Lowless

Set in Depression-era Franklin County, Virginia, a bootlegging gang is threatened by a new deputy and other authorities who want a cut of their profits.

THE BUZZ:
 If you aren't the kind of person who reads the Hollywood industry news, the new film from Australian director John Hillcoat (The Road, The Proposition) is also the first major project shepherded by Megan Ellison, Oracle co-founder Larry Ellison's daughter, and her Annapurna Pictures production company. Ellison, who has produced a couples indies that went nowhere, revamped her game by first acquiring the rights to the Terminator franchise in early 2011. Refreshingly adverse to talking with the press, she's on the tip of every insider's tongue and her upcoming projects include The Master from Paul Thomas Anderson and Killing Them Softly, Andrew Dominik's follow-up to the thoroughly awesome The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. The cast for Hillcoat's Prohibition-era drama ensures worldwide appeal, and we're happy The Weinstein Company didn't slip this one into the late 2011 calendar in order to qualify for Oscars. If this film bombs, I give up and will only watch Fast & Furious/Step Up movies for an entire month.

Story line
The three Bondurant brothers run a bootlegging operation during the depression, up in the mountains of Franklin County, Virginia. Crooked Special Deputy Charles Rakes is after a share of the brothers' profits. Compounding their troubles, the local competition is elbowing in on their activities. Forrest's boisterous defiance and Cricket's knack for moonshine production help the brothers gain a local monopoly. When Forrest is wounded as tension with Rakes escalates, Jack, initially the timid one, must prove his worth against gangster Floyd Banner's mob, and we see him metamorphose into a cocky exhibitionist in his attempts to woo the off-limits preacher's daughter, Bertha.