Review by Justin Waldman for Mr. Will Wong
Ewan McGregor tries his hand at directing by adapting Philip Roth’s Novel American Pastoral and the Movie works incredibly-well. There are some downfalls, like a slow-burning Third Act, but for a directorial debut, this is remarkable.
The Movie takes place in 1968 and centers on a family consisting of Merry (Dakota Fanning), Dawn (Jennifer Connelly) and Seymour ‘Swede’ Levov (Ewan McGregor) and how their lives turn upside down when their daughter starts devoting herself to a radical political cause. . However it is not that she just simply believes in another political affiliation, it is the extremes she goes to that sends her family in a downward spiral, destroying everything they have built.
What works in American Pastoral are the powerhouse performances from both McGregor and Fanning respectively as the father who will stop at nothing to find his daughter and the defiant daughter who must stand her ground in the name of what she feels is right. The Film is sure to generate a conversation.
American Pastoral screens at TIFF:
Friday, September 9, 2016 6:30 PM at Princess of Wales Theatre
Saturday, September 10, 2016 10:00 AM at VISA Screening Room
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