"Apostasy": The Movie...
Ten bucks says some Bethel Warwick lifer is reading about this for the first time and thinking, "This is it! The Great Tribulation has begun!!!"
Apostasy: The Movie - Directed by Daniel Kokotajlo
by darkspilver 75 Replies latest jw friends
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Vidiot
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darkspilver
thanks cobweb for the Variety link
Demonstrators Picket London UK Premiere of ApostasyTonight - Sunday, October 8, 2017 at 6.00pm at Picturehouse Central Cinema
Placard waving demonstrators outside front of cinema....
https://twitter.com/bectu/status/917073690495471616
https://twitter.com/CPHLivingWage/status/917121142015569921
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cobweb
The Guardian gives it 4 out of 5. I'm feeling very good about this movie now. Check out the review. There are quite a lot of comments too under the article which make interesting reading.
Apostasy review – faith and fellowship in potent account of hidden world of Jehovah's Witnesses
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darkspilver
Thanks cobweb
Interesting comment in the Guardian's review about the 'other film':...
I have to say that Apostasy exposes the slightly preposterous drama of Richard Eyre’s new film The Children Act, with a similar plotline about Jehovah’s Witnesses, based on the Ian McEwan novel. Apostasy is more knowledgeable, less excitable.
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darkspilver
Review from The Hollywood Reporter - with interesting comment regarding the film's title
Apostasy: Film Review | San Sebastian 2017
The Hollywood Reporter, Monday, October 9, 2017
Siobhan Finneran, Molly Wright and Sacha Parkinson lead the cast in writer-director Daniel Kokotajlo's debut, a UK drama premiering at the long-running festival.
Blood proves thicker than (holy) water in writer-director Daniel Kokotajlo's debut Apostasy, one of the year's strongest British films. A beautifully balanced glimpse into the world of Jehovah's Witnesses set in a humdrum corner of Manchester, it premiered at Toronto then belatedly emerged as one of the more buzzed New Directors contenders at San Sebastian.
Set for UK release via Curzon, this downbeat affair should parlay festival acclaim into niche theatrical distribution and small screen exposure. To do so it must overcome a title ("an act of refusing to continue to follow, obey, or recognize a religious faith") that's both tricky to pronounce and too bald a label for the screenplay's complex contents.
Kokotajlo handles some potentially melodramatic plot developments with tact and audacious restraint. Indeed, he takes the very bold step of eliding major incidents which most filmmakers would place front and center. Dividing the story into discrete chapters with cuts to black screen, or sometimes to Bible extracts presented on title cards, Kokotajlo and editor Napoleon Stratogiannakis convey the impression that we are being allowed controlled glimpses into tightly-controlled lives.
This approach risks clinical or mannered results, but in Kokotaljo's hands the emphasis is firmly and profitably upon the characters and their interplay. Crucially, he elicits a trio of exceptional performances from his three female leads.
While undeniably critical in tone and ultimately sympathetic with Luisa's increasingly spiky rebelliousness, Apostasy takes appropriate care to show balanced respect for Jehovah's Witness beliefs, and speaks to much wider issues of fundamentalism, institutional repression and individual free will. It's a timely, sensitive and intelligent work of cinema for which opportunity will now surely knock.
READ FULL REVIEW: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/review/apostasy-1045595
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sparrowdown
I wonder if Warwick will release a statement.
Also will these movies cause a spike in people checking out jwdorborg website?
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jwundubbed
Okay, how do you find out if this movie will be playing anywhere near you?
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darkspilver
jwundubbed: Okay, how do you find out if this movie will be playing anywhere near you?
haha, the business of movie-making when you're not a 'hollywood block-buster' eh?
It doesn't seem to be going the film festival awards routes (ie being submitted to as many film festival competitions as possible around the world).
But it is using screenings at a FEW film festivals to pick-up buzz, generate interest and reviews (and seems to be keeping OUT of the actual competitions) - screenings done with an eye to getting companies interested in actually distributing the film (ie on semi-general release) at cinemas - this appears to be going very well... the film plays/ed at
Toronto - for the English North American market.
San Sebastian - for the non-English European and Spanish market (including South America).
London - as it's a British film.
Mumbai - for the Indian/Asia market (not so strange, as remember the film is partly set amongst the Urdu (India) speaking community in Manchester).
I would not be surprised if it will try to do the same as The Children's Act, and focus on the 2019 Awards Season, with a cinema release during 2018.
https://www.jehovahs-witness.com/topic/5640312363941888/_post/5190908460924928
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wizzstick
I went to see this yesterday in Hackney.
Really good film, I would describe it as about 98% accurate.
The 3 main leads are superb. The mother is like so many middle aged single mothers I can think of in the organisation.
The actors playing the elders are spot on - particularly the younger super keen CO wannabe.
It's strength lies in the acting, and how the JW's look so odd when presented so normally (if that makes sense). I'd be fascinated to know what active JW's make of the film.
We've waited for many years for someone to make a movie about JW's that feels 'right'. And this does for me.
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Phizzy
Good to hear Wizzy, because any active JW's would pick on the slightest inaccuracy and then ignore the Film's main lesson for them, that they are weird !
Not that I think the motive for producing the Film was to impact on JW's, I think it was simply a strange, unique, almost unknown world that the writer/producer had intimate knowledge of, and how that JW world shapes and impacts upon his characters, and that therefore his drama becomes of more interest to the general public.
I hope it gets a general screening in as many Countries as possible. Active JW's who do see it can only benefit by it making them feel uncomfortable, whereas within their JW bubble their complacent smugness is never challenged.