A.J. Edwards worked with Terrence Malick on The Tree of Life (key artistic consultant) and The Wonder (editor) and he’s now written and directed his first feature, The Better Angels, and along with it, the film gets to be promoted with Malick’s name attached as producer.
Today the first trailer has arrived giving us a new look at the film which stars Jason Clarke, Diane Kruger and Brit Marling in a story focusing on the story of Abraham Lincoln’s childhood in the harsh wilderness of Indiana and the hardships that shaped him, the tragedy that marked him forever and the two women who guided him to immortality. Braydon Denney plays young Lincoln.
The film premiered at Sundance earlier this year and has played Berlin, Seattle, Deauville and others along the way with Amplify expected to release the feature at some point, though reviews have been rather muted so far, most focusing on the visual nature of the movie with Todd McCarthy at The Hollywood Reporter calling it “a beautiful, arty, very Malick-influenced evocation of Abraham Lincoln’s childhood”, which I read as saying, “Not entirely a great movie, but worthwhile for the visuals and camerawork.”
Check out the first The Better Angels trailer below and let me know if you’re interested in the comments.
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At an isolated log cabin in the harsh wilderness of Indiana circa 1817, the rhythms of love, tragedy, and the daily hardships of life on the developing frontier shaped one of our nations greatest heroes: Abraham Lincoln. Using glorious black and white cinematography to conjure an America where the land was raw, The Better Angels sheds new light on the formative years of the future president and the two women who molded him into one of the most revered men in American history. Based on 19th-century interviews with Lincolns family members, The Better Angels is a beautiful, insightful, and brilliantly composed feature debut from producer Terrence Malicks longtime protege, A.J. Edwards.
