| A Bread Factory, Part One: For the Sake of Gold | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Patrick Wang |
| Screenplay by | Patrick Wang |
| Produced by |
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| Starring | |
| Cinematography | Frank Barrera |
| Edited by | Elwaldo Baptiste |
| Music by |
|
Production companies | Vanishing Angle In The Family |
| Distributed by | Grasshopper Film |
Release date |
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Running time | 122 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | US$17,325 (with part 2)[1] |
| A Bread Factory, Part Two: Walk with Me a While | |
|---|---|
 Film poster | |
| Directed by | Patrick Wang |
| Screenplay by | Patrick Wang |
| Produced by |
|
| Starring |
|
| Cinematography | Frank Barrera |
| Edited by | Elwaldo Baptiste |
| Music by |
|
Production companies | Vanishing Angle In The Family |
| Distributed by | Grasshopper Film |
Release date |
|
Running time | 120 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | US$17,325 (with part 1)[1] |
A Bread Factory is a 2018 American two-partindiecomedydrama film written and directed byPatrick Wang. It features anensemble cast and depicts a fictional communityarts center in a smallupstate New York town that struggles under economic andsocial pressures. It received critical acclaim. The second part wasBrian Murray‘s final role prior to his death.
The film takes place in the fictionalupstate New York town of Checkford. It centers on The Bread Factory, a communityarts center run by a married couple, Dorothea and Greta, as well as daily life in the surrounding town.
In the first part, aconceptual art duo, May Ray, arrive in town and begin staging flashy, highly produced but utterly vapid performances. They threaten to siphon away an arts grant on which The Bread Factory depends. Dorothea and Greta work to convince the town council not to reassign the funds.
The second part centers around a performance ofEuripides' tragedyHecuba at The Bread Factory.
The film was inspired byTime & Space Limited, a local arts center inHudson, New York.[2] It was filmed in Hudson over 24 days, following 10 days of rehearsals.[3]
Critics identified the central themes of the film as the value and impact ofthe arts, and the difficulty of producing and promoting meaningful artistic work in amarket economy.[4]
The film was released in the United States on October 26, 2018.[1]
The film received universal critical acclaim. Onreview aggregator websiteRotten Tomatoes, both parts havean approval rating of 100%, based on 30 and 22 reviews respectively.[5][6] The critic consensus for the first part states "Epic yet intimate,A Bread Factory, Part One: For the Sake of Gold delivers the sprawling storytelling and nourishing drama audiences might expect from its imposing title."[5] On review aggregatorMetacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 91 based on 9 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim".[7]
Justin Chang, writing for theLos Angeles Times, called the film a "warm and prickly humanist triumph" that "feels meticulously handcrafted in every respect".[8]
Bilge Ebiri, writing forThe New York Times, designated the film a critic pick, noting that it has "a deliberate pace and thematic ambition to spare — but it also has a ground-level, plain-spoken modesty that renders it hypnotic."[9]
Matt Zoller Seitz ofRogerEbert.com gave the film four out of four stars, calling it "a wildly ambitious yet self-effacing epic about a place and its people".[4]
Richard Brody, writing forThe New Yorker, described the film as a "comprehensive vision" drawn from Wang's "ferociously dedicated, deeply empathetic, finely conceived sense of purpose", offering "a detailed, expansive view of local politics and, for that matter, of the nature of community".[10]
