Many people fell in love with Vera Farmiga when she played George Clooney's game in "Up In The Air" better than he did and now she is making her director's debut, and starring, in "Higher Ground".

Are you an agnostic? Atheist?
Religious? This film will annoy all equally at times as it follows a 20
year period and a woman's search for faith from her days as a child
'finding Jesus', her young adult years embracing her faith and her
questioning her decisions in her church and their leader who don't seem
to be able to deal with a strong woman. Her knowledge and intelligence
seems as a threat to the men in the congregation and those who lead it.
The pastor's wife tries  to show her that being docile will be more
rewarding for her but that's almost repellent to her.

Farmiga's directing debut doesn't stand out nor does it distract. She does make the mistake of showing a similar scene one too many times but she doesn't throw in 'artistic' shots that first time directors do.

Her
acting, and that of her cast, are all on the right note without her, or
them, showcasing her emotions. As Corinne her range of emotions goes
from a to z and she contains her performance in tempo with all. Taissa Farmiga, her real life sister, plays Coriine as a teenager and McKenzie Turner as a pre-teen, all in synch with each other. Her boyfriend Ethan, played by Boyd Holbrook, followed by Joshua Leonard as the older Ethan match the ladies evenly. Norbert Leo Butz as pastor Bill and Bill Irwin as pastor Bud are certainly believable as are Donna Murphy and John Hawkes as Corinne's parents. Major assets to the film are Dagmara Dominczyk as Corinne's friend and Nina Arianda as her sister.

The
technical aspects are fine but the screenplay by Carolyn S. Briggs,
based on the book by Briggs, and Tim Metcalfe, is a little too long as
it tries to follow all aspects of belief and non-belief.

This is a 'small' film which I think will fair better on a small screen.