I’d never heard of The Childhood Of A Leader (2015) until one year when I asked people what their favourite scores/songs of the year were and someone recommended Scott Walker’s score from it. The thundering overture sets the strident tone for this drama which, per the title, looks at Prescott (Tom Sweet), a young boy whose American father (Liam Cunningham) works for Woodrow Wilson during the discussions for the Treaty of Versailles in post-WW1. As the film observes the boy’s escalating tantrums to his French mother (Bérénice Bejo), you’re set up to ask: is he just being brat or are the seeds sown for adult fascism, particularly in the power dynamics of parent-child, church-congregation, master-servant, etc. I thought it was an absorbing and curious experience; I also watched it very late, a little bit tired, and it kept my attention throughout. Somewhere between The Omen and Barry Lyndon in effect. Directed by Brady Corbet and also starting Robert Pattison.
VHS Tracking 