Franklyn

Eva Green, Ryan Phillippe, Sam Riley and Bernard Hill star in writer-director Gerald McMorrow's debut feature, an ambitious, mysterious fantasy-thriller. Set simultaneously in modern-day London and a future metropolis called Meanwhile City, the film's exploration of fate (and multiple other themes) plays out through four narrative strands. Preest is an armed, masked illegal atheist stalking the streets of the Victorian-styled future city, where religion (of any variety, including the Seventh Day Manicurists) is compulsory, in search of the figure he blames for creating the theocratic state. Meanwhile, back in the present, Emilia is a histrionic London art student, who films her cry-for-help suicide bids and uses the footage in her work; Esser is a devout father searching the capital for his missing son; and Milo is a man once again looking for love, following a split with his fiancée. Are their individual stories in any way linked? And who, or what, is Franklyn?, In present day London, the lives of suicidal artist Emilia, jilted nice guy Milo, and church warden David Esser are set to collide. But how are they connected to Jonathan Preest, a brooding vigilante fighting an oppressive regime in the parallel metropolis of Meanwhile City?, In this ambitious sci-fi epic set in different eras, atheist vigilante Jonathan Preest (Ryan Phillippe) seeks revenge against the tyrannical leader of futuristic Meanwhile City, where religion is being used to enslave the masses. Concurrently, in turn of the 21st century London, an artist struggles to reconcile her relationship with her mother, a sensitive man contends with heartache and a deeply religious man searches for his missing son, a haunted Gulf War veteran.