Promised Land (Bilingual) [DVD]

Features

• Type: DVD
• Studio: Focus Features
• Language(s): english, french
• Director(s): Gus Van Sant
• Actor(s): John Krasinski, Matt Damon, Tim Guinee, Frances McDormand, Lucas Black, Rosemarie DeWitt

Promised Land is the new contemporary drama directed by Gus Van Sant ( Good Will Hunting, Milk). Matt Damon plays Steve Butler, an ace corporate salesman who is sent along with his partner, Sue Thomason (Frances McDormand), to close a key rural town in his company's expansion plans. With the town having been hit hard by the economic decline of recent years, the two outsiders see the local citizens as likely to accept their company's offer, for drilling rights to their properties, as much-needed relief. What seems like an easy job for the duo becomes complicated by the objection of a respected schoolteacher (Hal Holbrook) with support from a grassroots campaign led by another man (John Krasinski), as well as the interest of a local woman (Rosemarie DeWitt). Promised Land explores America at the crossroads where big business and the strength of small-town community converge. --------------- Matt Damon est en vedette dans Terre promise, un drame contemporain et percutant inspiré d?un scénario original de John Krasinski et Matt Damon, réalisé par Gus Van Sant (Le Destin de Will Hunting, Milk). L?homme d?affaires Steve Butler (Damon) est envoyé dans la municipalité rurale de McKinley avec sa collègue (Frances McDormand) dans le but d?offrir aux habitants, durement éprouvés par la crise économique, une compensation financière en échange des droits de forage de leurs terres. Mais ce qui était à première vue une tâche facile se corse rapidement lorsqu?un professeur respecté (Hal Holbrook) et un environnementaliste chevronné (Krasinski) s?en mêlent, et que Steve s?entiche d?une femme du coin (Rosemarie DeWitt). Alors que les deux étrangers sont confrontés à un mélange d?hospitalité et d?hostilité, ils découvriront toute la force d?une petite ville à la croisée des chemins. Steve Butler (Matt Damon), an ambitious salesperson for a natural gas corporation, has no doubt his persuasive skills will convince a small Pennsylvania town to allow hydraulic fracturing, or fracking, in their backyards. But when an environmental activist (John Krasinski, The Office) tries to stop Butler's efforts--and woos a local teacher (Rosemarie DeWitt, Your Sister's Sister) that Butler feels attracted to--Butler's confidence starts to unravel. On the surface, Promised Land seems like a political exposé, but it's really a character study; Damon brims with confidence but slowly reveals doubt and conflict within. The supporting performances are excellent, including Hal Holbrook as a skeptical science teacher and the ever-superb Frances McDormand, both flinty and vulnerable as Butler's sales partner. Damon and Krasinski cowrote the script (from a story by novelist Dave Eggers) and smartly don't let the arguments get smug; moral curveballs get thrown whenever things seem too simple. The resolution is an uneasy mix of conspiracy theory and a Frank Capra movie, but the richness of the performances--guided by director Gus Van Sant ( Good Will Hunting, Milk), who has an incredible eye for visual beauty--makes Promised Land as seductive as one of Butler's sales pitches. --Bret Fetzer