SYNOPSICS
Things Behind the Sun (2001) is a English movie. Allison Anders has directed this movie. Kim Dickens,Gabriel Mann,Aria Alpert Adjani,Ruben Anders are the starring of this movie. It was released in 2001. Things Behind the Sun (2001) is considered one of the best Drama,Music movie in India and around the world.
In Cocoa Beach FL, a woman shows up drunk on the same lawn on the same date three years running. What's going on? She's Sherry McGrale, a singer building a reputation on college campuses, especially for her signature song about having been raped. A rock magazine in L.A. takes notice, and writer Owen Richardson recognizes her: his older brother orchestrated the assault and involved him. Owen heads for Florida, ostensibly to do a piece on her, but in reality to try to put his own demons to rest. Wounds from the event are ruining Sherry and Owen's current relationships. Is there any prospect of healing? A judge, Sherry's manager, and a widow with young kids provide supporting arms.
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Things Behind the Sun (2001) Reviews
Anders most fiercely personal film yet.
I was lucky enough to see this film at the Sundance film festival, where we gave Allison Anders a 5 minute standing ovation for what she's done with this film. The story is deceptively simple- a rock and roll chick who is pretty messed up for reasons that become clear when she hooks up with a young journalist- but it's the feelings that pierce and soar in this film. But it's not just a woman's story, the young man is also searching for (dare I say it) redemption. Filled with wonderful performances (why isn't Kim Dickens a star yet?) and even better cameos (Don Cheadle, Eric Stolz) this is a film that needs to be seen. One of the first, only, films that deals with sexual abuse and trauma and healing in a way that is both riveting and repulsive. And it has a great sound track! Go and see it!
Wow
This film knocked me for a loop. The acting is uniformly terrific and i believe it was filmed with digital cameras. There are two rape scenes that are to my mind the most realistic depictions i've ever seen. This is not rape as sex but rape as brutal violence. A few minutes in a childs life that stays with them for ever. The performances by Kim Dickens and Gabriel Mann as the adult rape victims are completely different yet both seem so true. I took this as a double rape even though one character was technically the rapist. I saw this movie on tv and at times you almost have to force yourself not to change channels. Watching the young Sherry walking away from the house after being raped, dragging her skate board, seems so real you feel like you are peeking through the curtains at someones real life pain. This is a very honest, painful movie and perhaps the best thing is the ending. No shinning light of salvation but a few glimmering shreds of hope for both the central characters. This one will stay with me for a long time.
Hard subject matter sensitively portrayed
A compelling film. This film really touched my heart. While the film is certainly far from perfect, I thought it dealt wonderfully with the subject matter and showed such a sensitivity towards not only victims of violence but also towards how scars incurred in childhood can mar us forever. Gabriel Mann was awesome in this. He gave the role such a conscience and it was nice to see him used fully as an actor as opposed to his rather less than full role in 'High Art' (which I happen to love nonetheless). But whereas High Art was Radha Mitchell and Ally Sheedy's film, this film really, for me, belonged to Mann. Kim Dickens did a great job also, but Mann still takes top billing in my book. My hat off to Allison Anders - it's nice to know that there are filmmakers out there that are not so concerned with commercialism as they are with substance and exploration. The fact that it says that the film is semi-autobiographical just makes me applaud her more. If you're into character studies and the way the past effects ones life, this is a movie worth seeing.
What it means to live and care...
...is something Allison Anders expresses in her films, and wow, filming in the house where she herself was raped as a child shows her engagement with the movie. It's her compassionate and tough look at how many lives rape irreversibly affects. Films about rape or child molestation aren't probably going to be box office smashes anytime soon, but don't deny yourself this beautiful film just because the subject material is uncomfortable. Great dialogue, strong acting (especially by Kim Dickens and Don Cheadle), and the usual great script and direction by Alison Andres. Listen to the DVD commentary afterwards for more on this amazing film and the artist behind its creation, Ms. Andres.
Excellent
It was such a painful movie, I don't know how to describe it. All I can say is that it was so well done that I was almost forced to watch it. I couldn't bring myself to change the channel. It was well written, well acted and well directed. Kim Dickens and Gabriel Mann did an astounding job portraying the victims. I could feel Sherri's pain like it was my own and I felt pain for Owen, as well. The only thing I felt could have been done differently is that Owen was just as much a victim as Sherri was. He was just a child at the time of the rape. How can he have been held responsible for something he didn't want any part of and was forced into by his sociopathic brother? He suffered for it, too. I understand why Sherri had trouble dealing with him up to a point but it seems that everyone involved forgot that he had been a defenseless child, too. I highly recommend this movie to anyone who's ever been a victim or knows a victim.