Presented by Vidéotron
The Reckoning
Directed by Neil Marshall
Director
Neil Marshall
Writer
Edward Evers-Swindell, Charlotte Kirk, Neil Marshall
Cast
Joe Anderson, Charlotte Kirk, Sean Pertwee, Steven Waddington
Cinematographer
Luke Bryant
Composer
Christopher Drake
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TANIS DEVELOPMENTS INC.
England. 1665. The great plague has the country whiplashed into a frenzy of fear, distrust and death. Desperate and terrified, the population turns to superstition, the Catholic Church taking cruel advantage of the grim opportunities this presents. The witch hunts begin. Grace Haverstock (a fantastic Charlotte Kirk) has just buried her husband, the latest in a seemingly endless ocean of unfortunates to succumb to the terrible disease. Now stuck raising their child alone, townspeople watching her with suspicion, she is at her wit’s end. When her landlord, Squire Pendleton (Steven Waddington) attempts to force her into paying debts with sexual favours, she rejects him with well-earned ferocity. He, in turn, accuses her of witchcraft. Grace is taken to prison. She will face horrific interrogations at the hands of Britain’s most ruthless Witchfinder (an equally terrific Sean Pertwee). But she is not alone. And her journey won’t end here. Not without a reckoning.
British filmmaker Neil Marshall is an absolute titan of nail-biting physical action storytelling, THE DESCENT, DOG SOLDIERS, DOOMSDAY, CENTURION, his episodes of GAME OF THRONES, BLACK SAILS and WESTWORLD, among others, standing as testaments to his distinctive talents. THE RECKONING is a darker, angrier entry in an already forceful filmography, a spiritual kin to such confrontational classics as THE WITCHFINDER GENERAL and MARK OF THE DEVIL, informed by Marshall’s singular ability for visceral physicality along with his penchant for tough-as-nails female leads. That a period work addressing misogynistic religious persecution in a plague-ravaged society whose people are senselessly in conflict with one another speaks so vividly to the concerns of our current day amplifies its horrors to peak anxiety inductivity. Tragically so. THE RECKONING is a cannonball of fury and tears. – Mitch Davis
Showings
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