Redeeming Love

"Never look back. Never look forward."

2022 2h 14m EN

🙌

7.9

BANGER

★7.9TMDB · 778

RomanceDramaWestern

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

A young couple's relationship clashes with the harsh realities of the California Gold Rush of 1850. Angel, experiencing love for the first time and facing demons unsurmountable, runs from the new life she doesn't believe she deserves. When Michael sets out to find her, Angel discovers that she indeed has the power to choose the life she wants.

“Never look back. Never look forward.”

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Where to watch · US

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Cast

Abigail Cowen
Angel
Tom Lewis
Michael
Eric Dane
Duke
Famke Janssen
Duchess
Logan Marshall-Green
Paul
Nina Dobrev
Mae
Livi Birch
Sarah Stafford
Jamie Lee O'Donnell
Lucky

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: D.J. Caruso
Writers: D.J. Caruso, Francine Rivers
Languages: English
Countries: South Africa, United States of America

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

Earned back only 32% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 4 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: South Africa, United States of America.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by D.J. Caruso, shot by Rogier Stoffers. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Brian Tyler. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Jim Page shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Abigail Cowen and Tom Lewis and Eric Dane carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

FACT

Did you know

Marketing tagline: "Never look back. Never look forward.".

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

D.J. Caruso directs. Rogier Stoffers behind the camera. Brian Tyler scores. Jim Page cuts. A commercial under-performer on release. Produced in South Africa, United States of America. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1Earned back only 32% of its budget on initial theatrical — a commercial disappointment on release.
2Released 4 years ago.
3International production across 2 countries: South Africa, United States of America.
4Directed by D.J. Caruso, shot by Rogier Stoffers. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
5Original score by Brian Tyler. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
6Editor Jim Page shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
7Abigail Cowen and Tom Lewis and Eric Dane carry the top of the cast.
8Marketing tagline: "Never look back. Never look forward.".
9IMDB entry: tt11365186 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
10Classified under 53 themes, including "pedophilia", "child abuse", "california", "rape".

The technical file

Cinematography: Rogier Stoffers
Original score: Brian Tyler
Editing: Jim Page
Production design: Johnny Breedt
Runtime: 134 min · 2h 14m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $30,000,000
Box office: $9,464,198
Return: 32% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Redeeming Love (2022)

Also by

D.J. Caruso

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Community reviews

What people are saying

tmdb280390232022-08-28
★ 2/10
Redeeming Love looks great. It features great locations shot with great cinematography, but that’s about all director D.J. Caruso can do to entice us to keep watching. It’s terrific to see a story unfolding in a non-CGI, true-to-life setting, even if it’s Cape Town standing in for California (but then some of the greatest westerns were filmed in Europe, so there’s that), but while this movie arguably achieves the western look, it fails to conjure up any sort of western feel. The script concerns a Hooker with a Heart of Gold known as Angel, who is so sought after that the local Madame, who calls herself Duchess, holds a daily raffle to determine which lucky slack-jawed gold miners – there is more than one winner per day – get to hold sexual congress with her. This is such a cumbersome arrangement that it actually gets in the way of the plot, so that co-writers Francine Rivers and Caruso Hand Wave it not long after they have introduced it. So-called “dirt farmer” Michael Hosea becomes smitten with Angel, so what does he do to get near her? Does he buy all the numbers in the raffle? Does he have the raffle rigged? No and no; he simply “pays double”. That’s it. Why this hasn’t occurred to at least some of the yokels who form a daily scrum outside the brothel is anybody’s guess. Another good question is where Michael, who is not a miner, finds enough “gold dust” to gain access to Angel on three different occasions. Angel wants nothing to do with Michael owing to a deep-seated hatred and distrust of men, which is established in a series of flashbacks that are so many and so long they could make up an entire, separate movie all by themselves. They are also the reason that Redeeming Love unnecessarily breaks the 120-minute mark. But the oddest part about these flashbacks is that they show Angel escaping a life of compulsory whoredom only to enter a life of voluntary whoredom. Twice. Maybe even thrice, but that last time is once again against her will. In any case, it gets to be quite repetitive after a while. It is only after Angel gets the tar beaten out of her by the Duchess’s lackey Magowan that she relents and agrees to marry Michael – but first he has to pay off her “debt” to the Duchess, and the irony that he literally buys Angel off in order to make an honest woman out of her is lost on Michael and Caruso alike. Redeeming Love’s greatest achievement, other than its photography, is how well it masks its biblical pedigree. According to Wikipedia this is a “Christian Western” based on an homonymous novel by Rivers (unread by me, though it wouldn’t surprise if she had first published it under the pseudonym F.R. Ancine), which in turn is inspired by an obscure Old Testament book – not that you would even guess at any of this by watching the movie, and that’s actually a good thing. It may be long and boring, but at least it’s not overtly preachy.

Production companies