Promised Land (2012)

A salesman for a natural gas company experiences life-changing events after arriving in a small town, where his corporation wants to tap into the available resources.

Director:

Gus Van Sant

Writers:

John Krasinski (screenplay), Matt Damon (screenplay)

Stars:

Matt Damon, Frances McDormand, John Krasinski

3 wins & 6 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Matt Damon	...	Steve Butler
Benjamin Sheeler	...	Attendant
Terry Kinney	...	David Churchill
Carla Bianco	...	Waitress
Joe Coyle	...	Michael Downey
Hal Holbrook	...	Frank Yates
Dorothy Silver	...	Arlene
Frances McDormand	...	Sue Thomason
Titus Welliver	...	Rob
Lexi Cowan	...	Drew's Girl
Tim Guinee	...	Drew Scott
Sara Lindsey	...	Claire Allen
Frank Conforti	...	Coach
Garrett Ashbaugh	...	Basketball Player
Jericho Morgan	...	Jericho (as Jerico Morgan)

Storyline

Corporate salesman Steve Butler (Matt Damon) arrives in a rural town with his sales partner, Sue Thomason (McDormand). 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 (Holbrook) with support from a grassroots campaign led by another man (Krasinski) who counters Steve both personally and professionally.

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Plot Keywords:

propaganda | salesman | corporation | small town | natural gas | 

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Taglines:

What's your price?

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Genres:

Drama

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for language

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site

Country:

USA United Arab Emirates

Language:

English

Release Date:

4 January 2013 (USA)

Also Known As:

Terra Prometida

Filming Locations:

Apollo, Pennsylvania, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$15,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$173,915, 28 December 2012, Limited Release

Gross USA:

$7,597,898, 24 January 2013

Company Credits

Production Co:

Focus Features, Participant Media, Imagenation Abu Dhabi FZ

Technical Specs

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital Datasat

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Cinematographer Linus Sandgren shot the film with Hawk V-Lite 1.3x squeeze anamorphic lenses on 4-perf Super 35 for a final aspect ratio of 1.85:1. According to him this is the first time this combination has been used on a feature film (he and others had used it before on commercials), and the negative area used was 70% larger than that of regular 1.85:1 and 30% larger than 3-perf Super 35.

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Goofs

Yates is said to have an M.A. from MIT, but MIT does not grant Master of Arts degrees.

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Quotes

[last lines]
Steve Butler: You the owner of this place?

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Crazy Credits

Through most of the end credits, the camera zooms out to a wide shot of the town where the film takes place.

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Connections

Referenced in Life Itself (2014)

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Soundtracks

Five O'Clock World
Written by Allen Reynolds
Performed by The Vogues
Courtesy of CO & CE Records
Under license from Nola Leone/ACE Music Services, LLC

User Reviews

mostly good, with an unrealistic ending

Gus Van Sant has tackled a number of political and social issues in his movies. "Promised Land" looks at the issue of hydraulic fracturing, commonly called fracking. Matt Damon plays an executive from an energy company trying to convince a town to allow the process in their vicinity. Meanwhile, an environmentalist tries to convince people otherwise.

I have liked most of Van Sant's movies, and it's good that this movie is addressing a process that has devastated entire regions. Indeed, the fracking industry criticized the movie's depiction of the process as destructive (surprise, surprise). Unfortunately, what happens at the end does not seem realistic. It reminded me of what happens in Bill Forsyth's "Local Hero". Other than that the movie is a perceptive character study of Damon's amoral exec, the sort of man who's totally in it for the money. Mostly a good movie, understanding that what happens at the end probably wouldn't happen in real life.