I'm not at all surprised that "The Homesman" slipped through the cracks, as it defies categorization and may just be one of the least commercially bankable films I've ever seen. But it's a surprisingly good little movie and one that deserves an audience.
Tommy Lee Jones directed and stars in this film about a drunken roustabout (Jones) who teams up with a prim spinster (Hilary Swank) to transport back to their families three insane women who've been undone by brutal life on the American prairie. It's a film about the weakness of men to do what is right, and the fortitude of a woman whose faith and sense of goodness gives her the strength to do what others can't or won't....Until it's not, and it instead becomes about the difference between those who want to do the right thing but can't get it done and those who do the right things for the wrong reasons but are actually successful at it. It's about the practicality of goodness, and about how sometimes the world exposes things that are generally considered to be valuable human traits -- empathy, devotion, religious conviction -- as weaknesses when they interfere with the ability to actually do the right thing rather than simply talk about it.
Swank and Jones are sensational, as are the production values that bring alive the American nowhere of the mid-1800s. The film is completely unpredictable in the best way. I had no idea where it was going from one moment to the next and enjoyed every minute of not knowing.
I found this one streaming on Netflix and it's well worth checking out.
Grade: A
Tommy Lee Jones directed and stars in this film about a drunken roustabout (Jones) who teams up with a prim spinster (Hilary Swank) to transport back to their families three insane women who've been undone by brutal life on the American prairie. It's a film about the weakness of men to do what is right, and the fortitude of a woman whose faith and sense of goodness gives her the strength to do what others can't or won't....Until it's not, and it instead becomes about the difference between those who want to do the right thing but can't get it done and those who do the right things for the wrong reasons but are actually successful at it. It's about the practicality of goodness, and about how sometimes the world exposes things that are generally considered to be valuable human traits -- empathy, devotion, religious conviction -- as weaknesses when they interfere with the ability to actually do the right thing rather than simply talk about it.
Swank and Jones are sensational, as are the production values that bring alive the American nowhere of the mid-1800s. The film is completely unpredictable in the best way. I had no idea where it was going from one moment to the next and enjoyed every minute of not knowing.
I found this one streaming on Netflix and it's well worth checking out.
Grade: A