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Land of Plenty is a 2004 drama film directed by Wim Wenders starring Michelle Williams and John Diehl.
| Land of Plenty | |
|---|---|
German poster | |
| Directed by | Wim Wenders |
| Produced by | In-Ah Lee Samson Mucke Gary Winick |
| Written by | Michael Meredith Wim Wenders |
| Starring | Michelle Williams John Diehl |
| Music by | Die Toten Hosen TV Smith Thom & Nackt |
| Cinematography | Franz Lustig |
| Edited by | Moritz Laube |
| Distributed by | IFC Films |
Release date |
|
Running time | 123 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
The title of the film comes from the song "The Land of Plenty" from the album Ten New Songs, written by Leonard Cohen and Sharon Robinson, which was used in the movie. The film was Gloria Stuart's last screen appearance before her death in 2010.
Screenplay
The movie presents a view of post-9/11 United States as seen through the eyes of Lana (Williams), an American girl who has lived in Africa and the Middle East for years with her missionary parents. She is returning from a long trip to the West Bank. In Los Angeles, she works at a homeless mission and looks up her only living relative in the US, her late mother's brother, Paul (Diehl). He is a paranoid Vietnam veteran who drives around filming and spying on Arabs and people with Arab features. Lana, in contrast, leans toward anti-war convictions and has been changed by her experiences abroad, so feels outside American culture.
Having first-hand knowledge of the Middle East and Africa, she sees similarities between the slums of Los Angeles and those of the Third World. After she and Paul see the murder of a young Pakistani outside the mission, they take his body to his family. Their road trip offers Paul a different view of Muslim home life. Over the course of the film, Paul and Lana learn more about each other.
- Michelle Williams as Lana
- John Diehl as Paul
- Shaun Toub as Hassan
- Wendell Pierce as Henry
- Richard Edson as Jimmy
- Burt Young as Sherman
- Yuri Elvin as Officer Elvin
- Jeris Lee Poindexter as Charles
- Rhonda Stubbins White as Dee Dee
- Victoria Thomas as News reporter
- Matthew Kimbrough as News anchor
- Paul West as Policeman
- Jeffrey Vincent Parise as Coroner's assistant
- Christa Lang as Trailer park woman
- Warren Stearns as Mortician
- Bernard White as Youssef
- Gloria Stuart as Old lady
The film was shot using the digital and hand-held Panasonic AG-DVX100 camera, so the production time was cut to a minimum.
In the United States, the film was distributed by IFC Films.
On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 62% based on 26 reviews, with an average rating of 6.1/10. Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 62 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Kevin Thomas of Los Angeles Times said, "Hampered by an ending that overreaches needlessly, the film is nevertheless worthy and unmistakably the effort of an enduringly distinctive and important filmmaker." Leslie Felperin of Variety praised Michelle Williams' performance, saying, "Engaging perfs keep its motor running, with Williams in particular charming and convincing as a politically engaged humanist."
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