1925, but still the Old West in Montana where this Jane Campion Art-House Western takes place. Slow, deliberate, yet more traditional than you expect, with the big dramatic turning points inferred rather than heralded, change the setting and you could be watching a prequel to Edna Ferber’s GIANT; just with all the story beats removed. (Tossed aside like bull testicles at round-up. Yikes!) Set in vast cattle ranch country, but played very close to the vest, dominant brother Benedict Cumberbatch (less acting technician, more Daniel Day Lewis observationist here) lords it over chubby sibling Jesse Plemons, especially after Plemons marries local cook Kirsten Dunst who’s soon overwhelmed playing mistress to a great house. (A bit overwhelmed by the part, too.) With sadistic tendencies exacerbated by what he views as abandonment, Cumberbatch lashes out, breaking down his sister-in-law till she withdraws into drink, only to find a personal crisis of his own when Dunst’s willowy college-aged boy comes home for the summer. Frail & delicate as Lillian Gish in a D.W. Griffith film, Kodi Smit-McPhee’s striking physical presence hides a Gish-like stubborn strength & resilience that catches Cumberbatch unawares, their unlikely friendship confusing and upsetting the boy’s mother nearly as much as it upsets & clarifies Cumberbatch’s desires. Ultimately, leading to tragedy and, for the survivors, release. Artfully arranged by Campion in brief chapters, the film takes its time pulling you in, hooking different people at different points. But pull you in it does.
DOUBLE-BILL: As mentioned, GIANT/’56. Assuming you can get thru it (George Stevens’ work weighs a ton & a half). Surprising how much lines up dramatically.
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