accessAtlanta

'Heights': Filmmaker shows great promise with character-driven tale

Isabelle and Jonathan are two attractive young professionals, engaged to be married, with a promising life together just waiting to begin. But in Chris Terrio's accomplished, character-driven debut film, Heights, all of that can change in the course of a single day. And it does.

Sony Pictures Classics 'Heights' B+ The verdict: A densely packed, detailed, character-driven only-in-New-York tale of climbing ambition, well-acted and involving. Director: Chris Terrio Starring: Glenn Close, Elizabeth Banks, James Marsden, Jesse Bradford, George Segal Run time: 93 minutes Release date: June 17, 2005 Rating: R for language, brief sexuality and nudity. See showtimes On the web Official movie site View the trailer    Trailers require Quicktime Rate "Heights"   Go see it   Make it a matinee   Wait to rent   Don't bother Voter Limit: Once per Hour View Poll Results

New York is an important character in this ensemble drama, which trafficks in coincidence and unexpected connections in a way that is reminiscent of Crash. It is the contention of screenwriter Amy Fox — upon whose play Heights is based — that New York is a much smaller town than most people think, and the degrees of separation among those in artistic circles are fewer than expected.

Surely everyone knows Oscar-winning stage and screen actress Diana Lee (Glenn Close), whom we see chiding and inspiring a class of would-be actors, before shuttling across town for her own rehearsals as Lady Macbeth. Isabelle (Elizabeth Banks) is her daughter and Diana's suspicions about Jonathan (James Marsden) will soon prove out, as a gay photographer's exhibit of his former lovers' portraits is arriving, which makes Jonathan very nervous.

A cater waiter and fringe festival actor named Alec (Jesse Bradford) auditions for Diana and she takes an interest in him, perhaps because her husband is taking an intimate interest in her young understudy.

Just as Isabelle gets fired from her job of taking wedding portraits, the opportunity of a lifetime arrives with a European assignment for The New York Times, engineered for her by an old boyfriend.

The plots dovetail at a birthday party thrown by Diana for herself, where Isabelle meets a poetic Welshman who will be stabbed while trying to rescue Isabelle's purse from a mugger. Got it?

Terrio's coup was landing Close to play Diana, a histrionic bundle of insecurities masked by flamboyance, a woman who has a Shakespeare quote for every occasion. Just as remarkable is the handful of name players he persuaded to put in cameos, including Isabella Rossellini as a Vanity Fair editor, Eric Bogosian as Close's stage director and George Segal as Jonathan's sage if gimmick-prone rabbi.

Terrio juggles his characters with a skill worthy of Robert Altman. He uses his New York locations well, from the depths of the subway system to the varied heights of several residential rooftops.

Ismail Merchant produced Heights, the final project he completed before his death. It is both an act of generosity, a recognition that Terrio is swimming upstream against a tide of less intelligent films, and a mentoring boost to a talent that could be beginning a significant career.