Valley of the Gods | |
---|---|
Directed by | Lech Majewski |
Written by | Lech Majewski |
Produced by | Lech Majewski Filip Jan Rymsza |
Starring | |
Cinematography | Lech Majewski Pawel Tybora |
Edited by | Eliot Ems Norbert Rudzik |
Music by | Jan A. P. Kaczmarek |
Release date |
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Running time | 131 minutes |
Countries | Poland Luxembourg |
Language | English |
Valley of the Gods is a 2019 English-language Polish-Luxembourger drama film written and directed by Lech Majewski and starring Josh Hartnett and John Malkovich. [1] [2] [3] [4]
John Ecas (Josh Hartnett) arrives at the Valley of the Gods, in SE Utah near Monument Valley, where the spirits of Navajo deities dwell within enormous stones. He is a copywriter whose life collapsed when his wife (Jaime Ray Newman) left him. As a cure, his therapist (John Rhys-Davies) suggested he do crazy things. Having done so, he decided to write The Great American Novel. The film visualizes what he writes.
Enter Wes Tauros (John Malkovich), the world's richest man, gone mute after a tragedy. He wants to mine the Valley of the Gods for uranium. The Navajos split between those who want the money and those upset at the desecration of holy ground. Ecas turns up at Tauros' estate in order to write his biography but, once there, he finds peculiar things.
There are intertwining threads centered on Tauros, Ecas, the Navajos, and The Old Gods. The storyline brims with admiration for the Navajos, and utter disdain for both the vulgar avarice of Tauros and the all-consuming consumerism of society at large.
Joshua Daniel Hartnett is an American actor and producer. He first came to attention in 1997 for his role as Michael Fitzgerald in the crime drama television series Cracker. He made his feature film debut in the 1998 slasher film Halloween H20: 20 Years Later, followed by roles in films such as the sci-fi horror film The Faculty (1998) and the drama The Virgin Suicides (1999). Hartnett had starring roles in the war film Pearl Harbor, the drama O, the war film Black Hawk Down, and the romantic comedy 40 Days and 40 Nights (2002).
Being John Malkovich is a 1999 American surrealist fantasy comedy drama film directed by Spike Jonze and written by Charlie Kaufman, both making their feature film debut. The film stars John Cusack, Cameron Diaz, and Catherine Keener, with John Malkovich as a satirical version of himself. Cusack plays a puppeteer who finds a portal that leads into Malkovich's mind.
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