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A raspberry for 'Raspberry Heaven' By Elizabeth Newton For the Tidings Raspberry Heaven, the home-grown film written and directed by David Oas and filmed mostly in Ashland, is a showcase of local talent. It debuted at the Varsity Theater Friday night, there for one week. Unfortunately, its not a very good showcase. The movie tries very hard to take a deep psychological look at the lasting effects of child abuse but comes off a bit too much like a psychology 101 video. What went wrong? Well, let's start with the plot. Alicia Lagano plays a young woman who has problems, a fact made obvious in an early scene where she manipulates a sexual encounter with an actor from the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, then fights like a rape victim. Next, the cops find piles of money and illegal drugs on the scene along with her near-dead body. Apparently she attempted suicide after her would-be lover ran to the police claiming assault. She ends up under investigation on the one hand and psychoanalyzed on the other. And that all happens in the first ten minutes. Phew. Sound fast-paced? It isn't. The tempo is soap-opera slow with lingering close-ups and heavy pauses throughout - even when high-energy intensity is called for. This lessens any build-up the plot might provide. And the short scenes that seem to pop up out of nowhere make the plot line feel like an awkward set of building blocks - this one goes here, this one goes there � Morgan Spector plays the loyal brother, Kurt, who takes on the unenviable task of playing nurse-maid to his oft-drunk sister. That's okay because he loves his sister and has always been there for her. We know that because we see several flashbacks to their childhood where he did what he could to protect her. The flashbacks contain some of the most effective moments in the movie. They show us the shadowy memories of a too-harsh reality and are visually interesting and enticing. But we don't experience the siblings' rock-solid love in the present. Somehow the tenderness is missing. The cast strives for a sense of connection - they do their best with dialogue that no humans ever actually uttered. For instance, in one unintentionally funny scene, Kurt tells the psychiatrist, played by Douglas Rowe, that he has no libido. Yes, he masturbates, but relief comes only when he rubs his flannel shirt during the process. This scene is layered between other scenes, none of which led logically to this rather startling confession. Kurt simply tells the doctor what's what. No fuss, no muss. And he wasn't even a patient at the time. Real people don't talk that way. When all the pieces fall into place, helped tremendously by bad-guy Mick's (played by Richard Elmore) convenient recap of the past 18 years, the drama should become intense, with tears pouring and arms waving and lots of loud sighs of relief. Instead, I'm trying to figure out who's who. They could be realtors selling the family home rather than once-tormented figures who are now central to the mental health of the main characters. It's all very matter-of-fact. Ho hum. I wanted to like this film. I enjoyed seeing all those familiar faces. And I'd love to see more independent films done in our area. So what worked? The Rogue Valley. It was beautiful. LINKS: DAILY TIDINGS: Main | News | Sports | Obituaries | Opinion | Columnists | AP News | Subscribe | Archives | Weather | Classifieds | Contact Us | Privacy REVELS: Main | Calendar | Dining | Movies | T.V. OTHER: Road Cams Copyright 2003 Ashland Daily Tidings 541.482.3456. 1661 Siskiyou Blvd., Ashland, OR 97520. Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. - Advertisers -