Variety
For all of Martin Koolhoven's talent, a hifalutin exploitation picture like "Brimstone" has too much - and not enough - on its mind.
Full review
Brimstone
Dakota Fanning and Guy Pearce are joined by Game of Thrones's Carice Van Houten and Kit Harrington in this Western thriller by Martin Koolhoven. Nominated for the Golden Lion at the 2016 Venice Film Festival.
"Liz (Fanning) has a quiet country life on a farm with her kind-hearted husband and children, but we immediately sense that things are too good to be true. One Sunday, a mysterious new reverend (Pearce) gives his inaugural sermon, and Liz fills with terror; her past has come back to haunt her. Following the service, a local woman goes into labour on the church floor. Through no fault of Liz's, the birth goes woefully wrong. When the woman's husband seeks revenge, the reverend comes to the rescue of Liz and her family — though he warns that punishment will soon befall her. The next day, the family's sheep are found slaughtered, Liz is sequestered, and her daughter is kidnapped. Thus begins a nigh-biblical sequence of events involving blood, fire, and an epic years-long odyssey spanning states and territories." (Toronto International Film Festival)
2016148 minsNetherlands, France, Germany, Belgium, Sweden, UK
MysteryThrillerWestern
- Director:
- Martin Koolhoven ('Winter in Wartime', 'AmnesiA', 'Bonkers')
- Writer:
- Martin Koolhoven
- Cast:
- Dakota FanningGuy PearceEmilia JonesKit HaringtonCarice van HoutenPaul AndersonWilliam HoustonIvy George
Brimstone / Reviews
Vanity Fair
Even when the film is horrible to look at, it's beautiful, a strange and grim portrait of an annihilating American frontier.
Full reviewThe Guardian
Brimstone is hampered somewhat by its ponderous, doom-laden pace, and resultant bloated running time, but remains an intriguing slant on the spaghetti western...
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Screen Daily
[A] tastefully packaged but borderline offensive slice of revenge porn, which starts promisingly but is slowly (alas, very slowly) drowned by backstory.
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Hollywood Reporter
Koolhoven has painted himself into a corner because the film's unifying theme, the maltreatment of women at the hand of righteous-acting men, takes much too long to crystallise.
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