THINGS BEHIND THE SUN
Directed by Allison Anders.
Written by Anders
and Kurt Voss.
Starring Kim Dickens, Gabriel Mann, Don Cheadle, Rosanna Arquette.
USA-Ireland / 2001 / 35mm
Throughout her career, Allison Anders has proven herself to be, like her mentors Wim Wenders and Martin Scorsese, as much of a music connoisseur as a film director. Starting with her co-directed debut film Border Radio, set in late 80s L.A. punk scene, nearly all of Anders' films have taken place amongst a musical milieu. Alongside this love for music, another guiding force behind her films has been the need to bear witness to the lives and journeys of women whose stories are not often heard. Things Behind the Sun, Anders' latest film, continues these two hallmarks and uses them to distinguish routine affairs.
In Things Behind the Sun, Anders, a rape survivor, centers the story around the efforts two people make to remember and come to terms with a childhood rape. Sherry McGrale (Kim Dickens) is a singer/songwriter beginning to get noticed in the college rock scene. When Owen (Gabriel Mann), a senior writer for L.A.-based Vinyl Fetish magazine, is introduced to McGrale's music by a co-worker (Alison Foland), he talks his way into flying to Florida to do a story about her. Owen was a childhood friend of the up-and-coming musician and offers to provide a fresh angle on McGrale's songs, which are rooted in her rape as an adolescent. Once in Florida, Owen finds out that McGrale spends most of her time drinking and that she does not remember their friendship or details of her rape. Despite the protectiveness of Chuck (Don Cheadle), McGrale's manager and former lover, Owen finally gets Sherry to realize who he is and that he can provide details on the assault. Together, they begin to remember long-buried painful memories and Owen begins to realize that the whole incident has left him as damaged as she is.
While this tale is obviously a personal one for Anders, oftentimes she and co-screenwriter Kurt Voss (a long-time Anders collaborator) allow the need to address certain aspects of the rape survivor's experience to overtake the story's dramatic focus. On a couple occasions the dialogue seems lifted from jargon-laden self-help books: "You don't know what it's like to have your fantasies colonized by your rapist!" Some scenes threaten to turn the characters into case studies - it's easy to imagine Anders and Voss with a checklist from a psychology manual. The performances by the newcomers in the lead roles are sturdy but do not have enough nuances to deepen the characters as written. The supporting players bring a life and warmth to the film that is appreciated. Cheadle is as reliable as ever and Elizabeth Peņa leaves quite an impression in a small but significant role. Eric Stoltz, however, is horribly miscast as the embodiment of unknowable evil.
Anders' handling of the flashbacks to the rapes is ultimately quite powerful. The scenes are brutal enough to make them nearly unwatchable (people who thought the ending of Boys Don't Cry was unpleasant may decide to check out altogether during these scenes) but Anders' manages a certain degree of sensitivity. They certainly don't approach the questionable area of exploitation of The Accused (1988) or Raw Deal (2000), Sundance's other rape film.
The script and direction are most affecting during the film's most cathartic scenes. Instead of the emotional outpouring that a movie-of-the-week would provide, the heroine's ability to move beyond the traumas of her past is shown in the elaborate production. The beautiful closing scene of the film is less about the growth of the characters than a tribute to the voice of Charlie Rich and the power of music.
Which leads into what is most remarkable about the film. No other recent work (perhaps High Fidelity) has shown such a generous and appreciative love of the power of pop music across generations. Most films that have shown a true enthusiasm for music have focused on a particular era or type of music - Velvet Goldmine, O Brother, Where Art Thou? and The Virgin Suicides to name a few. Films that have featured impressive soundtracks using music from several eras have primarily used music as pop artifacts (Pulp Fiction). In Things Behind the Sun (titled after a Nick Drake song), the role that music plays in people's lives gives the film its life-force, and not because the characters are either musicians or music journalists. The characters engage in passionate conversations about The Left Banke and Scott Walker and go to Beachwood Sparks concerts. The film's soundtrack is not rooted in a particular decade, and includes songs from Drake, Sonic Youth (who wrote the film's music and several standout songs), Manfred Mann and My Bloody Valentine. The climax builds to a haunting Mike Johnson cover of a Smiths song that seemed almost tailored for the film.Things Behind the Sun also distinguishes itself by being one of the best looking movies to be shot on digital video to date. The film was not planned to be shot on video but when finances necessitated that compromise, Anders was justifiably disappointed. She and talented cinematographer Terry Stacey had carefully studied Monte Hellman's Two-Lane Blacktop as the visual blueprint for the film. When it was determined that the film had to be DV, they decided to maintain the same visual strategies. As proof that the film's visual look turned out exceptionally well, Hellman told Anders - upon seeing the film at Sundance - that he would shoot his next film on digital video.