Harvest

From the mischievous antics of the two young women in Attenberg (2011) to the machismo gamesmanship of Chevalier (2016), director Athina Rachel Tsangari is interested in looking at behavioral systems within a pressure cooker. An adaptation of Jim Crace’s acclaimed novel, her latest film, set in the Middle Ages, observes the upheaval residents of a village face when capitalist dynamics come to town. The disruption begins when local landowner Master Kent invites a mapmaker to survey the locality. Unbeknownst to the serfs in Master Kent’s employ, the ultimate goal is to convert most of the property to pasture. The narrative, however, is just a jumping-off point for Tsangari to assemble various painterly tableaux (think Pieter Bruegel the Elder and Hieronymous Bosch) of a medieval village at work and the power dynamics that get upended when lives and labor are threatened. Caleb Landry Jones is the Candide-like protagonist, attempting to make sense of the brave new world erupting around him.