Saturday, May 21, 2011

The Rapture: A Film by Michael Tolkin



















This time around, claims of "The Rapture" are well in evidence, thanks to our hyper-mediated existence through billboards, the internet, radio, TV and even chalked in bar signs. But back in 1991, novelist-filmmaker Michael Tolkin's The Rapture explored the theme from an existential angle. How do people live, and why do they live the way they do? If one becomes Born Again, what are the ramifications?  How would the actual Rapture play out and how would one individual widowed mother respond to God's demands, as she interprets them?

Tolkin never seems to take an easy path; nor do his characters. First we see people working at cubicle jobs like mindless automatons, trading in their hours for a handful of dimes (as Jim Morrison put it), alternating that with random partner swapping at night. Followed by warnings of the Rapture, religious conversion, wild events and more decisions, ones that will ripple down through Eternity. Bizarre low budget indie movie, interesting, thoughtful and challenging. Stars Mimi Rogers, David Duchovny, Patrick Bachau, Will Patton and others. If you are reading this, you are either among the "Left Behind" or the Rapture ain't happened (yet?) -- and you may or may not want to track this one down just to see how it might go.    

Today's Rune: Joy.

2 comments:

jrthumbprints said...

Left Behind? I guess it's all a matter of perspective.

Erik Donald France said...

Sounds about right . . .