''A Bread Factory'' is a 2018 American two-part indie comedy drama film written and directed by

Patrick Wang Patrick Wang is an American writer, economist, director, and actor. His first feature film, the acclaimed hit Independent film, indie film ''In the Family (2011 film), In the Family'', was released in 2011. He later directed the acclaimed two-part ...

. It features an

ensemble cast In a dramatic production, an ensemble cast is one that is composed of multiple principal actors and performers who are typically assigned roughly equal amounts of screen time.Random House: ensemble acting Linked 2013-07-17 Structure In contrast to ...

and depicts a fictional community

arts center An art centre or arts center is distinct from an art gallery or art museum. An arts centre is a functional community centre with a specific remit to encourage arts practice and to provide facilities such as theatre space, gallery space, venues for ...

in a small upstate New York town that struggles under economic and social pressures. It received critical acclaim. The second part was Brian Murray‘s final role prior to his death.

Plot

The film takes place in the fictional upstate New York town of Checkford. It centers on The Bread Factory, a community

run by a married couple, Dorothea and Greta, as well as daily life in the surrounding town. In the first part, a conceptual art duo, May Ray, arrive in town and begin staging flashy, highly produced but utterly vapid performances. They threaten to siphon away an arts grant on which The Bread Factory depends. Dorothea and Greta work to convince the town council not to reassign the funds. The second part centers around a performance of Euripides' tragedy '' Hecuba'' at The Bread Factory.

Cast

Tyne Daly Ellen Tyne Daly (; born February 21, 1946) is an American actress. She has won six Emmy Awards for her television work, a Tony Award and is a 2011 American Theatre Hall of Fame inductee. Daly began her career on stage in summer stock in New York, ...

as Dorothea *Elisabeth Henry as Greta *

James Marsters James Wesley Marsters (born August 20, 1962) is an American actor, musician, singer, comic book writer, and audiobook narrator. He is sometimes credited in various anime series and video games as David Gray and Sam Majesters in the series ''Dr ...

as Jason *

Nana Visitor Nana Tucker ( ; born July 26, 1957), known professionally as Nana Visitor, is an American actress, best known for playing Kira Nerys in the television series ''Star Trek: Deep Space Nine'' and Jean Ritter in the television series ''Wildfire''. ...

as Elsa *

Keaton Nigel Cooke Keaton Nigel Cooke is an American film actor, television actor, and singer. He made his television debut in '' Difficult People'' (2015) and his film debut in '' Wiener-Dog'' (2016). Career Keaton Nigel Cooke is an American film actor, televisi ...

as Simon *

Glynnis O'Connor Glynnis O'Connor (born November 19, 1956) is an American actress of television, film, radio, and theater. She first gained wide attention in the mid-1970s with leading roles in the television version of ''Our Town'' and in the short-lived series ...

as Jan *Zachary Sayle as Max * Janet Hsieh as May *

George Young George Young may refer to: Arts and entertainment * George Young (filmmaker), Australian stage manager and film director in the silent era * George Young (rock musician) (1946–2017), Australian musician, songwriter, and record producer * Geor ...

as Ray * Brian Murray as Sir Walter *Nan-Lyn Nelson as Mavis *

Janeane Garofalo Janeane Marie Garofalo ( ; born September 28, 1964) is an American comedian, actress, and former co-host on the now-defunct Air America Radio's ''The Majority Report''. Garofalo began her career as a stand-up comedian and became a cast member on ...

as Jordan * Jessica Pimentel as Teresa

Production

The film was inspired by

Time & Space Limited Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to co ...

, a local arts center in Hudson, New York. It was filmed in Hudson over 24 days, following 10 days of rehearsals.

Themes and interpretations

Critics identified the central themes of the film as the value and impact of the arts, and the difficulty of producing and promoting meaningful artistic work in a

market economy A market economy is an economic system in which the decisions regarding investment, production and distribution to the consumers are guided by the price signals created by the forces of supply and demand, where all suppliers and consumers ...

Release

The film was released in the United States on October 26, 2018.

Reception

The film received universal critical acclaim. On review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, both parts have an approval rating of 100%, based on 30 and 22 reviews respectively. The critic consensus for the first part states "Epic yet intimate, ''A Bread Factory, Part One: For the Sake of Gold'' delivers the sprawling storytelling and nourishing drama audiences might expect from its imposing title." On review aggregator Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 91 based on 9 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".

Justin Chang Justin Choigee Chang (born January 3, 1983) is an American film critic and columnist for the ''Los Angeles Times''. He previously worked for ''Variety''. Early life Justin Chang graduated from the University of Southern California in 2004. Chan ...

, writing for the '' Los Angeles Times'', called the film a "warm and prickly humanist triumph" that "feels meticulously handcrafted in every respect". Bilge Ebiri, writing for '' The New York Times'', designated the film a critic pick, noting that it has "a deliberate pace and thematic ambition to spare — but it also has a ground-level, plain-spoken modesty that renders it hypnotic." Matt Zoller Seitz of

RogerEbert.com ''RogerEbert.com'' is an American film review website that archives reviews written by film critic Roger Ebert for the ''Chicago Sun-Times'' and also shares other critics' reviews and essays. The website, underwritten by the ''Chicago Sun-Times' ...

gave the film four out of four stars, calling it "a wildly ambitious yet self-effacing epic about a place and its people". Richard Brody, writing for '' The New Yorker'', described the film as a "comprehensive vision" drawn from Wang's "ferociously dedicated, deeply empathetic, finely conceived sense of purpose", offering "a detailed, expansive view of local politics and, for that matter, of the nature of community".

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bread Factory 2018 films 2018 comedy films 2018 drama films 2018 independent films American comedy films American drama films American independent films Films about the arts Films about theatre Films directed by Patrick Wang Films set in New York (state) Films set in the 2010s Films shot in New York (state) 2010s English-language films 2010s American films