Despite a somewhat lukewarm response from its premiere at Sundance, the directorial debut of Vera Farmiga — an adaptation of Carolyn Briggs‘ religious memoirs “This Dark World: A Memoir Of Salvation Lost And Found” — is a film we’re greatly looking forward to.
One review promisingly noted that the recent Oscar-nominee’s “directing style mirrors her acting: elegant, wise, knowing, sly, and occasionally sexy” which is everything we could hope with a recently unveiled poster and handful of images further spotlighting the film’s helmer and star.
The story follows the memoir’s author, Briggs, as she “turns to a fundamentalist community for answers, but after years of dogma and loss, she must find the courage to ask the questions that will help her reclaim her life.” Joshua Leonard, John Hawkes, Dagmara Dominszyk, Donna Murphy, Bill Irwin, Norbert Leo Butz and Ebon Moss-Bachrach all co-star with Farmiga’s real-life younger sister Taissa debuting as the younger version of her character.
Sony Pictures Classic will give the film a limited release in New York and L.A. starting August 26th. There’s also a short clip of the film that has been floating around since its screening at the L.A. Film Festival. [IMPAwards/SonyPictures]
I saw a trailer in front of The Tree of Life over the weekend (my third viewing). It looked very intriguing, though I\’m curious as to how it will navigate the minefield of its religious subject. As I\’m religious myself, I don\’t want to see anything get demonized or stereotyped, but the film also seems to deal with a rather fundamentalist sect, and I wouldn\’t want them to sanitize and stereotype it in too good a light, either. So put me in the wait-and-see but hopeful camp.
vera should stop botox ! she seems to have no expression