''The Cathedral'' is a 2021 American semi-autobiographical

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. Drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular super ...

written, directed, and edited by Ricky D'Ambrose. It stars Brian d'Arcy James and

Monica Barbaro Monica Barbaro (born June 18, 1990) is an American actress. She is known for her film roles in '' The Cathedral'' (2021), '' Top Gun: Maverick'' (2022), and '' At Midnight'' (2023). She has also appeared in leading roles in the television series ...

Premise

The film follows the life of Jesse Damrosch from his birth in 1987 until his college acceptance at the age of twenty. Familial drama like the AIDS-related death of his uncle Joseph, and his tense relationship for his father occurs against the backdrop of historical events like the 1993 bombing of the

World Trade Center World Trade Centers are sites recognized by the World Trade Centers Association. World Trade Center may refer to: Buildings * List of World Trade Centers * World Trade Center (2001–present), a building complex that includes five skyscrapers, a ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

and the

presidency of George W. Bush George W. Bush's tenure as the 43rd president of the United States began with his first inauguration on January 20, 2001, and ended on January 20, 2009. Bush, a Republican from Texas, took office following a narrow victory over Democratic i ...

Cast

* Brian d'Arcy James as Richard Damrosch *

as Lydia Damrosch *Mark Zeisler as Nick Orkin *Geraldine Singer as Flora Orkin *Hudson McGuire as Jesse (age 3–5) *Henry Glendon Walter V as Jesse (age 9) *Robert Levey II as Jesse (age 12) *William Bednar-Carter as Jesse (age 16)

Production

The film was selected for the Biennale College Cinema 2020-2021 program, which awarded it a

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

150,000 grant for production. It is a semi-autobiographical film based on the life of Ricky D'Ambrose, who wrote, directed and edited the film. David Lowery served as the film's executive producer.

Release

The film had its international premiere at the

78th Venice International Film Festival The 78th annual Venice International Film Festival was held from 1 to 11 September 2021. South Korean director Bong Joon-ho was appointed as the President of the Jury, marking the first time a South Korean director has been picked as the festiv ...

. It premiered in the United States at the

2022 Sundance Film Festival The 2022 Sundance Film Festival took place from January 20 to 30, 2022. Due to COVID-19 pandemic protocol it was to have been a hybrid festival, but on January 5, 2022 it was announced that the in-person components would be scrapped in favor o ...

. In December 2021, Visit Films purchased worldwide sales rights to the film, with

Mubi Mubi (; stylized as MUBI; The Auteurs before 2010) is a global curated film streaming platform, production company and film distributor. Mubi produces and theatrically distributes films by emerging and established filmmakers, which are exclusivel ...

acquiring the distribution rights for the United States and United Kingdom respectively.

Reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

, the film has an approval rating of 95% based on 20 reviews. The film received mostly positive reviews from critics, who praised its approach to storytelling and visuals. Writing for ''

Deadline Hollywood ''Deadline Hollywood'', commonly known as ''Deadline'' and also referred to as ''Deadline.com'', is an online news site founded as the news blog ''Deadline Hollywood Daily'' by Nikki Finke in 2006. The site is updated several times a day, wit ...

'',

Todd McCarthy Todd McCarthy (born February 16, 1950) is an American film critic and author. He wrote for '' Variety'' for 31 years as its chief film critic until 2010. In October of that year, he joined ''The Hollywood Reporter'', where he subsequently served ...

described the film as "eccentric" and praised filmmaking D'Ambrose's technique. In a review for ''

Artforum ''Artforum'' is an international monthly magazine specializing in contemporary art. The magazine is distinguished from other magazines by its unique 10½ x 10½ inch square format, with each cover often devoted to the work of an artist. Notabl ...

'',

Amy Taubin Amy Taubin (born September 10, 1938) is an American author and film critic. She is a contributing editor for two prominent film magazines, the British ''Sight & Sound'' and the American ''Film Comment''. She has also written regularly for ''The V ...

characterized the film's use of sensory and visual guides to explore the memory of Jesse as "experimental."

Richard Brody Richard Brody (born 1958) is an American film critic who has written for ''The New Yorker'' since 1999. Education Brody grew up in Roslyn, New York, and attended Princeton University, receiving a B.A. in comparative literature in 1980. He firs ...

of ''

The New Yorker ''The New Yorker'' is an American weekly magazine featuring journalism, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons, and poetry. Founded as a weekly in 1925, the magazine is published 47 times annually, with five of these issues ...

'' favorably compared ''The Cathedral'' to the autobiographical films of

Terence Davies Terence Davies (born 10 November 1945) is an English screenwriter, film director, and novelist, seen by many critics as one of the greatest British filmmakers of his times. He is best known as the writer and director of autobiographical films ...

. Brian Tallerico, writing for RogerEbert.com, gave a more mixed review. He described the film as "clever" but said that some aspects of its performances and direction made it feel "disjointed" at times. Jordan Raup of The Film Stage gave the film a B, praising its handling of a coming of age story, while criticizing some performances as being "wooden". Alissa Wilkinson of ''Vox'' described the film as "quietly stunning jewel box of a film", and included it on a list of the 18 best films at Sundance in 2022. It was also included on ''

Thrillist Thrillist is an online media website covering food, drink, travel and entertainment. The company was founded in 2004 and is based in New York City, United States. In October 2016, Thrillist merged with internet brands '' The Dodo'', NowThis Ne ...

'''s list of "The Best Movies at the 2022 Sundance Film Festival."

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cathedral, The 2021 films 2021 drama films 2021 independent films 2020s American films 2020s English-language films American coming-of-age drama films Films about dysfunctional families Films set in New York (state) Films set in the 1980s Films set in the 1990s Films set in the 2000s HIV/AIDS in American films