| B+ Directed by A.J. Edwards Starring Diane Kruger, Jason Clarke, and Braydon Denney Review by Jon Kissel |  |
It's easy to forget that some of the most impactful humans to ever rise to power were once children with unsure destinies, susceptible to changes in luck or support that may have knocked them off course. In A.J. Edwards' The Better Angels, young Abraham Lincoln gets the spotlight, and the viewer is invited to ponder how easy history can be changed. What if that trip to tanning school was completed and he learned a trade instead of being taught in a more classical style? What if he drank the bad milk that killed his mother? What if his father was a crueler man, and resisted his first and second wives' attempts to educate his introspective son? Despite history being written and this film essentially adhering to it, The Better Angels is immersive enough to create stakes in these and other conflicts, resulting in that rare historical film which makes the viewer forget that they know the ending.
That immersive quality owes most to the ways that The Better Angels borrows from one of cinema's premier directors. Edwards has been working as Terence Malick's editor for the reclusive director's last two films, and Malick's influence is all over this film. It utilizes repeated shots of characters in nature, staring out over the horizon. Filmed in black-and-white, there's also the requisite following shots as characters traipse through the woods. An ethereal voiceover is present, as Abe's cousin narrates from the future about eventual fates for characters, which, thanks to the 19th century setting, means a fair share of early deaths. Abe's mother and step-mother, portrayed by Brit Marling and Diane Kruger, are both taking pages from Jessica Chastain's mother character in The Tree of Life, with Marling more spiritual and Kruger more playful. All this apparent cribbing is no knock against the film. Malick is so specific that imitation can easily slip into unintentional parody, but Edwards threads the needle, creating a strong facsimile that's more homage than outright theft.
Much is known about the young Abe Lincoln, as this reviewer spent a few days in his childhood at Indiana's Lincoln State Park, taking in tours and amphitheater shows about the titular attraction's frontier days. Edwards appears to have done his homework in a film that has the feel of authenticity. Whether young Abe is the subject or no, this film would work as an interesting portrait of rustic, 19th century living. The family lives in a cabin in the woods, and Abe being Abe, many logs are split. The Malick-ian influence again comes out in the opportunities to shirk duties, with swimming or reading in fields or wrestling, most taking place at magic hour. There's also a more contemporary feel in the merging of two families that occurs around the halfway point, as everyone recalibrates themselves to new presences. Abe's sister, formerly withdrawn, opens herself up to her stepmother, while Abe's father is happy to get a stepson more interested in manly pursuits than his bookish biological son. The Better Angels merges eras in this fashion, a potentially modern tale in a period setting.
In the lead role as Abe, Braydon Denney is well-cast for his pensive look. He doesn't have a lot of lines in a largely internal performance, more of an observer at this age than a doer, and Denney has the ability to make long looks appear meaningful. As his mother, Marling isn't really stretching herself as a semi-spacey, whimsical presence, but as Abe's step-mother, Kruger turns over new cards from her often-frosty film persona. Here, she's the perfect mother, tentatively warm to her initially standoffish stepson, then protective of him against his father's anger, and ultimately his greatest advocate. As Abe's father, Jason Clarke is hard, but not too hard, making moments of vulnerability and affection that much more powerful. He's a man who can picture the rest of his life without great difficulty, and could use that knowledge as a source of resentment or of pride towards his son. Clarke plays the character with enough openness that this is never really a question.
The Better Angels easily won me over. Lincoln's an endlessly fascinating figure, and the more cinematic representations, the better. Characters in The Better Angels are often talking about Abe's potential to be great, but the viewer ultimately knows what's going to happen to him. This might seem like a negative, like the characters have meta knowledge that their son or brother is destined for significance, but Edwards never gets too cute. The actors are earnest enough that those assertions come off as optimism and hopefulness instead of a winking prophecy. How often do parents anywhere have those same conversations? The Better Angels reminds that no one ever made it on their own, even someone as gifted as the greatest president in US history. B+
Much is known about the young Abe Lincoln, as this reviewer spent a few days in his childhood at Indiana's Lincoln State Park, taking in tours and amphitheater shows about the titular attraction's frontier days. Edwards appears to have done his homework in a film that has the feel of authenticity. Whether young Abe is the subject or no, this film would work as an interesting portrait of rustic, 19th century living. The family lives in a cabin in the woods, and Abe being Abe, many logs are split. The Malick-ian influence again comes out in the opportunities to shirk duties, with swimming or reading in fields or wrestling, most taking place at magic hour. There's also a more contemporary feel in the merging of two families that occurs around the halfway point, as everyone recalibrates themselves to new presences. Abe's sister, formerly withdrawn, opens herself up to her stepmother, while Abe's father is happy to get a stepson more interested in manly pursuits than his bookish biological son. The Better Angels merges eras in this fashion, a potentially modern tale in a period setting.
In the lead role as Abe, Braydon Denney is well-cast for his pensive look. He doesn't have a lot of lines in a largely internal performance, more of an observer at this age than a doer, and Denney has the ability to make long looks appear meaningful. As his mother, Marling isn't really stretching herself as a semi-spacey, whimsical presence, but as Abe's step-mother, Kruger turns over new cards from her often-frosty film persona. Here, she's the perfect mother, tentatively warm to her initially standoffish stepson, then protective of him against his father's anger, and ultimately his greatest advocate. As Abe's father, Jason Clarke is hard, but not too hard, making moments of vulnerability and affection that much more powerful. He's a man who can picture the rest of his life without great difficulty, and could use that knowledge as a source of resentment or of pride towards his son. Clarke plays the character with enough openness that this is never really a question.
The Better Angels easily won me over. Lincoln's an endlessly fascinating figure, and the more cinematic representations, the better. Characters in The Better Angels are often talking about Abe's potential to be great, but the viewer ultimately knows what's going to happen to him. This might seem like a negative, like the characters have meta knowledge that their son or brother is destined for significance, but Edwards never gets too cute. The actors are earnest enough that those assertions come off as optimism and hopefulness instead of a winking prophecy. How often do parents anywhere have those same conversations? The Better Angels reminds that no one ever made it on their own, even someone as gifted as the greatest president in US history. B+
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