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Once upon a time, in the 1980s and early 1990s, American independent movies did not seek to merely ape Hollywood formulas. They were more than just feature-length resumes for shrewd, enterprising filmmakers who had nothing to say, but dreamed of saying it with a big-studio budget. Back then, independent films provided a different kind of movie experience; they challenged and provoked audiences--and none more so than 1991's The Rapture, written and directed by Michael Tolkin, the man who wrote the screenplay for The Player, Robert Altman's scathing anti-Hollywood comedy. Mimi Rogers plays Sharon, a lost soul who gives up her hedonistic life of sex and drugs when she finds God and becomes a fundamentalist Christian fanatic. Her pilgrim's progress, presented in a deadpan, nonjudgmental style, culminates quite literally in the title event--the Second Coming, the Apocalypse, the end of the world, or whatever you want to call it. Rogers's fearless performance becomes all the more provocative when you recall that the actress is a lifelong member of the Church of Scientology. The Rapture is a mind-boggling, wildly ambitious movie that's open to myriad interpretations. But no matter what you make of it, it's sure to leave you engaged and shaken. --Jim Emerson ... Read more

Reviews (52)

A hybrid genre classic
This truly is Mimi Rogers' best performance, and a thankful stepping stone for David Duchovny, if he turned this one down he might have never got chance to get that X Files role that he was born to play.
The Rapture is basically an experimental hybrid genre classic, it focuses on a womans spiritual and sexual awakening, first she is promiscous then she discovers the bible.
Being a devoted David Duchovny fan this is a film that never leaves my memory because of its total sincerity to the charachter and its haunting soundtrack, critics who watched it once should be invited to watch it again second time around and catch the bits that they missed, its a little gem from To Kill A Mocking bird Dierctor 'Micheal Tolkin'.
Be pleased if you own it on tape as its one for your alternate collection.

"10" Commandments or "X" Files?
With the benefit of hindsight, this is one of the most compelling (albeit oddball)"millennium paranoia" films of the 1990's. Mimi Rogers' Mona Lisa demeanor is perfectly cast portraying a woman who lives by the "If it feels good, do it" philiosophy, yet agonizes over her spiritual emptiness. While that is not an original idea for a movie protaganist,("Looking For Mr. Goodbar", anyone?)what ensues following her "conversion" has little or no precedence in film history.It is nearly impossible to discuss this aspect without turning it into a "spoiler". Suffice it to say that, if you're famililar with the "controversial" ending to 1999's "Magnolia", the final scenes in "Rapture" appear to have the same polarizing effect on viewers. At turns disturbing, thought-provoking,ambitiously Kubrickian, even maddening,but never boring. Not recommended for "popcorn movie" fans!

Why is this movie not on DVD?
One of the most powerful movies I have ever seen and to think Mimi Rogers didn't become a Big Star after this. She didnt even get a nomination but that tells you a lot about the Academy. Her performance outweighs anything Julia Roberts or Gweneth Paltrow has ever done.
This movie is not just about religion but being lost in a world that's not always kind.
Check it out.

Not an angry review with many spelling errors
Good to see that this film is still the subject of so much bitter debate, a decade and more after it appeared. Let me engage in some contradictions to say that this is a totally entertaining and totally disturbing movie to watch. You can look at it from several angles, but the doctrinally pure "rapture-believin'" Christian angle is probably not one of them. At very least it addresses the enduring problem of spiritual emptiness and the lure of "easy answer" end-times beliefs. As our world becomes more unhinged and uncertain the visibility of these societal phenomena only increases. Best of all we get to see David Duchovny before he fell in with a bad UFO crowd.

