South of Heaven (film)

South of Heaven is a 2021 American crime film directed by Aharon Keshales and co-written by Keshales, Navot Papushado, and Kai Mark. The film stars Jason Sudeikis, Evangeline Lilly, Mike Colter, Shea Whigham, Jeremy Bobb, Thaddeus J. Mixson, Michael Paré and Amaury Nolasco, and follows a recently paroled man (Sudeikis) whose plans to marry his terminally ill fiancée (Lilly) are halted by a corrupt parole officer (Whigham) and a local crime boss (Colter). It was released in the United States on October 8, 2021, by RLJE Films, to mixed reviews.

South of Heaven
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Aharon Keshales
Written by	Aharon Keshales Navot Papushado Kai Mark
Story by	Aharon Keshales Navot Papushado
Produced by	Roger Birnbaum Chadd Harbold Aharon Keshales Dallas Sonnier Amanda Presmyk Navot Papushado
Starring	Jason Sudeikis Evangeline Lilly Mike Colter Shea Whigham Jeremy Bobb Thaddeus J. Mixson Michael Paré Amaury Nolasco
Cinematography	Matt Mitchell
Edited by	Bryan Gaynor
Music by	David Fleming
Production companies	Arts District Entertainment Swiss Avenue Pictures Media Finance Capital Good Wizard
Distributed by	RLJE Films
Release date	October 8, 2021 (2021-10-08)
Running time	120 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$3 million

Plot

Cast

• Jason Sudeikis as Jimmy Ray
• Evangeline Lilly as Annie Ray
• Mike Colter as Whit Price
• Shea Whigham as Officer Schmidt
• Jeremy Bobb as Frank
• Thaddeus J. Mixon as Tommy Price
• Michael Paré as Joey
• Amaury Nolasco as Manny
• Jaime Zevallos as Julio
• Greg Hill as Sam
• Rupert Reyes as a priest
• Tina Parker as a parole panel woman

Production

In November 2019, it was announced Jason Sudeikis and Evangeline Lilly had joined the cast of the film, then titled Till Death, with Aharon Keshales directing from a screenplay by Keshales, Navot Papushado and Kai Mark.^[1][2][3][4] In January 2020, it was announced Mike Colter, Shea Whigham, Jeremy Bobb, Michael Paré and Amaury Nolasco had joined the cast of the film.^[5]

Filming occurred in Texas in March 2020.^[6] The film cost $3 million and was shot in 25 days.^[7]: 8:57

Release

The film was released in the United States on October 8, 2021, by RLJE Films.^[8] On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, 48% of 44 critics' reviews are positive, with an average rating of 5.2/10. The website's consensus reads: "For those willing to suspend belief, Jason Sudeikis and Evangeline Lily may make this descent into gruesome violence slightly less hellish, but South of Heaven is no promised land."^[9] Metacritic, which uses a weighted average, assigned the film a score of 42 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.^[10] It won five of seven nominations at the AFIN International Film Festival: Best Feature Film, Best Director for Keshales, Best Actor for Sudeikis (Whigram was also nominated), Best Actress for Lilly, and Best Young Artist for Mixson, in addition to being nominated for Best Ensemble Cast.^[11][12]