That February edition wasn’t exactly a memorable Berlinale, but there was something notable to watch. There was, for example, in the Perspectives section, born under the direction of Chatrian and dedicated to debut works, a truly unusual and surprising western, which is now about to debut in American cinemas: it’s titled A Prayer for the Dying and it’s the first feature film by Dara Van Dusen, a young director who—as far as we can tell—was born in New York, studied cinema in Poland, and lives in Oslo.
It is unusual, A Prayer for the Dying, because it is the western you wouldn’t expect, because instead of gunfighters, outlaws and Indians there is a mysterious epidemic, and because Dara Van Dusen has fashioned her film into something hallucinatory and visionary, frequently shifting tones and registers and ending up by blending the influences of Kelly Reichardt, Nicolas Winding Refn and even Georges Méliès.
Everything unfolds in a tiny Wisconsin town in 1870, a minuscule settlement where Jacob, who is sheriff and deacon at the same time, and who is haunted by the ghosts of the Civil War, tries to live a serene life with his wife and their newborn daughter. Problems arise when the body of a stranger is found at the edge of the woods surrounding the village, and when the local doctor certifies a dreadful suspicion: that man died of diphtheria. Jacob will therefore be forced to quarantine the town, while a distant fire begins to pose an additional threat.
Adapted from a namesake novel by Stewart O’Nan (who also worked on the screenplay), A Prayer for the Dying casts Johnny Flynn as Jacob, the same actor who has played Dickie in the Ripley series, while John C. Reilly takes on the role of the doctor.
Awaiting news on whether and how we will see it in Italy, here is the film’s official original trailer.
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