By Eugene Richards
Thy Kingdom Come ¡ª a collaboration between photographer/filmmaker Eugene Richards and actor/producer Javier Bardem ¡ª was conceived of following the filming of Terrence Malick's To the Wonder.
As part of that production's "third unit," Richards introduced Bardem, who was portraying a parish priest in Malick's film, to the real-life residents of a small Oklahoma town. What had been intended as brief episodes for inclusion in the feature film grew in scope as the townspeople, wholly aware that he was a fictional priest, chose to share personal details of their lives.
Filmed in a dozen homes, a trailer park, a county jail, and a local nursing facility, Thy Kingdom Come is a revelatory work in which unscripted conversations, shot by Richards in beautiful widescreen, come to reveal the complexity of life in this small oil town.
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