ZERMATT

Second in a proposed trilogy, ZERMATT recounts Calvin Becker’s coming-of-age within his fundamentalist missionary family. Calvin’s never danced, seen a movie or a television program, and his home schooling has left him deficient in reading. When the family takes a ski vacation at their accustomed low-budget hotel, far from the “sinners” in the village, they discover shocking changes--guests who smoke, drink alcohol, and enjoy music. In a painfully believable performance, Lloyd James suffers Calvin’s adolescent misery as he finds himself trapped in a humorless evangelical dogma-spouting nightmare. James is utterly convincing as Calvin, consumed by curiosity about the opposite sex, becomes carnally enlightened by a Swiss waitress of 35. As the inevitable crisis of faith occurs, James’s performance combines pathos with comedy, making the ingenuous, if not-so-innocent Calvin, a character to remember. S.J.H. © AudioFile 2004, Portland, Maine [Published: AUG/ SEP 04]