It’s been nearly 10 years since Chris Morris drew raves for Four Lions, a hilarious and controversial farce about, of all things, terrorism. Since then, he’s worked on episodes of Black Mirror and Veep, all while pulling together his new feature, The Day Shall Come. Morris is again mining satire from terrorism with the film, but here his focus is on the ineffective anti-terror efforts of the FBI.
Anna Kendrick stars as one of several agents who, in their efforts to impress the higher-ups and meet enforced quotas, manifest a terrorist threat out of thin air. The target: Moses (Marchánt Davis), a scattered preacher and farmer who, as the leader of a tiny community called The Star Of Six, preaches revolution and non-violence. Despite him showing no discernible threat, his eccentricities are enough to make him a fine target for the FBI, who subsequently set up a sting involving nukes and Nazis (one of whom is played by Jim Gaffigan). As someone who caught its premiere at SXSW, this writer can say the result layers plenty of anger under its laughs.
Here’s the official synopsis:
An impoverished preacher who brings hope to the Miami projects is offered cash to save his family from eviction. He has no idea his sponsor works for the FBI who plan to turn him into a criminal by fueling his madcap revolutionary dreams.
Dennis O’Hare, Danielle Brooks, and What We Do In The Shadows’ Kayvan Novak round out the cast. The Day Shall Come hits theaters in the U.K. on October 11, but a U.S. release date is still forthcoming.