Things Behind the Sun

This got and Emmy and Independent Spirit nomination for Don Cheadle, and an Indy nomination for Kim Dickens, who plays Sherrie, a rock singer in Cocoa Beach, Florida who was raped. Cheadle is her manager and former lover.

Sherrie doesn't know why her life is messed up, and why she can't move out of a life of promiscuity and drunkenness, because she has repressed the rape. Owen (Gabriel Mann) knows about the rape, and is doing a story on the girl behind the song she wrote. He is doing it because he was involved in Sherrie's rape. He has demons of his own to exorcise.

This was a powerful story of how a teen rape can cause permanent damage, not only to the person raped, but to everyone in her life from that day forward. The dysfunctional relationships that one experiences through life can be traced back to that rape.

The ending was a little to pat, but that's movies.

I tend to prefer character-driven movies with strong plots. In that sense, this movie score highly. Kim Dickens turns in a passionate performance as a self-destructive women trying to reclaim her soul after it was taken from her in an adolescent rape. Don Cheadle turns in yet another great performance. Wow, what a great actor. Eric Stoltz has little screen time, but he does a lot with it. Again, what a great actor.

This movie suffers a little on the technical front. There are scenes that could have been edited out because they failed to enhance the story line. At times the direction seemed to be a lackluster. Neither of these hurt the movie that much, but it does not quite reach its full potential. It is still worth seeing. I enjoyed it.

I've seen. Slow and painful this story gets into the psyche of the victims unlike most other stories treating the same subject. The stories and writing style of Joyce Carol Oates came to mind through the intentionally slow, methodical pacing revealing each layer of the painful retelling of the victims' stories.

Arquette gives a brilliant performance as does Cheedle and Stoltz. Gabrielle Mann comes off a little too 'waah, waah, Mr. Sensitive author' but there's an honesty that rings true in his performance and works nicely with the others.

I think the only way this movie could improve is to perform it on stage. It has an intimacy that could resonate much more effectively then on the screen. All in all, I highly recommend it.

One of the favorites at the Sedona Film festival. Hoping this important film gets a broad distribution. Outstanding performances, well written, everything comes together in a powerful yet disturbingly emotional manner. Cheadle's kitchen scene was phenomenal. Must see!

this movie is a real gem.

the story revolves around a young female singer who is starting to become famous and get some notoriety and comes to the attention of a rock and roll magazine.

the song that is making the charts is a song about the rape of this women. the woman, shelly played by kim dickens does not remember this act that changed her life so drastically.

coincidentally, a reporter at the magazine, owen, played by gabriel mann, knows shelly from back at the time of her rape, and is assigned to get s story on sherry.

things behind the sun is a movie of such deep feeling, heart, tragedy, and unconsciousness that it seems amazing that the performances could be so stellar and clear and the direction so perfect.

the story is one that really gets one thinking on a lot of different levels, and while i wondered about the reality of shelly's life, and how close that might be to the reality of a woman in that situation, it does not matter, because this movie catches ones thoughts in a very suspenseful way, without being cheap or exploitive. in terms of the story it is a work of genius in its ability to wind through the suspense and not take the low road anywhere.

great performances, great speculative story, and excellent music and all around authentic feel. at the end of this movie during the credits a song called "things behind the sun" is played over the credits that is so haunting that i had to find out what it was look it up and buy it. in case anyone is interested it is things behind the sun by nick drake, who apparently died when he was 24.

for what this movie is, it is perfect, and i rated it a 10, which is hard to do. what it loses in speculation, it makes up in sheer guts and courage to make this story.