Irish Film Institute -THE CURRENT WAR

THE CURRENT WAR

Director: ALFONSO GOMEZ-REJON

108 mins, USA, 2017, Digital


This film was released on Friday 26th July 2019 and is no longer screening.

Fuelled by the intense rivalry between electricity titans Thomas Edison (Benedict Cumberbatch) and George Westinghouse (Michael Shannon), The Current War tells the dramatic story of the late 19th century race to light up America.

Edison confirmed his status as a self-proclaimed genius in 1879 when he conducted the first successful light bulb tests, declaring an end to night as people knew it. The wide distribution of electricity proved a daunting challenge however, with both Edison and the entrepreneurial Westinghouse, his less flamboyant competitor, convinced of their unique solutions.

Director Alfonso Gomez-Rejon makes an impressive leap in scale here from his much-admired debut Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (2015), the eye-catching visual style he employs being a testament to his association with Martin Scorsese, Michael Mann and Alejandro González Iñárritu, on whose films he apprenticed.

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