THY KINGDOM COME
A film by Eugene Richards
2018, 42 minutes
2018, 42 minutes
No. 245
Documentary
Documentary
Description
Thy Kingdom Come — a collaboration between photographer/filmmaker Eugene Richards and actor/producer Javier Bardem — was conceived of following the filming of Terrence Malick’s To the Wonder.
As part of that production’s “third unit,” Richards introduced Bardem, who was portraying a parish priest in Malick’s film, to the real-life residents of a small Oklahoma town. What had been intended as brief episodes for inclusion in the feature film grew in scope as the townspeople, wholly aware that he was a fictional priest, chose to share personal details of their lives.
Filmed in a dozen homes, a trailer park, a county jail, and a local nursing facility, Thy Kingdom Come is a revelatory work in which unscripted conversations, shot by Richards in beautiful widescreen, come to reveal the complexity of life in this small oil town.
Festivals
Official Selection, SXSW Film Festival
Official Selection, Atlanta Film Festival
Reviews
“In Thy Kingdom Come, [director Eugene Richards] gives a voice to the largely invisible common people of contemporary America.” — Melita Zajc, Modern Times Review
“Thy Kingdom Come reveals life in a small mid-American town as alternately precious and harsh, wanting and hopeful.” — Dino-Ray Ramos, Deadline
"Dazzling. Visually, it is quintessentially Eugene Richards. Camera angles, at times askew, intensify the raw intimacy of what we are experiencing. Ambient light conspires with the layering of images. Stark contrasts resonate with stark truths. Windows and mirrors compositionally and metaphorically play with transparency, opacity, and reflection. Shadows seem to have matter, and the tangible—a hand, a cat—feels almost illusory.Camera angles, at times askew, intensify the raw intimacy of what we are experiencing. Ambient light conspires with the layering of images. Stark contrasts resonate with stark truths. Windows and mirrors compositionally and metaphorically play with transparency, opacity, and reflection. Shadows seem to have matter, and the tangible—a hand, a cat—feels almost illusory." — Melissa Harris, Aperture
“Bardem becomes the perfect neutral sounding board where they can express the depths of their pain.” - Bradley Gibson, Film Threat
"Both films [To The Wonder and Thy Kingdom Come] are about the immanence of human presence, the iconic power of the human face.” — Julie Hamilton, Indy Week
