The Reckoning ***½ of *****
Contains *minor* spoilers.
Saw this film the other night, as it's been out here in Sweden for the past two years (I even saw it as a low-price DVD (about $9) in a store).
The story takes place in 14:th century England and we get to follow the young priest Nicholas (brilliant English actor Paul Bettany) who, after committing adultery and murder (or possibly manslaughter), decides to leave his priesthood behind himself and flees the town he works in. He runs into a group of traveling actors (Willem Dafoe, Brian Cox and others) and gets to join them.
Basically, the group performs stories from the bible, but after arriving in a town where a woman is accused of murder, the master player (played brilliantly by Dafoe) decides that the group will put on a play about the murder instead of their usual bible plays.
Paul Bettanys character tries to solve the murder, as he believes the woman is innocent. The priest wants forgiveness for his own acts of adultery and murder and tries to do so by helping someone who is wrongly convicted for a crime and to find the one who really did it.
I certainly liked this film. The photography is excellent, as well as the actors. The pace of the film is moderate, I believe another twenty minutes might have been appropriate to evolve the story even further (especially the ending is a bit...unevolved). Vincent Cassel (french actor from, among others, The Brotherhood of the Wolf and Shrek) does a great job as the evil feudal lord, but he's unfortunately only in the film (with lines anyway) the last ten minutes or so.
All together a good film, well worth seeing in the cinema or renting.
Contains *minor* spoilers.
Saw this film the other night, as it's been out here in Sweden for the past two years (I even saw it as a low-price DVD (about $9) in a store).
The story takes place in 14:th century England and we get to follow the young priest Nicholas (brilliant English actor Paul Bettany) who, after committing adultery and murder (or possibly manslaughter), decides to leave his priesthood behind himself and flees the town he works in. He runs into a group of traveling actors (Willem Dafoe, Brian Cox and others) and gets to join them.
Basically, the group performs stories from the bible, but after arriving in a town where a woman is accused of murder, the master player (played brilliantly by Dafoe) decides that the group will put on a play about the murder instead of their usual bible plays.
Paul Bettanys character tries to solve the murder, as he believes the woman is innocent. The priest wants forgiveness for his own acts of adultery and murder and tries to do so by helping someone who is wrongly convicted for a crime and to find the one who really did it.
I certainly liked this film. The photography is excellent, as well as the actors. The pace of the film is moderate, I believe another twenty minutes might have been appropriate to evolve the story even further (especially the ending is a bit...unevolved). Vincent Cassel (french actor from, among others, The Brotherhood of the Wolf and Shrek) does a great job as the evil feudal lord, but he's unfortunately only in the film (with lines anyway) the last ten minutes or so.
All together a good film, well worth seeing in the cinema or renting.