Boasting original music from Justin Timberlake, and a cast including Jason Sudeikis, Maisie Williams, and Jessica Biel, sometimes the moviemaking stars don’t align. Indeed, when “The Book Of Love” premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival this spring (under the title “The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea“) the response was pretty chilly (even our own review). But perhaps outside the festival circuit, the film will find its audience.
Directed by Bill Purple making his feature debut, the film details the friendship that emerges between a teenager and a widowed man, and follows them as they build a raft together, upon which the teen plans to sail across the sea. Here’s the synopsis from Tribeca.
After the accidental death of his free-spirited pregnant wife, Penny (a luminous Jessica Biel), reserved architect Henry (Jason Sudeikis) struggles to find meaning in his life and in the work that once consumed him. As he continues to work on the house he and Penny were building together, Henry is drawn to a mysterious young runaway named Millie (Game of Thrones star Maisie Williams) whom Penny had often talked about helping. Though Millie mistrusts Henry at first, the two build a tentative friendship as she reveals her ambition to build a raft to sail away from her dark past and start anew. Taking on the father role he was meant to have, Henry neglects his job and other responsibilities to help Millie on her quest. As they work together, he comes to understand that she can help him to heal as much as he can help her.
“The Book Of Love” opens on January 13, 2017.
