High school student, Jessie, the black sheep of a religious family, lives only for cigarettes, Jack Daniels and her crush on a boy beyond her reach named Shane. One night during a dance, Shane walks Jessie out into the woods, and, after rendering her unconscious with drugs and alcohol, rapes her. Jessie awakens with no memory of the attack. When she finds herself pregnant, she believes it to be an immaculate conception and that she will bear the second coming -- a delusion which infuriates not only her family, but the entire town.
Although the subject matter seems deliberately provocative, the film itself is strangely unsensational because the characters and their actions go beyond cinematic artifice into a realm of deep emotional resonance. Elizabeth Moss completely inhabits the character of Jessie, playing the sad, needy lost soul with an almost painful honesty. I believed her every second. However, as good as Moss' performance is, it would have been impossible without writer/director Deborah Kampmeier. Her script is rich in symbolism and theme, and kept me wondering, and, indeed, worrying about the outcome. Her naturalistic, shakey video style also gave the film a compelling sense of immediacy.
My only problem is that Kampmeier doesn't give her male characters the same depth as her female ones. For the most part, the men are presented as little more than real or potential abusers of one sort or another. Still, this "flaw" doesn't ultimately diminish the film. It is, after all, essentially a film about women, not men, and it does its job well. If it weren't for the film's well-deserved R-rating, it could well serve as a cautionary tale for teens about the dangers of date rape.
An excellent first effort by Ms. Kampmeier.
Although the subject matter seems deliberately provocative, the film itself is strangely unsensational because the characters and their actions go beyond cinematic artifice into a realm of deep emotional resonance. Elizabeth Moss completely inhabits the character of Jessie, playing the sad, needy lost soul with an almost painful honesty. I believed her every second. However, as good as Moss' performance is, it would have been impossible without writer/director Deborah Kampmeier. Her script is rich in symbolism and theme, and kept me wondering, and, indeed, worrying about the outcome. Her naturalistic, shakey video style also gave the film a compelling sense of immediacy.
My only problem is that Kampmeier doesn't give her male characters the same depth as her female ones. For the most part, the men are presented as little more than real or potential abusers of one sort or another. Still, this "flaw" doesn't ultimately diminish the film. It is, after all, essentially a film about women, not men, and it does its job well. If it weren't for the film's well-deserved R-rating, it could well serve as a cautionary tale for teens about the dangers of date rape.
An excellent first effort by Ms. Kampmeier.