Silent Lies

A Matrix Entertainment production. Produced by Samuel Bernstein, Peter Kiwitt. Executive producers, Sidney Kiwitt, Mark Terry. Directed by Peter Kiwitt. Screenplay, Samuel Bernstein.

Shelley ... Elizabeth Anne Allen
Carl ... Michael Harris
Raymond ... Cedrick Terrell
Tanya ... Dana Daurey
Ruby ... Bonnie Burroughs

Atale of brutal sexual abuse and tender sisterly love, "Silent Lies," Peter Kiwitt's modest directorial debut, is a blunt, candid film that lacks any subtlety or nuance. Bearing the earnestness of a teleplay, small-scale pic is not interesting or accomplished enough to warrant theatrical release, but it should travel the second-tier festival road.

As written by Samuel Bernstein, work is based on the simple premise that things are not as perfect or as clean as they seem to be on the surface. Set in a small Texas town, story revolves around Shelley (Elizabeth Anne Allen), a bright high school senior planning to attend college on a full scholarship. Motherless and with her father away, Shelley has been taking care of her sister, Tanya (Dana Daurey), a precocious adolescent on the verge of exploring her sexual identity.

Through flashbacks, yarn reveals right from the beginning how Shelley was sexually abused as a girl by her father, Carl (Michael Harris). At present, life at home with their nasty stepmother, Ruby (Bonnie Burroughs), is unpleasant, and it becomes even more hellish as soon as Carl returns to his family from Mexico, where he has been hiding from the narcotics police, hoping to renew his secret liaison with Shelley.

Rebuffed by her, Carl turns his attention to Tanya, to Shelley's alarm. Tensions continue to rise until a bloody climax, through which the two sisters re-establish their bond with the help of Shelley's classmate Raymond (Cedrick Terrell), one of the few black residents in town.

Heartfelt if also naive, "Silent Lies" shows all its cards in the first two sequences; from there on, it's a rather predictable path. With the notable exception of Shelley, who's marvelously played by the attractive Allen, all the other figures, especially the father, suffer from narrowly conceived, one-dimensional characterizations. Well-intentioned drama is slightly more skillfully directed than scripted, though pic feels and sounds like a first-time effort.

---Emanuel Levy

Camera (Deluxe color) , Dermott Downs; editors, Susan Demskey, Alex Garcia; music, Phil Kimbrough; production design, Macie Vener; art direction, Pat Scanlon; costume design, Kay L. Peebles; sound (Dolby), Eric Hetzel; assistant director, Glenn Steelman; casting, Aaron Griffith. Reviewed at Montreal World Film Festival, Aug. 29, 1996 . (Also in Fort Lauderdale Film Festival.) Running time: 92 MIN.

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