relationship with each other in their involvement with a strange, mystical and salvation-seeking non-Jew.

This is a uniformly excellent film. In the openness of the locations and the beautiful music, the closeness of the camera work puts us in a claustrophobic male-dominated society, just at a moment in time when women are establishing their place in their religion and in their society.

I spend a lot of time in theaters. It's not often I come away with a feeling I have truly experienced a romance with faith, with the human heart and with the written word so totally in one film.

Congratulations to the filmmakers and actors. I sincerely hope this movie finds its best audience in American theaters.

(I am not Jewish and was deeply moved and intrigued by the religious material presented)

FINALLY! April 20 in NY and then it moves around the country. It's about time that this movie gets played in movie theaters.

Tilda Swinton, Amber Tamblyn, Timothy Hutton, Melissa Leo, et al turn in very special performances. Amber won Best Actress at Locarno, was nominated for a Film Independent Spirit Award and it was well-deserved. The screenplay won at Sundance.

It's a tragic story, but one that needs to be told, so that people talk about this issue and how to deal with the education and support of young girls who have similar experiences.

Don't miss this. Also, note that it will only go out to a few screens at first and those who don't go on opening weekends will miss the chance to see it the second weekend. Small indie films like this rely totally on word-of-mouth and opening weekends.

If you want to see it in your town, you MUST ask your local art house theater owner to request it from the distributor.

Unfortunately, this seems to be so under marketed that there is no website yet, so you must go to Regent Releasing, http://www.regentreleasing.com for any information.

I had never seen Joshua Jackson before. What a talent, and what a nice surprise. His is a masterful performance of a young man turning the corner from being mired in his thinking to one who awakens before our eyes. This cast is absolutely perfect, from Juliette Lewis' free spirit, to Louise Fletcher's supportive, but somewhat helpless grandmother, to an absolute, don't-miss-this Oscar performance by Donald Sutherland as the aging grandfather whose illness is getting the best of him. Roger Ebert & Richard Roeper have talked about their hope Sutherland gets another good role, because he's such a fine actor. This is the role, this is the year, and I hope the world discovers this little gem of a movie in the glut of big studio releases and marketing. It's rated R for language, but it's barely an R. Because of the discussion of suicide, it's really just a PG-13. Find this movie. You'll have to look for it, because it's being released in the small indie art house market. It should be in every multiplex in America.