The Rising Place
The title of Tom Rice's earnest but inert effort refers to a Mississippi Delta
term for an epiphany. That's according to the voiceover narration of Virginia
(Frances Fisher), and you'll have to take her word for it that she finds her
own rising place when she discovers a pile of letters left by her ailing Aunt
Emily (Alice Drummond). As shown in awkward flashbacks, Emily was a bit of a
spitfire as a young woman in the '40s, bearing out of wedlock the child of a
part-Creole flyboy who dumped her. She then added to her ostracism by rallying
to the support of best friend Wilma (Elise Neal, adding genuine sass to the
cast) and the black community. The creaky epistolary framing device here is
especially inept, as the only thing Virginia gets out of the story is a few
cheap tears and the realization that she should pay more attention to her
elders before they end up in intensive care. Too bad this formless and
cliché'd movie didn't realize it should have paid more attention to the
rise and fall of meaningful dramatic structure. Screens tonight at 7 and
9:15 p.m. and tomorrow at 12:15, 2:30, and 4:45 p.m. Director Tom Rice and star
Jennifer Holliday will appear at tonight's 7 p.m. screening.
-- Peter Keough
Film Festival Feature Films
Shadow of the Vampire |
Songcatcher |
Venus Beauty Institute |
What's Cooking? |
The Broken Hearts Club |
Envy |
Goya in Bordeaux |
Human Resources |
Skipped Parts |
Amargosa |
Henry Hill |
Relative Values |
The Rising Place |
The Contender |
Pitch People |
Roof to Roof |
Four Dogs Playing Poker |
Reckless Indifference |
Requiem for a Dream |
Shadow Magic |
About Adam |
Charming Billy |
Enemies of Laughter |
Into the Arms of Strangers |
Running on the Sun |
A Trial in Prague |
Harry, He's Here to Help |
A Man is Mostly Water |
Seven Girlfriends
Also, Boston Film Festival short films
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