John Hillcoat's high-octane action drama "Lawless" — about three bootlegging brothers from Prohibition-era Franklin County, Va. — has turned a neat trick.
Since debuting at the Cannes in May, the film has rescued the world of moonshine-making, fast-driving Southerners from Burt Reynolds' jokey "Smokey and the Bandit" movies, putting it in arthouses and classy film festivals via the Weinstein Company.
Despite mixed reviews, "Lawless" is an exuberant and violent genre mashup by a director whose last film was the brutally austere doomsday drama "The Road."
Born in Australia but largely raised in Canada and the U.S., Hillcoat collaborated with longtime friend and musician Nick Cave on the film.