After playing the Toronto and Venice film festivals last year, James Franco‘s Child of God, adapted from the story of the same name by Cormac McCarthy (The Counselor), has yet to find a domestic distributor, but I have a hard time believing it will go through all of 2014 without, at the very least, finding its way On Demand.
On top of directing, Franco co-wrote the screenplay with Vince Jolivette and has a role in the film, though the lead belongs to Scott Haze, playing Lester Ballard, a dispossessed, violent man whom the narrator describes as “a child of God much like yourself perhaps.” Ballard’s life is a disastrous attempt to exist outside the social order. Deprived of both his parents and a home, and with few other ties, Ballard descends to the level of a cave dweller, falling deeper into crime and degradation.
Today a new trailer for the film has arrived, carrying with it a few critic quotes. Franco’s work on As I Lay Dying was interesting and I’m curious to see what he’s done here, having missed the film in Toronto due to scheduling conflicts. Have a look for yourself and let me know what you think.
