The story <\/em>begins with troubled WWII vet Willard Russell (Bill Skarsg\u00e5rd). After the war, Willard falls in love with Charlotte (Haley Bennett), a waitress. Willard\u2019s mother would prefer he marry local girl Helen (Mia Wasikowska), who instead falls for itinerant preacher Roy (Harry Melling). The day Willard and Charlotte meet, Charlotte\u2019s co-worker Sandy (Riley Keough) hooks up with Carl (Jason Clarke), a homicidal photographer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Willard and Charlotte\u2019s marriage is disrupted when Charlotte gets cancer. Willard makes desperate, bloody prayers to god to save Charlotte, and is bereft when his wife dies anyway. The couple\u2019s traumatized son Arvin (Tom Holland) is raised by his grandmother and uncle alongside their ward, Lenora (Eliza Scanlen). Years later, another charismatic preacher, Preston Teagardin (Robert Pattinson), comes to town with eyes for the underage Lenora. This kicks off events that resurface the patterns of violence and tragedy that defined Arvin and Lenora\u2019s parents\u2019 lives. It also brings Arvin in contact with Sandy and Carl, now full-fledged serial killers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The story of Arvin, Lenora and Pattinson\u2019s skeezy Teagardin is the film\u2019s central plot, but that story is informed by all the others surrounding it. The Devil All the Time<\/em> could have easily been a limited series, and might have been better served by that format. As it is, some characters could be removed from the movie completely with little impact; others, like Sandy and Carl, have fascinating arcs, but feel ancillary because they don\u2019t get the attention they deserve. Despite this, the film remains an engaging exploration of generational sin, life\u2019s ironic coincidences, and its frequent cruelty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The proceedings are guided by wry omniscient narration delivered in a world-weary drawl by Pollock himself. Like God, the author looks down at his characters, knowing each of their trajectories–their crimes, disappointments and often violent deaths–as soon as they enter the story. He knows the way his characters influence each other, too. This is particularly apparent in Arvin, who can\u2019t forgive his father for the pain he inflicted, however like him he may be. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The major point is that no one\u2019s story takes place in a vacuum. Our lives are influenced by experiences we can\u2019t control, sometimes ones we don\u2019t even encounter firsthand. The only control we do<\/em> have is how we react to what\u2019s thrust upon us. Campos makes sure we feel his characters\u2019 existential burdens throughout the film. His script, together with naturalistic photography from The Childhood of a Leader<\/em> and Vox Lux<\/em> DP Lol Crawley and a gloomy Americana-inflected score by Danny Bensi and Saunder Juriaans, suffuse the entire enterprise with a sense of low-hanging dread.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Devil All the Time<\/em> overflows with murder ballad atmosphere and meaty characters who beg for a deeper dive. There\u2019s so much that it doesn\u2019t quite fit into the limitations of a film, and some excellent performances get short shrift as a result. Still, there\u2019s plenty to recommend in spending nearly two and a half hours with Campos and Pollock\u2019s misguided sinners, as they draw captivating bloody patterns into the hardscrabble Appalachian dirt. ![\"\"](\"https:\/\/crookedmarquee.com\/stage8\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/09\/DaTT_2JPG-1024x683.jpg\")
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<\/p>\n\n\n\nB<\/strong><\/h1>\n\n\n\n