|
THE RISING PLACE Send This Review to a Friend
There's such a thing as too much wholesomeness. "The Rising Place" is one of those films that packs some nice ingredients, but wears its emotions too overtly and manipulatively for sufficient feeling to kick in. The story, a first feature by writer-director-producer Tom Rice, is set in the Mississippi Delta and told with excessive flashbacks so that it often feels jumbled as it switches back and forth between generations.
The most touching aspect is the portrait of a dying woman, Aunt Millie, played by Alice Drummond. We get a look at what her life was like when she was young, and the flashback is instructive, in that it teaches us not to write off the elderly but realize that a frail, worn-out looking woman could have once had passions and disappointments. Getting into Aunt Millie's past occurs when Virginia, (Francis Fisher) visits her aunt and comes upon her collection of letters from World War II, the period seen in flashback from the present.
In the world of the past we meet Emily (Laurel Holloman), then a high-spirited young woman who is smitten by an airman, only to be left pregnant when he goes off to battle and has no intention of seeing her again. The filmmaker spends time showing us what life was like in that period, including details of Emily's friendship with Wilma (Elise Neal), a young African-American. The friendship is an open and touching one, but given the racism of the time, one can expect tragedy. Emily's mother (Tess Harper) is sympathetic to her independent streak, but her father (Gary Cole) is narrow-minded and cruel.
I enjoyed seeing S. Epatha Merkerson in the supporting role of Wilma's mother, a change from the key police role she plays so well in the "Law and Order" television series. Frances Sternhagen does a nice job as Virginia's mom, and Jennifer Holliday portrays a jook joint proprietor.
Despite some of the film's better, meaninful qualities, "The Rising Place" strives so hard to be uplifting, complete with Aunt Millie's talk about being ready for God to take her, that the result is ultimately cloying. A Flatland Pictures release.
|