There is a limit of five stars, so that is all.
This is a low budget movie, and still it is a phenomenal.
It is a great story, an important messagge, and an incredible and unexpectedly fast-paced movie.
I would rent it for sure, I bought it, and I wish they will do it in DVD, if they do I will buy it for sure. ... Read more

Description

Peter Weller and Judy Davis play a hip couple who open a trendy L.A. Boutique to finance a "civilized" divorce in a biting tale of our times. "The sexiest, smartest comedy this decade has produced" (Harper's Bazaar) Year: 1994 Director: Michael Tolkin Starring:Peter Weller, Judy Davis, Patrick Bauchau ... Read more

Reviews (4)

The best film ever made about LA
Ten years after its release, Steve Martin's LA Story has a cult following for its adept interpretation of vapid and decadent Los Angelinos. Though LA Story came out in 1990 and seems to lampoon the 80s, Michael Tolkin goes way beyond his collaborative work with Robert Altman(The Player) with this pitch black comedy.

The film is way ahead of its time. Hollywood has yet to examine the decadent 90s in any way. Here we have characters who are more Clinton era than American Beauty. Pretty astute, considering that the film was released in 1994!

Look for top performances from Peter Weller, Judy Davis, and great supporting work from Adam West, Sandra Seacat, and a pre-Pulp Fiction Samuel Jackson. Hopefully, some of the great camera work an slick visuals will find its way on to DVD in the near future.

maria ellingsen wasted- i got lost watching it
This film is a mess. It features a load of stars and made no sense at all. The great Icelandic actress Maria Ellingsen appears once or twice and is her exceptonal is wasted in this film. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.

A brisk stroll through Yuppie hell
Michael Tolkin's "The New Age" was the most scathing movie indictment of the American dream gone Sonoma catalog since Albert Brooks' brilliant satire "Lost In America". "The New Age" re-teams the "Tracy & Hepburn" of indie film, Peter Weller and Judy Davis, who were also the wacked-out couple in "Naked Lunch". Instead of heading off in an RV to go "find themselves", Judy and Peter decide to "simplify" thier over-extended Yuppie lifestyle by chucking it all and opening up a Beverly Hills boutique. Hilarity ensues....right? Actually, the movie takes a more low-key,sometimes cruel, black comedy approach to its subjects as they proceed to go into a tandem midlife crisis. Along the way, most trendy southern California fads are lampooned, recalling the film "Serial", which savaged the Bay Area Yuppie/New Age scene in the same fashion. Good supporting performances abound; the biggest surprise is Adam "Batman" West, who is priceless as Weller's father. West plays the wryly acerbic, aging Lothario with much aplomb.(Where has he been?!) Highly recommended.

I like Michael Tolkin, okay?
This movie meant a lot more to me after I lived in Phoenix, Arizona for a year, which is as far west as I want to go for the rest of my life. It's much more interesting to observe empty, soul-less people from a safe distance. It's funny. See "The Rapture," too. Thanks. ... Read more

Reviews (52)

A hybrid genre classic
This truly is Mimi Rogers' best performance, and a thankful stepping stone for David Duchovny, if he turned this one down he might have never got chance to get that X Files role that he was born to play.
The Rapture is basically an experimental hybrid genre classic, it focuses on a womans spiritual and sexual awakening, first she is promiscous then she discovers the bible.
Being a devoted David Duchovny fan this is a film that never leaves my memory because of its total sincerity to the charachter and its haunting soundtrack, critics who watched it once should be invited to watch it again second time around and catch the bits that they missed, its a little gem from To Kill A Mocking bird Dierctor 'Micheal Tolkin'.
Be pleased if you own it on tape as its one for your alternate collection.

"10" Commandments or "X" Files?
With the benefit of hindsight, this is one of the most compelling (albeit oddball)"millennium paranoia" films of the 1990's. Mimi Rogers' Mona Lisa demeanor is perfectly cast portraying a woman who lives by the "If it feels good, do it" philiosophy, yet agonizes over her spiritual emptiness. While that is not an original idea for a movie protaganist,("Looking For Mr. Goodbar", anyone?)what ensues following her "conversion" has little or no precedence in film history.It is nearly impossible to discuss this aspect without turning it into a "spoiler". Suffice it to say that, if you're famililar with the "controversial" ending to 1999's "Magnolia", the final scenes in "Rapture" appear to have the same polarizing effect on viewers. At turns disturbing, thought-provoking,ambitiously Kubrickian, even maddening,but never boring. Not recommended for "popcorn movie" fans!

