The Rivals of Amziah King (Drama)

Rating:

Director: Andrew Patterson
Producer: Michael Heimler,James Montague,David Heyman,Will Greenfield,Jeffrey Clifford,Teddy Schwarzman
Screenwriter: James Montague
Cinematographer: Miguel I. Litten-Menz
Composer: Erick Alexander,Jared Bulmer
Editor: Patrick J. Smith
Production Designer: Katie Hickman
Costume Designer: Jennifer Kennedy
Key Cast: Matthew McConaughey,Kurt Russell,Cole Sprouse,Angelina LookingGlass,Tony Revolori,Rob Morgan,Jake Horowitz,Scott Shepherd

Matthew McConaughey is a banjo-playing beekeeper trying to cement his legacy in this boisterous ballad of the US South.

Amziah King is the unofficial mayor of his rural Oklahoma community. Southern charm personified, he works as an apiarist but spends his spare time jamming out bluegrass tunes with his ragtag group of buddies and hosting potluck lunches. When his former foster daughter, Kateri, suddenly reappears in his life, Amziah seizes the opportunity to reconnect; but his plans to teach her his trade hit a roadblock when his beekeeping rivals put the family business at risk.

The second feature of writer/director Andrew Patterson after the genre-blending The Vast of Night, The Rivals of Amziah King is all at once a revenge fable, a family drama and a heist movie peppered with rollicking musical interludes of songs by T Bone Burnett and The Avett Brothers. Matthew McConaughey (The Beach Bum, MIFF 2019) fits this role like an old cowboy boot, and his stellar supporting cast includes Kurt Russell, Cole Sprouse, Tony Revolori, Owen Teague and Jake Horowitz. But it’s Angelina LookingGlass’s composed performance as Kateri that stands out – she confidently holds her own opposite McConaughey in her debut film role.

“A crowd-pleasing wonder, a new classic of the American South … a film that floats in and out of music and storytelling like a great country album.” – RogerEbert.com


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Writer/director Andrew Patterson is a guest of the festival and will be in attendance at all sessions of the film.

Writer/director Andrew Patterson is participating in the MIFF Talks event The Screen Show: MIFF’s Bright Horizons Filmmakers. This is a ‘Pay What You Wish’ event.