Movie Breakdown: The Devil All The Time
Pre-Screening Stance:
The Devil All The Time was directed by Antonio Campos, whose resume includes producer credits for Martha Marcy May Marlene, The Eyes Of My Mother and other lacking-in-sunshine efforts. So, as dark as the trailer for this film makes it look, I assume it’ll actually be a few shades past that. Guess I’ll pour myself a whiskey before hitting play.
Post-Screening Ramble:
I would describe The Devil All The Time as a one and done film. Meaning, you’ll watch it once and then likely never ever revisit it again. This isn’t to say it’s bad – I actually found it to be pretty great, but it’s so heavy, so bleak, and so brutal that it makes for an exhausting experience.
The film follows a variety of backwoods-centric storylines, and it features a narrator to help tie them together (and to make it easier to unload various details). It doesn’t necessarily drag at any point, but this is not something that breezily skips along. Director Antonio Campos let’s you marinate in the movie’s bevy of unfortunate, dark moments, which – again – does wear you out after a while. On the bright side, the constant simmering does allow the cast to shine, and boy do they. Tom Holland turns in an immensely fine performance as Arvin Russell, a good-intentioned young man caught up in a cycle of violence that has and always will rule his life. Robert Pattinson is just about perfect as the smarmy, silver-tongued Reverend Preston Teagardin. Sebastian Stan’s Sheriff Lee Bodecker and Jason Clarke’s Carl Henderson are both sinister, but they have little blips where they seem likeable, which makes them even more sinister. Additionally, Haley Bennett, Harry Melling, Bill Skarsgard and Eliza Scanlen also stand out in their small roles.
As I’ve stressed, this movie will bludgeon you, but it’s well made and features a slew of fine performances. I think that makes it worth checking out when it lands on Netflix this week.
One Last Thought:
When I first saw Haley Bennett in Swallow, I thought she looked a lot like Jennifer Lawrence. Here, she totally looks like Renee Zellweger. Who will my brain transform her into next?
