Actor Brady Corbet has proved he has unique stories to tell as the screenwriter behind “Simon Killer” and “The Sleepwalker,” making it clear he has a voice worth paying attention to. Now he’s gone to the next level, directing his debut feature film “The Childhood Of A Leader.”
READ MORE: Sundance Review: ‘Simon Killer’ Loses That Lovin’ Feeling On The Streets Of Paris
Starring Liam Cunningham, Bérénice Bejo, Stacy Martin, Yolande Moreau, Tom Sweet and Robert Pattinson, the story revolves a child whose violent outbursts are just a hint at the monster he’ll be become later. Here’s the synopsis from the Venice Film Festival, where the movie premiered last summer:
An American family settles into the French countryside at the end of the First World War, where the father is involved in the peace negotiations around the Treaty of Versailles. His wife is a devout Christian who struggles with the tantrums of their defiant son, whose willful outbursts begin to demonstrate a monster in the making. Loosely inspired by the early childhood experiences of many of the great dictators of the 20th Century, The Childhood of a Leader is an ominous portrait of emerging evil.
Our Jessica Kiang said in her review that the film “is not quite something good, but it is quite something.” There’s no U.S. distributor for the movie at the moment, but the picture is opening abroad, so check out the new international trailer above. [The Film Stage]
