Review : The Devil All The Time (2020)
Netflix has made leaps and bounds from its early days as a DVD rental-by-mail service to its current standing as a streaming service giant and production house. The jump to this production house status, be it through the acquisition and continuation of existing properties, or its ability to fund ideas from inception to final product, has by far been the most intriguing growth trend to watch. Netflix has had a steady stream of solid output, and even had multiple films that made Oscar-buzz over the past few years with films such as The Irishman, Roma and Marriage Story. Their latest original dramatic output, The Devil All The Time, continues this trend of quality output, and with 2020 being a shell of what a standard cinematic year is, perhaps the film can continue the winning trend Netflix is quickly establishing.
The Devil All The Time is the story of Arvin Russell (Tom Holland), a young man from the small town of Knockemstiff, Ohio with a troubled upbringing, a rocky journey through life, and a wholly uncertain future. His father, Willard Russell (Bill Skarsgård), was a former World War II Marine going through a crisis of faith when he met his future wife Charlotte (Haley Bennett). As a child, Arvin must watch Willard wrestle with his faith until the day he is left an orphan. During his journey into adulthood, Arvin’s life intersects with Lenora Laferty (Eliza Scanlen), a fellow orphan dealing with the equally sudden loss of her parents as a child, as well as killers Carl (Jason Clarke) and Sandy (Riley Keough) Henderson, crooked Sheriff Lee Bodecker (Sebastian Stan), and the manipulative evil incarnate that is Reverend Preston Teagardin (Robert Pattinson). As Arvin’s world falls apart around him, his back is pushed against the wall numerous times as he comes to grips with the struggles of right and wrong, faith, power balances and the protection of those you love.
Not since PT Anderson’s Magnolia has a film handled chance encounters and ulterior motives with an ensemble cast with such grace and nuance. While Arvin is the true spiritual center of The Devil All The Time, the characters that populate his world, be they family or the strangers he crosses paths with, are equally complex and grounded in reality. The setting of the mid-1960′s is also fitting, as America was on the verge of several cultural awakenings, but was still embracing a very basic, almost puritanical front that hid human savagery we have become all too familiar with as time has passed. The sleepy towns that serve as the stage for The Devil All The Time’s savage intensity are the same sort of settings you would find in Norman Rockwell paintings, and the juxtaposition of this all-American presentation against the actions it houses are jarring, especially as the film reaches its climactic fever-pitch.
It is within the depths of this grander juxtaposition that The Devil All The Time really finds its shining moments. As a meditation on the power and nature of faith, the way that those with power over others use it to manipulate and manifest their will, and the refusal to make a clear distinction of what’s right and wrong when it comes to violence, the film runs on high octane in its displays. Believers are set up as prey for those who claim to speak on behalf of God, though these so-called religious leaders mostly use this call as a way to feed their egos and animalistic urges. Even with religion taken out of the context, the power dynamic that exists between men and women, as well as adults and children, is mostly cruel and manipulative as well, regardless of whether the manipulator does so consciously or out of ignorance. The biggest questions posed to the viewer seem to lie in how Arvin and Willard rectify the wrongs they see in the world, as their hearts are in the right place, but their actions ultimately seem to justify self-created means and ends out of already fragile situations.
Director Antonio Campos does an amazing job of displaying the darkness versus light dichotomy both visually and narratively. Be it the aforementioned small-town vibes and settings that hide the raw and true nature of the inhabitants, or the smiles that the characters display as a façade to mask their true nature, undertones become the name of the game. The pacing is deliberate and methodical, and rightly so, with so many characters needed to pull multiple story threads together into a climactic tangle. Normally, I would not be a fan of narration, and I did find the disembodied voice distracting at times, but learning that the narrator was original book author Donald Ray Pollock allowed me to forgive its presence in the film almost immediately... in a way, it’s almost as if the ‘God’ that created the world we are watching is giving us deeper insight while we piece the puzzle together in our own minds.
Bill Skarsgård is the perfect table-setter for the world of the film, with his philosophical religious quandaries and post-traumatic pain radiating off of his facial expressions and body language. The echoes of this found in Tom Holland’s performance, combined with the barely-checked rage he displays that is always bubbling just beneath the surface, echoes the Skarsgård performance perfectly, and will easily lift him from any potential typecasting forced upon him by his tenure in the MCU. The deeper ensemble cast does an amazing job of distributing story beats and carrying the narrative weight as well. Riley Keough plays triple threat as a woman unsure of her role in the world, bait for the malicious and salacious actions of the infinitely creepy Jason Clarke performance, and in her embracing of familial/sibling tension that exists between her and the pressure cooker performance of Sebastian Stan. Mia Wasikowska makes the most of her limited screen time as one of the few beacons of purity and innocence within the film, which makes the offbeat nature of Harry Melling’s performance that much more unsettling. Eliza Scanlen mirrors Wasikowska’s innocence in her role as the orphaned daughter to a tee, remaining wide-eyed and full of wonder right up until her own tragic end. Robert Pattinson proves once again that the depths of his range are still unknown to this point, with his manipulative and sinister nature setting a bar that other ill-natured characters cannot come close to. Memorable performances by Pokey LaFarge, Douglas Hodge, Kristin Griffith, David Atkinson and Haley Bennett round out the cast.
Don’t be surprised to see The Devil All The Time garner a handful of nominations this award season. It will almost certainly find itself in the Best Adapted Screenplay conversation, and Robert Pattinson is basically a shoo-in for a Best Supporting Actor nod, with Riley Keough also having a chance on the actress side. I wouldn’t even be all that surprised if Tom Holland found his name on a Best Actor list or two. Long story short, this film is compelling as all get out, and based on the impression it left on me, feels like it has rewatch value. Good films are good films, regardless of who produces or presents them, and The Devil All The Time is, at base nature, a good film.