Higher Ground comes with a wealth of advanced praise. Vera Farmiga's directorial debut about a woman going through a spiritual coming of age in the '60s premiered at Sundance to rave reviews, and the new trailer is packed to the gills with pull-quotes and flowery adjectives. Engrossing! Haunting! Startlingly Bold! Sounds great. Which is what makes the trailer so disappointing -- this doesn't really look like the work of the next great voice in American filmmaking, does it?
Maybe it does? Or maybe the trailer makes it look like a television movie with better actors. Higher Ground opens on Aug. 26 in limited release, so you won't have to wait long to figure out if this is just the case of a lousy trailer or the Emperor having no clothes.
VERDICT: Not ready to bow down.
Head over to Apple to watch in HD.