Higher Ground
Sony Pictures Classics | Release Date: August 26, 2011 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
74
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 34 Critic Reviews
Positive:
29
Mixed:
4
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
Time OutJoshua RothkopfAug 24, 2011
Funny and heartbreaking, this is a movie that would have made the '80s-era Jonathan Demme, attuned to American anxieties, blush with pride. Read full review
90
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleAug 25, 2011
The same intelligence, wit and mature spirit that actress Vera Farmiga brings to her performances is richly apparent in her directorial debut as well, the inquisitive spiritual drama Higher Ground. Read full review
90
NPRJeannette CatsoulisAug 25, 2011
What follows is something rarely seen in American movies: a sincerely humane examination of what it means to experience a crisis of faith. Tender, bittersweet and often gently comedic, Corinne's 20-year journey toward (and around, and away from) her God has a loose, searching rhythm that's engrossingly unpredictable. Read full review
88
Philadelphia InquirerCarrie RickeySep 15, 2011
Corinne's journey begins with an act of blind faith. The movie ends, but you have a palpable sense that the journey does not. Read full review
88
Chicago TribuneMichael PhillipsSep 1, 2011
Farmiga's film doesn't state things directly, but we sense what is happening to Corinne, and how some turn to fundamentalism for complex and interconnected reasons. Read full review
88
Chicago Sun-TimesRoger EbertAug 31, 2011
There are no heavy-handed portraits of holy rollers here, just people whose view of the world is narrow. There are also no outsize sinners, just some gentle singer-songwriters who are too fond of pot and whose lyrics are parades of cliches. Read full review
88
Rolling StonePeter TraversAug 25, 2011
Farmiga expertly guides a large and gifted ensemble cast and proves as fearless a director as she is an actress. She lights up Higher Ground and makes it funny, touching and vital. Read full review
83
Portland OregonianMarc MohanSep 10, 2011
Ultimately, though, this is a story about a conflicted, intelligent, flawed, moral woman making her way through her life. Read full review
83
Entertainment WeeklyOwen GleibermanAug 24, 2011
Higher Ground breaks crucial, sacred ground in American moviemaking. Read full review
80
New York Daily NewsElizabeth WeitzmanAug 26, 2011
This would be tricky territory for the most experienced director, but I can't remember the last time I saw organized religion handled in such an even-handed, thoughtful manner. Read full review
80
The New York TimesA.O. ScottAug 25, 2011
There is something remarkable - you might even say miraculous - about the way Higher Ground makes its gentle, thoughtful way across the burned-over terrain of the American culture wars. Read full review
80
TimeRichard CorlissAug 25, 2011
As director, Farmiga is a strong believer in cinematic democracy, allowing the other actors to seize the center of the action and the frame. Read full review
80
MovielineMichelle OrangeAug 25, 2011
Farmiga closes in on moments that express mood and character so lightly and perceptively that you don't notice them gently - sometimes too gently - moving the story forward. Read full review
80
VarietyJustin ChangAug 20, 2011
A satirical yet sensitive portrait of life in an evangelical Christian community, Higher Ground marks a startlingly bold directing debut for actress Vera Farmiga. Read full review
80
The Hollywood ReporterKirk HoneycuttAug 20, 2011
The film is a deft, graceful and often poignant story of a woman's quest to find her own identity and a spiritual sanctuary that will give her life hope and meaning. Read full review
75
New Orleans Times-PicayuneMike ScottOct 14, 2011
It also is a film that does the impossible: 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. Can I get an "amen"? Read full review
75
Tampa Bay TimesSteve PersallSep 28, 2011
It's a quiet story, without many emotional outbursts and no villains. Parts of Higher Ground are dull, honestly. But the movie always feels honest about its subject. Read full review
75
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Rick GroenSep 22, 2011
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. Read full review
75
St. Louis Post-DispatchCalvin WilsonSep 16, 2011
This film might easily have settled for mocking religion. Instead, it's a fascinating glimpse into a culture that forces some people to choose between fitting in and opting out. Read full review
75
Miami HeraldConnie OgleSep 8, 2011
Higher Ground is ultimately a proponent of the human spirit, of the individuality and honesty that must be claimed, even at a high price. That's a lot of substance to stuff into one little movie, but Farmiga makes it fit astonishingly well. Read full review
75
Orlando SentinelRoger MooreSep 8, 2011
Farmiga directs and plays this as a woman with questions. Thus, the tone is a bit all over the place - frank discussion and depictions of sex, but with an equally frank embrace of Christianity, talking the talk and walking the walk. Read full review
75
San Francisco ChronicleMick LaSalleSep 1, 2011
The problem is that the story, as constituted, is of necessity against organized religion, but Farmiga, as director, pretends that it's ambiguous. So you get a movie slightly at cross-purposes with itself. Read full review
75
USA TodayClaudia PuigAug 25, 2011
Farmiga never seems to strike a false note in any role, but this is perhaps her most reflective and multi-layered performance. Read full review
75
IndieWireEric KohnAug 24, 2011
An earnest, sometimes bland and unsophisticated look at Corinne's undulating relationship to spirituality in general and Christian dogma in particular. But it's also a surprisingly well-made character study outside of its specific theme. Read full review
70
Chicago ReaderAndrea GronvallSep 1, 2011
The movie, to its credit, recognizes that the quest for spirituality sometimes leads to another pew. Read full review
70
The New YorkerAnthony LaneAug 22, 2011
You could argue that the film is too wrenching a departure for an actress as earthy as Farmiga, but that, I suspect, is why she took the risk - daring herself, in the person of Corinne, to slip the surly bonds of beauty and desire. Read full review
67
Austin ChronicleMarjorie BaumgartenSep 8, 2011
Higher Ground may not be a true revelation, but it does show a viable path an actor might take to shape intelligent material on her own terms. Read full review
63
Boston GlobeTy BurrSep 8, 2011
The end result's a muddle and a good argument for why actors shouldn't direct themselves first time out. Farmiga's a generous and observant performer, but she lacks a shaping hand, not to mention the ruthlessness that's probably a necessity for any director. Read full review
63
New York PostLou LumenickAug 26, 2011
Spanning two decades in a little under two hours, Higher Ground is a well-acted if slow-moving drama that will reward adventurous audiences with fine performances and a thoughtful approach. Read full review
58
Christian Science MonitorPeter RainerAug 26, 2011
One of the few open-minded Hollywood movies about Christian fundamentalism, but the mind isn't sufficiently exploratory. Read full review
58
The A.V. ClubTasha RobinsonAug 24, 2011
At times, Higher Ground feels like a lower-stakes "Welcome To The Dollhouse" for adults: It's a systematically built portrait of disappointment and despair, centering on a perpetual underdog looking for affection and surety in any possible form. But while Higher Ground is less painful than Dollhouse, it's also less passionate. Read full review
50
Village VoiceMelissa AndersonAug 23, 2011
Even with her beatific face (the actress looks like one of Parmigianino's Madonnas), Farmiga is never wholly believable as a woman shaken by a crisis of belief. Read full review
50
Boxoffice MagazineRay GreeneAug 20, 2011
Higher Ground is a weird film with some very nice moments, but its odd and offbeat combination of comic touches, serious spiritual subject matter and occasional surrealist interludes never quiet gels. Read full review
25
Slant MagazineBill WeberAug 22, 2011
Lacking both spiritual and narrative spark, Vera Farmiga's directorial debut suffers from her flat performance and a moribund, weirdly sex-joke-spiked narrative. Read full review
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