The Devil All the Time is a three decade generation spanning story of evil from Antonio Campos and Donald Ray Pollack (his novel, and he provides the omniscient narration). It is an ensemble film set on the border of Ohio and West Virginia (though shot in Alabama) following chance meetings and one family (the main family is played by Bill Skarsgård (father), Haley Bennett (mother) and Tom Holland (son)- Holland plays the adult version of the son in the 1960s) at its center. Holland probably gets the most screen time, but he is not introduced at all until the 45- minute mark or so. The biggest name in the film is Robert Pattinson (though the film is loaded with young talent in the cast) and he shows up after Holland. This is a big, showy Pattinson performance (that southern accent) in a smaller part.
That cast includes Riley Keough (her 8th archiveable film since 2015), Jason Clarke (the ensemble period piece film set in the south on Netflix certainly feels like Mudbound in some ways), Sebastian Stan, Harry Melling (gets a great scene or two), and Mia Wasikowska.
Campos does use doorways to create some strong frame within a frame compositions (four of them by my count) -including one of Bill Skarsgård staggering around on the porch after death strikes his family.
Campos has no problem keeping the story engaging for the longer 138-minute running time. This is a story of corruption (a sheriff, pastors), seediness, death and poverty. “There’s a lot of no-good sons of bitches out there” is repeated throughout the generations.
[…] The Devil All the Time – Campos […]