Event

Sweet Land

An incredibly impressive first feature by writer-director Ali Selim, Sweet Land is all anyone could want from a movie: it's imaginative, intelligent, emotional (without being manipulative) and is blessed with a truly eclectic cast, including producer Alan Cumming as a Norwegian immigrant farmer, no less. But the real find among Selim's cast is ravishing newcomer Elizabeth Reaser, whose performance is an acting tour de force. Selim and editor James Stanger pull off a tricky miracle by opening the film with two (count 'em, two!) fiashbacks before getting to the core of the story. An old woman's death inspires her grandson to think back about his grandmother, Inge (an impressive Lois Smith) and the story she told him of her auspicious but often painful arrival in America as a German immigrant just after World War I. As a young woman, Inge is played by Reaser, recently seen in Thomas Bezucha's The Family Stone playing Diane Keaton's elder daughter and in Maria Maggenti's Sundance attraction Puccini For Beginners. She is perfectly matched in Sweet Land by an affecting, subtle and brilliant Tim Guinee, and the two share extraordinary chemistry. Ned Beatty, John Heard, Alex Kingston, Tom Gilroy, and Patrick Heusinger join Reaser, Guinee, Smith and Cumming to form Selim's stellar ensemble cast. - Philadelphia Film Festival