Ah, the American Dream! In the 1960’s that meant a nice house with a white picket fence, a perfect family with 2.5 kids and a successful career. But, in this adaption of Philip Roth’s best-selling novel ‘American Pastoral’, it did not include your daughter blowing up a post office – which awakens Ewan McGregor to a nightmare in his directorial debut.
The official plot synopsis is as follows:
American Pastoral follows a family whose seemingly idyllic existence is shattered by the social and political turmoil of the 1960s. Ewan McGregor (Trainspotting, Star Wars: Episodes I-III) makes his directorial debut and stars as Seymour “Swede” Levov, a once legendary high school athlete who is now a successful businessman married to Dawn [Jennifer Connelly], a former beauty queen.
But turmoil brews beneath the polished veneer of Swede’s life. When his beloved teenage daughter, Merry [Dakota Fanning], disappears after being accused of committing a violent act, Swede dedicates himself to finding her and reuniting his family. What he discovers shakes him to the core, forcing him to look beneath the surface and confront the chaos that is shaping the world around him.
This is an odd one for me. The story sounds intriguing, the main cast is excellent, but the trailer itself puts me off because it seems choppy and all over the place. I’m hoping it’s just a case of a bad trailer because otherwise it looks and sounds like a movie I’d really enjoy.
What do you think?
American Pastoral is due for release in the US on 28 October. Ewan McGregor both directs and stars alongside Jennifer Connelly, Dakota Fanning, Rupert Evans, Molly Parker and David Strathairn.
Last Updated: June 27, 2016
