The Devil All The Time (2020) review - Movie Thoughts (Chapter 43) ⛪

Hello everyone,

Today's film was one of few times I have ever been sucked into watching a film simply off its trailer. Netflix like to dump trailers out for all their content all the time, and this one just happened to come up in my Recommended on YouTube. I was utterly intrigued by the trailer and the concept, and got 100% sucked into watching the film. It was a journey and I have complex feelings about it, but I think this experience goes to show when you do a inventive but not spoiler-tastic trailer, you can surprise people....

(**disclaimer: the following thoughts are 100% my opinion, you do not have to agree with them - film is inherently subjective and everyone's perspective is valid! Also, there are probably spoilers in the following, read at your own risk. Now onto some thoughts....**)

Source: IMDB

An all-star ensemble cast shone in this unsettling chain reaction narrative that spilt from one tragedy and horror to another. With Jake Gyllenhaal earning a producer credit, the high calibre of filmmaking on show here produced a captivatingly gripping tale of small town intrigue and criminality. Set in southern Ohio and West Virginia, crooked characters collide around a young man devoted to protecting his loved ones in country towns already brimming with brutality and corruption. A gothic thriller based on a novel by Donald Ray Pollock, its relentless psychological mystery made for an intense and sometimes uncomfortable watch as horrible acts went hand-in-hand with an engaging balance of tension.

At two hours and eighteen minutes, it was a long slog. Whilst at times it seemed slow and almost lost in the mystery and rugged rural landscapes, audiences couldn’t really look away or shake an overwhelming sense of dread at what was unfolding. Rightly shocking and awful at face value, the way the film was constructed held up that high level of drama and allowed audiences to spend meaningful time with each character before their brutal deaths. Everything held together okay, but its pacing did occasionally lag at times. What successfully distracted from this though was the continued poignant narration from an unnamed male voice, credited as author novel Pollock, that held much of the emotional glue and filled in the blanks on character and links between arc’s. The constant flip in tone between heartbreaking, menacing and chilling developed a uniquely unstable atmosphere where audiences could never be truly sure of anyone’s character.

Credit must be given to director Antonio Campos for his powerfully specific imagining of this story. The awful, foreboding aesthetic embedded in how the film looked with swings of the camera and dynamic editing by Sofia Subercaseaux made everything far more interesting to look at and get lost in. That texture was also multi-faceted thanks to a clever score by Danny Bensi and Saunder Jurriaans; absolutely haunting, visceral mood music that encapsulated that thriller-esque unease and mystery. A strong screenplay from Antonio and Paulo Campos foregrounded simple dialogue, Western twangs and Southern drawls; wandering around mystery and deceit with a natural cadence and poignant reflective phrasing.

Pollock’s novel was an expansive premise tamed well by the setup of the film’s scope and framed in the intimacy of interlacing stories and the corrupt brutality of grizzly backwater town politics and values. Revolving around the idea of fighting the ‘devil’, faith and flawed people; an erratic exploration of religion and family dynamics were baked into a recipe of violence, corruption and revenge. Particular relationships like father/son and siblings were also quite emotionally engaging.

Whilst an interesting investigation, it oddly didn’t really have a lot of purpose. Crooked cop Deputy Lee Bodecker (Sebastian Stan) cuttingly said maybe ‘some people were born just so they could be buried’, and sadly this was an oddly fitting sentiment for how some of the characters’ journeys could be viewed. There was a complex emotional puzzle with plenty of thematic capital for audiences to soak up. Spanning the time between World War II and the start of the Vietnam War, much of the opening heaviness was connected to Willard Russell (Bill Skarsgard)’s demons. Through starting at that point, transitioning to a discussion on violence both as a coping mechanism and a generational behaviour, and then posing the question of whether equating violence to justice is honourable was seamless and appealing. On the same level, extensive discussions of religion and depictions of graphic devotion in spider showers and the kind of pain that leaves a man in a wheelchair for a lifetime was also shocking to witness. From an utterly deplorable preacher to crooked cops and bloodthirsty murder lovers; everyone was basically wading in sin so it was difficult to find those moments of goodness or relief.

With such a multitude of characters coming and going, the ensemble cast gave excellent performances and committed to immersion in the macabre tone. Each character had their defining moment for each actor to truly showcase their merit. Robert Pattinson was adequately abhorrent and creepy as cruel Reverend Preston Teagardin; with a wayward accent to steal the screen. Eliza Scanlan was vulnerable and melancholic as grieved schoolgirl Lenora Laferty. Riley Keough was fabulously peculiar as con artist Sandy Henderson. Stan’s power-hungry police deputy was strong as well, and Jason Clarke was convincingly sickening as duplicitous photographer Carl Henderson. All those pieces were also grounded by two amazing performances by the central father/son of Skarsgard’s strong and bereaved Willard and Tom Holland’s loyal and resilient Arvin Russell. Arvin had death and loss of family following him and despite his morally ambiguous actions, he was an odd moral compass at the centre of a lot of dark craziness.

Dark in every sense and littered with so much violence and death, The Devil All The Time packed a long and intense punch over its running time. Country scenery and fantastic performances made for a truly compelling and uncomfortable experience that never strayed into thoughtless ‘delusions!’.

7.5/10, 3 STARS

Thanks for reading,

Love and small town intrigue, Emily ⛪