Sophie and the Rising Sun

The actors are superb. The nuanced writing and direction have insight. The three-dimensional portrayals of women in the rural South during the war are praiseworthy.

Greenwald and cinematographer Wolfgang Held linger on the idyllic beauty of the salt marsh and trees draped with Spanish moss, using the vivid cerulean of native blue crabs to link her characters.

There’s a clumsy, soapy tepidness to the procession of plot points, but within individual scenes, the actors pierce the genteel surface.

The gently nostalgic mood and sleepy pacing effectively erase the movie’s necessary edge.

It’s a timid, tired but a tender-hearted wartime romance that should have more edge than its subject promises.