Why is this movie not on DVD?
One of the most powerful movies I have ever seen and to think Mimi Rogers didn't become a Big Star after this. She didnt even get a nomination but that tells you a lot about the Academy. Her performance outweighs anything Julia Roberts or Gweneth Paltrow has ever done.
This movie is not just about religion but being lost in a world that's not always kind.
Check it out.

Not an angry review with many spelling errors
Good to see that this film is still the subject of so much bitter debate, a decade and more after it appeared. Let me engage in some contradictions to say that this is a totally entertaining and totally disturbing movie to watch. You can look at it from several angles, but the doctrinally pure "rapture-believin'" Christian angle is probably not one of them. At very least it addresses the enduring problem of spiritual emptiness and the lure of "easy answer" end-times beliefs. As our world becomes more unhinged and uncertain the visibility of these societal phenomena only increases. Best of all we get to see David Duchovny before he fell in with a bad UFO crowd.

There is a limit of five stars, so that is all.
This is a low budget movie, and still it is a phenomenal.
It is a great story, an important messagge, and an incredible and unexpectedly fast-paced movie.
I would rent it for sure, I bought it, and I wish they will do it in DVD, if they do I will buy it for sure. ... Read more

Reviews (4)

The best film ever made about LA
Ten years after its release, Steve Martin's LA Story has a cult following for its adept interpretation of vapid and decadent Los Angelinos. Though LA Story came out in 1990 and seems to lampoon the 80s, Michael Tolkin goes way beyond his collaborative work with Robert Altman(The Player) with this pitch black comedy.

The film is way ahead of its time. Hollywood has yet to examine the decadent 90s in any way. Here we have characters who are more Clinton era than American Beauty. Pretty astute, considering that the film was released in 1994!

Look for top performances from Peter Weller, Judy Davis, and great supporting work from Adam West, Sandra Seacat, and a pre-Pulp Fiction Samuel Jackson. Hopefully, some of the great camera work an slick visuals will find its way on to DVD in the near future.

maria ellingsen wasted- i got lost watching it
This film is a mess. It features a load of stars and made no sense at all. The great Icelandic actress Maria Ellingsen appears once or twice and is her exceptonal is wasted in this film. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone.

A brisk stroll through Yuppie hell
Michael Tolkin's "The New Age" was the most scathing movie indictment of the American dream gone Sonoma catalog since Albert Brooks' brilliant satire "Lost In America". "The New Age" re-teams the "Tracy & Hepburn" of indie film, Peter Weller and Judy Davis, who were also the wacked-out couple in "Naked Lunch". Instead of heading off in an RV to go "find themselves", Judy and Peter decide to "simplify" thier over-extended Yuppie lifestyle by chucking it all and opening up a Beverly Hills boutique. Hilarity ensues....right? Actually, the movie takes a more low-key,sometimes cruel, black comedy approach to its subjects as they proceed to go into a tandem midlife crisis. Along the way, most trendy southern California fads are lampooned, recalling the film "Serial", which savaged the Bay Area Yuppie/New Age scene in the same fashion. Good supporting performances abound; the biggest surprise is Adam "Batman" West, who is priceless as Weller's father. West plays the wryly acerbic, aging Lothario with much aplomb.(Where has he been?!) Highly recommended.

I like Michael Tolkin, okay?
This movie meant a lot more to me after I lived in Phoenix, Arizona for a year, which is as far west as I want to go for the rest of my life. It's much more interesting to observe empty, soul-less people from a safe distance. It's funny. See "The Rapture," too. Thanks. ... Read more