A western starring Guy Pearce and Dakota Fanning? You don’t need to tell me twice, and with “Brimstone” gearing up to have its World Premiere at the Venice Film Festival this weekend, before landing at the Toronto International Film Festival for its North American debut, three new clips have arrived for the vengeance flick and it looks intense as heck.
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Co-starring Emilia Jones, Carice Van Houten, and Kit Harrington, director Martin Koolhoven has cited Charles Laughton’s “Night Of The Hunter” and Sergio Leone’s “Once Upon A Time In The West” as influences on his film about a young woman and a fearsome preacher whose paths cross with Biblical repercussions. Here’s the synopsis from TIFF:
Liz has a quiet country life on a farm with her kind-hearted husband and children, but we immediately sense that things are too good to be true. One Sunday, a mysterious new reverend (Guy Pearce) gives his inaugural sermon, and Liz fills with terror; her past has come back to haunt her. Following the service, a local woman goes into labour on the church floor. Through no fault of Liz’s, the birth goes woefully wrong. When the woman’s husband seeks revenge, the reverend comes to the rescue of Liz and her family — though he warns that punishment will soon befall her. The next day, the family’s sheep are found slaughtered, Liz is sequestered, and her daughter is kidnapped. Thus begins a nigh-biblical sequence of events involving blood, fire, and an epic years-long odyssey spanning states and territories.
“Brimstone” doesn’t yet have U.S. distribution, but you can bet more than a few distributors will be eagerly taking a look.
