Lily Gladstone is ready to talk this year’s awards season thanks to her performance in Martin Scorsese’s ‘Killers of the Flower Moon.’ But the up-and-coming “Certain Women” actor also stars in the lonely American road movie “The Unknown Country,” written and directed by Morrisa Maltz with a Gladstone story credit. Music Box Films is releasing the acclaimed feature July 28 in New York City at the Quad Cinema and Nuart Theater in Los Angeles. Watch the trailer below.
Rocked by a devastating loss, Tana (Lily Gladstone) is brought back into the world by an unexpected invitation to her cousin’s wedding. She picks up her late grandmother’s Cadillac and hits the road, driving from her home in Minnesota to South Dakota. After reconnecting with her Oglala Lakota family, Tana retraces a surreal journey her grandmother took decades ago, searching for her whereabouts captured in an old family photograph. As she travels, Tana finds connections in the stories of ordinary people who have settled away from the main roads, including Isaac (Raymond Lee), which provides a vital clue to understanding the lost place that may be cultivating closure.
From IndieWire’s review of the film: “With a countenance that radiates a comforting inner light, Gladstone is a sweetheart. He exudes the kind of compassionate curiosity about others reserved for those who always listen carefully and empathize with your pain even if he can’t offer any advice. Not surprisingly, director Kelly Reichardt has collaborated with her on stories that revisit Western myths with a unique sweetness. In “The Unknown Country,” Gladstone takes a leading role with equal measure of vulnerability and playfulness, adding up to an endlessly captivating and tenderly powerful performance.
Gladstone is already generating awards buzz for her performance in Scorsese’s “Killers” as Osage woman Mollie Burkhart, who is married to Leonardo DiCaprio’s character and is in great pain as she tries to stand on her tribal turf. She was the last of her in the award conversation for Reichardt’s “Certain Women,” which earned her a 2017 Film Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Supporting Female.
Here is the trailer for “The Unknown Country”.
