Review of The Devil All the Time
midlandsmovies • September 21, 2020
The Devil All the Time (2020) Dir. Antonio Campos
Starring: Tom Holland, Robert Pattinson, Bill Skarsgård, Eliza Scanlen
Antonio Campos makes his return to feature films, following his work on The Punisher and The Sinner, with this humid, blood-soaked epic following three generations in backwoods America and the violence they inflict, or which is inflicted upon them. It’s Campos’ uncomfortable storytelling dialled up to ten; the culmination of his indie-darling thrillers Simon Killer (following a sociopathic Brady Corbet around Paris) and Christine (which documented the tragic final days of Christine Chubbuck, a reporter who would infamously commit suicide live on air).
For this adaption of Donald Ray Pollock’s southern gothic novel, Campos has brought together a glittering cast, far too many to examine individually, but at the film’s heart is the Russell family. Firstly, Willard (Bill Skarsgård) who returns from World War 2 a traumatised man without his faith, but becomes increasingly pious, his wife Charlotte (Haley Bennett), and their son Arvin (Michael Banks Repeta as a child, then Tom Holland later on).
Tragedy follows the Russells and we soon focus in on Arvin, trapped between protecting his family and doing what is right. In scenes that mirror his father’s actions, he brutally beats three high schoolers who are bullying his step-sister Lenora (Eliza Scanlen, seemingly destined to forever play the unfortunate sibling) before becoming embroiled in something far more sinister with manipulative preacher Preston Teagardin (Robert Pattinson).
Pattinson continues to be on career-best form. He’s snake-like as the monster hiding in plain sight, gaslighting the young women in the town and using their faith to his own gains. Like the most famous evangelicals, he steals your attention every time he is on-screen and his impact on the town drives Arvin Russell to take drastic measures.
Holland too, is busy shaking off franchises with a much quieter, introverted role. Arvin is a character haunted by the evil men do, is desperate not to make the same mistakes his father did and yet seemingly doomed to follow a helpless path of violence. Every step he takes is for his family but is equally self-destructive.
Campos, who also adapted the novel, does an excellent job of maintaining tension throughout the film. The sudden, visceral violence is spaced out enough so that we never become desensitised to it, even as events take an increasingly bloody turn in the final third. The picture feels hot and sweaty and, as a viewer, you feel the hostility, and helplessness, and religious fervour drip from every frame.
The central story briefly intertwines with those of serial killer duo Carl and Sandy Henderson (Jason Clarke and Riley Keough), and evangelical preacher Roy Laferty (an unrecognisable Harry Melling, Dudley Dursley to those well versed in their Harry Potter films). These plot threads span out across twenty years, ticking away in the background, as Laferty becomes deluded in his faith, leading to one of the more shocking scenes with Mia Wasikowska, and the Hendersons become increasingly fractured and violent.
Tackling such a dark and sprawling novel, with so many excellent actors on the cast list, it’s almost inevitable that you come away from The Devil All the Time feeling that most have been underutilised. Wasikowksa features for maybe ten minutes. There is another subplot with Sebastian Stan as a corrupt sheriff that is integral to the climatic moments of the film but cannot be given a substantial amount of screen time. Even the decades long killing spree of the Hendersons cannot be developed properly.
In an age when we complain about the increasing length of films, this feels too short, even at over two hours. It should feel like the darkest Cormac McCarthy novel through the lens of Robert Altman, or Francis Ford Coppola. It’s a true ensemble piece but never quite gets the balance between characters and pacing right. It leaves you wanting more, not only because what’s here is so good, but because the subplots often feel rushed, with so much more left to say.
The Devil All the Time is a brilliant, often disturbing, slice of southern gothic, marred only by the fact that there should be more of it.
Matthew Tilt
Twitter @Matthew_Tilt
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