''Across the River and into the Trees'' is a 2022 war drama film directed by

Paula Ortiz Paula Ortiz Álvarez (born 8 January, 1979) is a Spanish director, screenwriter and producer who works for Get in the Pictures Productions and Amapola Films, teaches Audiovisual Communication at the University of Barcelona, and collaborates w ...

and adapted by Peter Flannery from the 1950 novel by Ernest Hemingway. It stars Liev Schreiber,

Matilda De Angelis Matilda De Angelis (born 11 September 1995) is an Italian actress and singer. Her credits include the films ''Italian Race'' and '' Rose Island'', and the television miniseries '' The Law According to Lidia Poët'', and ''The Undoing''. Career S ...

, Josh Hutcherson, Laura Morante,

Massimo Popolizio Massimo Popolizio (born 4 July 1961) is an Italian actor and voice actor. Biography Massimo Popolizio studied at the Silvio D'Amico National Academy of Dramatic Arts in Rome in 1984, Popolizio started his career as a stage actor and, after gradu ...

, and Danny Huston. The film premiered at the Sun Valley Film Festival on 30 March 2022.

Premise

United States Army Colonel Richard Cantwell confronts the news of his terminal illness with stoic indifference and enlists a military driver for presumably his final hunting trip and a visit to Venice. Along the way, Cantwell investigates an alleged war crime and has a chance encounter with a young woman from the Italian nobility.

Cast

* Liev Schreiber as Colonel Richard Cantwell *

as Renata Contarini * Josh Hutcherson as Jackson * Laura Morante as Contessa Contarini *

as Vanni Rizzon * Danny Huston as Captain Wes O'Neill * Sabrina Impacciatore as Agostina

Production

Screenwriter Peter Flannery's plans to adapt Ernest Hemingway's '' Across the River and into the Trees'' into a feature film date back to 2016, when

Pierce Brosnan Pierce Brendan Brosnan (; born 16 May 1953) is an Irish actor and film producer. He is best known as the fifth actor to play secret agent James Bond in the Bond film series, starring in four films from 1995 to 2002 (''GoldenEye'', ''Tomorrow ...

, Isabella Rossellini, and María Valverde came on board to star and Martin Campbell was set to direct. In September 2020,

replaced Campbell as director and every role was recast, with Liev Schreiber,

, Laura Morante, Javier Cámara, and Giancarlo Giannini joining the cast. Josh Hutcherson was added to the cast in November, and Danny Huston joined the following year in February. After delays in securing insurance, principal photography began in late 2020 or early 2021 amid the COVID-19 pandemic in Italy with cinematographer Javier Aguirresarobe. Locations included

Venice Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...

; Treviso, including the ; and the

Friuli-Venezia Giulia (man), it, Friulana (woman), it, Giuliano (man), it, Giuliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_t ...

region. A nationwide lockdown allowed the cast and crew to film in an empty St Mark's Square. Most of the film was shot in black-and-white except for flashbacks, which were captured in color. By March 2021, production concluded. Editing was completed by

Stuart Stuart may refer to: Names * Stuart (name), a given name and surname (and list of people with the name) Automobile *Stuart (automobile) Places Australia Generally *Stuart Highway, connecting South Australia and the Northern Territory Northe ...

and Kate Baird.

Release

The film premiered at the Sun Valley Film Festival in the Sun Valley Opera House on 30 March 2022 in

Sun Valley, Idaho Sun Valley is a resort city in the western United States, in Blaine County, Idaho, adjacent to the city of Ketchum in the Wood River valley. The population was 1406 at the 2010 census, down from 1427 in 2000.resort town A resort town, often called a resort city or resort destination, is an urban area where tourism or vacationing is the primary component of the local culture and economy. A typical resort town has one or more actual resorts in the surrounding ...

where Hemingway once lived. In 2022, the film picked up the Jury Prize from the Italian Contemporary Film Festival, and Jose Tirado was recognized for his production design at the

Ischia Film Festival The Ischia Film Festival is an annual film festival held in Ischia, Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterrane ...

, where it held its European premiere on 2 July. The film began a limited release in Spain on 11 October 2023, to meet EU incentive criteria.

Bleecker Street Bleecker Street is an east–west street in the New York City borough of Manhattan. It is most famous today as a Greenwich Village nightclub district. The street connects a neighborhood today popular for music venues and comedy, but which was ...

was originally set to distribute the film after buying the rights in May 2023. In May 2024, Level 33 Entertainment acquired the North American distribution rights from them, scheduling the film for a theatrical run starting 30 August 2024.

Critical response

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 90% based on 10 reviews, with an average rating of 6.7 out of 10. Metacritic calculated a weighted average of 65 out of 100 based on 4 critics, indicating "generally favorable" reviews.

References

External links

* * {{Ernest Hemingway 2022 films 2020s English-language films Films based on American novels Films based on works by Ernest Hemingway Films shot in Venice Films postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic 2022 drama films 2020s Italian films 2020s British films 2020s Canadian films British war drama films Canadian war drama films Italian war drama films