Glen Wilson / Via Courtesy of Sundance Institute
Produced by Ryan Coogler, the second feature from Shaka King is a formidable work of art. A late addition to the Sundance lineup, the film stars Daniel Kaluuya as Fred Hampton, the young chair of the Black Panther Party’s Illinois chapter, and Lakeith Stanfield as William O’Neal, the undercover FBI informant who joins the group and betrays them. Kaluuya carries a grounded gravitas and is nothing short of sensational in his tour de force portrayal of the charismatic activist. Meanwhile, Stanfield’s chameleonlike nature serves his frantic character well here; it’s hard to pin down where his head’s at as he scrambles to survive. Throw in a handful of other notable performances (courtesy of Dominique Fishback,
In the Earth (Ben Wheatley’s follow up to his
Rebecca adaptation) integrates a deadly pandemic into its plot. But rather than focus on the fear and death it produces, Wheatley uses instead the resulting isolation to create unnerving horror.
The film begins as Dr. Martin Lowery (Joel Fry) arrives at a scientific camp outside a forest. After testing to ensure he has not been contaminated, Martin embarks with colleague Alma (Ellora Torchia, seen in Ari Aster’s
Midsommar) on a trek through the forest towards the camp of another researcher (Hayley Squires) who has stopped communicating with the base. It is on that long journey alone among the trees that things begin to go wrong for Martin and Alma: they are attacked in the night, their gear goes missing, and Zach (Reece Shearsmith), the kindly eccentric who rescues them, turns out not to be kind at all.
In the Earth Review: Treat Yourself to a Shot of COVID-Inspired Wheatley Weirdness In the Earth Review: Treat Yourself to a Shot of COVID-Inspired Wheatley Weirdness
It s somehow fitting that a horror helmer whose career kicked off with viral videos has gone and made a pandemic movie that infects the id.
Peter Debruge, provided by
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Running time: Running time: 100 MIN.
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
Last year, Ben Wheatley released a remake of Alfred Hitchcock’s “Rebecca” in which his heroine suffers a trippy newlywed’s nightmare. She’s married to Armie Hammer, following him through the halls of Manderley, and the hallway carpet turns to crawling ivy, grabbing her ankles and pulling her down toward hell. This hallucination stands out in the otherwise traditional film, but it’s one of the few moments in “Rebecca” where we sense the filmmaker’s personality coming through. That freaky interlude might as well have been a trailer for Wheatl
2021 Sundance Film Festival Review – In the Earth
SYNOPSIS:
As the world searches for a cure to a disastrous virus, a scientist and park scout venture deep into the forest for a routine equipment run.
Ben Wheatley is a filmmaker whose prodigious talents are matched only by the infuriating inconsistency of his output, so it’s a pleasure to report that his latest – a pandemic-adjacent horror film conceived and then shot over two weeks last year – is a striking return to form.
In the reality of the film, the world has been scarred by a deadly virus, as Dr. Martin Lowery (Joel Fry) sets off on a mission to reach a research hub in the Arboreal Forest where his colleague Dr. Wendel is waiting. Joined by park scout Alma (Ellora Torchia), Martin’s journey becomes increasingly fraught as it appears that something or someone is actively working against him making safe passage through the forest.
‘In the Earth’ Film Review: Don’t Mess With Mother Nature, Says Ben Wheatley
Sundance 2021: The British director returns to his horror roots with a messy, creepy, annoying and at times deliciously nasty concoction fueled by COVID-era currents of dreadSteve Pond | January 29, 2021 @ 7:56 PM
AWARDS BEAT
Courtesy of Sundance Institute
Two of Friday’s Sundance Film Festival premieres are movies that their directors envisioned as a way to keep busy and make art during the pandemic lockdown, and they both deal with a lot of people dying. But beyond that, there’s not a whole lot of common ground between Daryl Wein and Zoe Lister-Jones’ “How It Ends” and Ben Wheatley’s “In the Earth,” which take markedly different approaches to catastrophe and to COVID-era moviemaking.