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Written by Gregg Shapiro
Jan 13, 2011
title
Scene from “Rivers Wash Over Me.” – Photo: Courtesy
‘Cher: The Film Collection’
Just in time for Cher’s return to the big screen in “Burlesque” (a 21st-century “Showgirls” to be sure), “Cher: The Film Collection” (MGM), a six-DVD anthology of her movies, has arrived for her fans. Perhaps it’s meant to remind us of the broad range of films in which the singer-turned-actress has appeared.
From her 1967 movie debut alongside ex-husband Sonny Bono in the William (“The Exorcist”) Friedkin-directed “Good Times” to her Oscar-nominated portrayal of Karen Silkwood’s lesbian roommate and co-worker Dolly in the Mike Nichols-helmed biopic “Silkwood” to her Oscar-winning performance in the rom-com “Moonstruck” to openly gay filmmaker Franco Zeffirelli’s autobiopic “Tea With Mussolini” (alongside Lily Tomlin), Cher’s films are as varied as her recording career.
Unfortunately, the package excludes two of Cher’s best performances in films from other studios – “Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean” and “Mask” – but it nevertheless displays her development as an actress over the course of more than 30 years.
‘Rivers Wash Over Me’
Following the sudden death of his mother, James Baldwin-reading, artistic gay high school student Sequan (Derrick L. Middleton) leaves New York for Jefferson, Ala., and moves in with relatives in “Rivers Wash Over Me” (Strand Releasing/D Street Pictures). He shares a room with his cousin Michael (Cameron Mitchell Mason), the star forward on the varsity basketball team, who essentially begins to rape and terrorize Sequan on a regular basis.
Michael’s mother LuEllen (Leslie Jones) knows something is going on under her roof, but she can’t quite figure it out. Sequan’s Uncle Charlie (Darien Sills-Evans), the town sheriff, tries to keep an eye on his nephew, but he’s also limited in what he can do for him.
Sequan finds unexpected comfort in the school tramp, a girl named Lori (Elizabeth Dennis), who goes out of her way to befriend him. In spite of living in a drug haze and relishing her role as a sex kitten, she turns out to be more perceptive than one might expect and introduces Sequan to her gay brother Jake (Aidan Schultz-Meyer). The threesome quickly grows close and makes a plan to escape the dead-end that is Jefferson, but tragedy is lurking just around the bend.
The overuse of stereotypes and caricatures bogs the movie down on occasion, but the story of the baptism of redemption provides some balance.
DVD bonus features include commentary by director John G. Young and producer Darien Sills-Evans, outtakes, extended and deleted scenes and more.
