Film Series: Promised Land

The Brighton & Hove Movie Club has had some great events lately, which has really got me in to the cinema going habit again.

Promised Land is the new Matt Damon film and was showing at the new Dukes at the Komedia cinema in the North Laine.  It was a smaller group than usual as there were rival films being shown in Shoreham and Hove, so just four of us met in the very comfy bar area before heading into the startlingly empty auditorium - there were no more than ten people in the whole place and we were able to bag the sofas.

So how was the film?  Well it was directed by Gus Van Sant, the screenplay was written by and starred Matt Damon and John Krasinski (Mr Emily Blunt); and was based on a novel by Dave Eggars.

Set in rural Pensylvania, it centres on the attempts of two consultants Steve and Sue (Damon and Frances McDormand) from Global Crosspower Solutions trying to buy up hydraulic fracking rights from residents of a small town.  Krasinski is the environmental campaigner trying to stop them.

Damon is excellent as the 'good guy' working for the big bad energy corporation; his childhood was scarred by unemployment in his Iowan farming community, he sees fracking as a way to help communities achieve financial independence.  McDormand is awesome as the jaded, seen it all before sidekick who is there to do a job to support her teenage son.

Damon is settling well into middle age (he is 42), slightly podgy around the middle and greying hair at the temples he is becoming an American everyman; McDormand at 55 has a face that is full of character, generally dour but occasionally lit up with a smile - she is brilliant in this role.

The scenery is stunning and the aerial shots (the helicopter pilot gets a mention in the credits) are incredible, with the pairs red truck cris-crossing the green landscape.  There are also lots of cleverly filtered shots - through dirty windscreens or bug covered flyscreens.

Tentative romances start for for both main characters, for Damon with the local school teacher and for McDormand with the grocery and gun store owner, but this is no rom-com and the stories and lightly played.

After a surprising twist, the film is let down by a smaltzy ending, but overall I'd give it 4 out of 5.