Entertainment Tonight Online touts Pilgrimage as one of the Tribeca Film Festival’s Must-See Films for 2017, April 18, 2017 Gratiana Lovelace (Post #1057)

Entertainment Tonight Online touts the exquisitely talented British actor Richard Armitage’s (in foreground below from “Pilgrimage” film still; Thanks to Chrissyinwm) film “Pilgrimage” as being one of the “must-see” films for 2017—and ranks it in the top have of the films being shown at the prestigious Tribeca Film Festival April 19 – 30^th, 2017.  For more about the Tribeca Film Festival, click here.

2014 Pilgrimage as Raymond de Merville

I have pasted an excerpt below from the ETonline article about the Must-See films for the 2017 Tribeca Film Festival:
“11. Pilgrimage

Starring: Tom Holland, Jon Bernthal, Richard Armitage, Stanley Weber (Dir. Brendan Muldowney)

What It’s About: A cadre of 13^th century Irish monks are tasked with transporting their land’s holiest relic to Rome, but first they must traverse a deadly countryside filled with violent marauders and warring clans. The pilgrimage teaches one of their youngest members some brutal lessons about the savagery and self-delusion of man.

Why We Want to See It: Tom Holland — aka Marvel’s Spider-Man — plays a young monk who has to fight his way through the horrors of the Middle Ages! The only way that could be cooler is if he somehow got to actually play Spider-Man doing that exact same thing.”

 

Grati’s 2 cents:
Tom Holland — I have to say, that the gushing about the 21 year old Tom Holland—
because of his spandex wearing Spider Man role– seems  incongruous with his role in Pilgrimage as an innocent young monk (image below, far right in backgoround).  Dare I say, product placement for Spider Man films with this ET article?

And if Holland’s youth is being relied upon to evoke innocence and naivete, I for one will be closely analyzing his hand movements—especially to see if any Medieval spider web like lace erupts from the palms of his hands, or if he swings from tree to tree on their journey (rather than swinging from building to building as Spider Man does).  *facetious alert* if you’re a Tom Holland fan.

However, since the central plot point of the Pilgrimage film is purported to be about faith, morals, intrigues, betrayals, deception, etc., I will look to the more heavy weight actors in the line up to supply the gravitas:

Jon Bernthal – 2^nd billed, but playing a mute (without even a character name provided thus far) in Pilgrimage (I believe that Bernthal’s character is in the extreme foreground in the image above), the not quite 41 year old actor will have to create his character portrayal not with words, but with actions.  I am unfamiliar with Bernthal’s work, but have hyperlinked his name to his IMDB page for those who are interested.

And interestingly, Bernthal’s resume also includes a reference to superhero land via his voice performance work in the role of Trigon for the animated video Justice League vs Teen Titans.  Yet he portrays a mute in Pilgrimage.  Having no dialogue has often been said to be the greatest of acting challenges.  So I look forward to seeing how Bernthal pulls it off in Pilgrimage.

Richard Armitage – 3^rd billed, but a man who easily is a more recognizable star than anyone else on the Pilgrimage cast roster–for his compelling portrayal of Thorin Oakenshield (image pasted below) in The Hobbit trilogy of films by Sir Peter Jackson in 2012, 2013, & 2014–Richard Armitage can wield a crusades era broadsword like he was born to it.  In fact, Armitage’s earlier roles included a 3 year stint playing Sir Guy of Gisborne on the British tv show Robin Hood, as the Middle Ages bad guy that everyone rooted for to become good by the show’s redemptive finale.  That was a soul searching journey!

And not the least of which, the not quite 46 years old Richard Armitage’s deeply resonant baritone voice –that has also leant itself for prominent audio books produced by Audible such as the recent Hamlet Prince of Denmark: A Novel, David Copperfield, and Romeo and Juliet the Novel–will be sure to have a dark and treacherous quality to it as, perhaps, one of the more menacing characters in Pilgrimage.  I wonder if Armitage’s Raymond de Merville’s  (right) character arc will also take him on a redemptive path?

Of course, I’m an avid Richard Armitage fan, so I am more conversant with his past role portrayals.  But it will be interesting to see how the ensemble of actors fit together to make the story of Pilgrimage come to life.  And despite the fact that no women actors are touted with major or any roles in Pilgrimage—as if women did not exist in Medieval times, it seeming so far that none of the characters had mothers or sisters, etc., who impacted their character development–I can’t wait to see the film!

P.S.  For a listing of more of my posts about Richard Armitage in Pilgrimage, please click here.