Acts of Worship

I can't really say that I enjoyed this movie, considering the subject nature...but it did make me think, and most importantly, feel.

Alix and Digna seem like two totally different people. Alix is a drug addict. She lives on the streets of NYC and lives a daily life of finding money and a fix and a place to sleep - in that order, often doing shady things to accomplish them. Digna is a successful photographer who has a great boyfriend, a nice apartment and seems to be rapidly advancing through her career.

Digna lives next door to someone that Alix gets high with and they know each other on a first-name basis. Soon, they both end up entering each other's worlds, and finding out just how similar their lives really are.

I feel like many of the scenes in this film are very realistic, especially the scenes of Alix on the street and how she lives her daily life. I think Ana Reeder did a great job in those scenes, and must have done quite a bit of research before playing this role.

I felt a little different regarding Michael Hyatt (Digna). Some of the scenes seemed a little shallow as far as acting - not enough depth into the character. I don't think this was mostly her fault though, I think the script could have been better in some places, such as the scenes with Digna and her boyfriend, Anthony (Nestor Rodriquez). I didn't feel like they were much of a loving couple, just kind of bland and blah.

All in all though, this film is a very refreshing change from the over-acted, over-produced, high budget dramas that are out there. The movement of the camera and angles made this film seem like you were watching a documentary at times - which to me, is a good thing. I applaud the director, Rosemary Rodriquez, for taking a step to make this film. She mentions in the featurette on the DVD that she didn't want to glamorize drug addiction but show it for what it really is. She did a great job.

I felt like there was so much beauty in the scenes of the film - I love watching the streets of NYC, however, what goes on isn't always beautiful. Very tragic. Rosemary Rodriquez has helped us to see humanity on the streets.

I was very glad to have other plans turned upside down so I could be graced to see this film at the 2001 High Falls Film Festival in Rochester, NY, USA. I found that the dry, honest directing coupled with the documentary-style cinematography tended to galvanize the film into my mind. It's been about a week now, and I still crisply recall scenes as if I had lived them myself.

To elaborate, there are three things I think are key to making this film as good as it is:

First, the entire feel of the picture is documentary-like. You're presented with a chronology of events about a young woman living with heroin addiction on the streets--I found it particularly remarkable that it does not beg for pity ... it really doesn't force any emotions at all, but simply offers the subject matter honestly for the observation and judgment of the viewer. Unlike most directors of this and other charged subjects, Rosemary Rodriguez chose to present the subject in an almost matter-of-fact manner.

Second ... wait: for these last two points let me just say that I have no experience whatsoever with heroin or any other drug, so my opinion is tainted with copious ignorance. ... Second, I was stunned at the realism of the drug use in the film. I really believed the people in the film were using heroin and that each of them responded in a manner consistent with how I thought they should. There wasn't even a hint of the fantasy world of drug use propagated by movies like Reefer Madness.

Finally, Ana Reeder was amazing. There was not a frame of footage when I thought I was watching an actress. I swear this girl was hooked on heroin and actually was living the life of her character. I am generally fascinated by the craft of acting, but once in a while I am confronted with a scene like the climactic breakdown of Alix where it is beyond my comprehension altogether how someone can possibly act that true to life but really be acting.

I recently rent the DVD and I think it's one of the best films I've ever seen. It's about a young druggie in Lower Manhattan and her friendship with a photographer, who happens to be a former junkie as well. The film is really well written and the lead actress, Ana Reeder is a revelation (well maybe not for me, I had the chance to see her last year in a Broadway play with Laura Linney). What I liked about the film is that while it's almost documentary-like it doesn't exploit the actors (something that has happened in other movies with similar topics), the use of music is very good and there is a monologue at the end of the film that made me cry.

Though I saw the movie not too far from the location of the action, I am not one to judge on the realism of a drug movie. All the same, it had a documentary feel to it as the other comment said, especially the background characters and locations. The lead was excellent. My only problem with it was that the script and some of the acting (the woman who helps her might be based on a real person, but did a real actress play the role? not to be mean, but her performance was a bit amateurish) at times was a bit simplistic and forced.

The lead actress, however, made me stay throughout ... a breakout role.

The storyline is the type of thing you find on a Lifetime Network Special or a straight-to-television movie trying to warn about the dangers of drug addiction, but this movie goes so far beyond that. It's not like it adds zany warped realities like Requiem for a Dream or it has some sort of narration keeping the audience completely informed that "this is what you should fear to be", it does everything so much simpler than that: It sits back and lets the actors eat the audience's collective heart out.

The drama in this film is SO UTTERLY CONVINCING. The performances get first prize for portrayals that, even when you want to try and find something wrong with it (I'm guessing this film might be considered too sentimental by some), keep the drama serious and prominent, not allowing the audience to let go of their suspension of disbelief. If it wasn't for the production quality, it would seem like this was a documentary and these were real people. And it's not just Ana and Michael, the two main characters, it's everyone, from the boyfriends to the crack addicts that have two seconds of screen time to everyone.

Secondly, the cinematography and editing are very well tuned to excellence. This movie definitely has the feel of an independent film, but more than that it doesn't have that "Look at me, I'm independent!" feel. Skewed angles and purposeful jump cuts exist stylistically in the film, but they come at the right times and are completely necessary, versus what tends to happen in a lot of independent cinema where the camera becomes relatively self-conscious and goes places it needn't. For example, the hand-held quality of this film is almost invisible, while some independent films tend to show off their independence via hand-held in a wannabe cinema-verite sort of conceit.

It's disappointing that I haven't heard anything about this film before. I literally picked it up because it was the first movie on the first row of the first aisle to rent because I wanted to surprise myself, and whadyaknow but it happened to be a real gem! I hope it builds a bigger audience because it deserves to be recognized.

--PolarisDiB