"The Homesman" is only the second film that has Academy Award winner Tommy Lee Jones credited as writer and director. The first is already almost 20 years ago. Admittedly, he did not write it on his own, but got some help from his longtime assistant and also from the director/writer of "The Ballad of Esequiel Hernández", a film TLJ did the narration for. It runs for roughly two hours, but the female lead Hilary Swank is only in it for the first 90 minutes. The film does not offer us a happy ending of any kind with Swank's and Jones' characters becoming a couple, but goes for more realism instead. Still the ending was slightly unusual for me. It's just life that happens I guess. It could even hint at a possible sequel about what is waiting for Jones' character when he steps off the boat. So one may wonder, why does she kill herself? I thought it was quite a surprising development, but given her strong faith in God it makes sort of sense that she could not live on with the shame of having slept with a man before marriage. Nonetheless, I was surprised to see her go for suicide, which is often criticized by the Church and also she did not seem the type to me to let these three women go instead of making sure they arrive at their destination. Anyway, the act of suicide came surprising to me, but I found her asking Jones' character to sleep with her even more surprising at that point. Mary Bee Cuddy may turn out as the most tragic film character from 2014.
At the end, she is gone and Jones' character (we never know if Briggs is his real name) is basically what he was at the beginning of the film: angry, drunk, lawless, restless and without money. What I found interesting though was the way he reacted towards the hotel owners and towards the guys playing cards. Only the former meant a case of injustice towards him, so he burnt the whole place down. When they refuse to let him play cards with them, he accepted their decision as he really could not pay his way into the game. Or maybe the reactions differed so strongly because the latter was only about him and not about the three women. That would mean that he actually felt some kind of obligation to these women. Also the way he fought for the one woman who ran away and risked his life would make you think that the mission meant something to him. Or maybe he was just an old roughneck who had to defend his honor.
The cast is truly great. Meryl Streep (third project already with Tommy Lee Jones), Hailee Steinfeld, James Spader ("Lincoln" reunion with TLJ), John Lithgow, William Fichtner are all among actors I like/love and same goes for the two protagonists. Jesse Plemons will be a treat for fans of the TV show "Breaking Bad". On a random side note, the film "Argo" had Bryan Cranston in it and both these movies use the famous melody "Hace Tuto Guagua". Love the tune. I heard it in the trailer for "The Homesman" and I have to say I was quite disappointed that it was not used in the film. Anyway, back to the cast. Unfortunately, almost all of the supporting cast were wasted for very minor characters with which they could not show their true talents, especially Hailee Steinfeld. It seems she is cast for her role here only because she was so great in "True Grit". There is absolutely nothing to her character here sadly that no unknown actress could have portrayed equally well. In terms of the plot I wondered if it isn't a bit unlikely that three women in nearby places go mad at the same time? This is actually a good basis for a mystery film. What was the reason behind this craziness? Maybe malnutrition. I mean the personal tragedies they were facing I would have more expected to result in suicide than insanity.
As a whole, I was slightly disappointed with "The Homesman". It is not a bad film at all (obviously not, it has a Palme d'Or nomination), but something is missing for greatness and looking at the cast, it certainly could have been achieved. It is mostly a drama, but the roughness of Jones' character also results in a funny quote here and there, like when Cuddy says she can't sleep and he responds he can. Or how he says that he does not want to be hung right away again when the group reaches a new city and you'd wonder what the old bastard did in said city to evoke such a response? We'll never know as it happened before we join in and watch. Pity. However, for best western of the year, I still have to give the edge to "The Salvation" from Denmark starring Mads Mikkelsen in a great tale of revenge including all the elements from classic westerns decades ago.
At the end, she is gone and Jones' character (we never know if Briggs is his real name) is basically what he was at the beginning of the film: angry, drunk, lawless, restless and without money. What I found interesting though was the way he reacted towards the hotel owners and towards the guys playing cards. Only the former meant a case of injustice towards him, so he burnt the whole place down. When they refuse to let him play cards with them, he accepted their decision as he really could not pay his way into the game. Or maybe the reactions differed so strongly because the latter was only about him and not about the three women. That would mean that he actually felt some kind of obligation to these women. Also the way he fought for the one woman who ran away and risked his life would make you think that the mission meant something to him. Or maybe he was just an old roughneck who had to defend his honor.
The cast is truly great. Meryl Streep (third project already with Tommy Lee Jones), Hailee Steinfeld, James Spader ("Lincoln" reunion with TLJ), John Lithgow, William Fichtner are all among actors I like/love and same goes for the two protagonists. Jesse Plemons will be a treat for fans of the TV show "Breaking Bad". On a random side note, the film "Argo" had Bryan Cranston in it and both these movies use the famous melody "Hace Tuto Guagua". Love the tune. I heard it in the trailer for "The Homesman" and I have to say I was quite disappointed that it was not used in the film. Anyway, back to the cast. Unfortunately, almost all of the supporting cast were wasted for very minor characters with which they could not show their true talents, especially Hailee Steinfeld. It seems she is cast for her role here only because she was so great in "True Grit". There is absolutely nothing to her character here sadly that no unknown actress could have portrayed equally well. In terms of the plot I wondered if it isn't a bit unlikely that three women in nearby places go mad at the same time? This is actually a good basis for a mystery film. What was the reason behind this craziness? Maybe malnutrition. I mean the personal tragedies they were facing I would have more expected to result in suicide than insanity.
As a whole, I was slightly disappointed with "The Homesman". It is not a bad film at all (obviously not, it has a Palme d'Or nomination), but something is missing for greatness and looking at the cast, it certainly could have been achieved. It is mostly a drama, but the roughness of Jones' character also results in a funny quote here and there, like when Cuddy says she can't sleep and he responds he can. Or how he says that he does not want to be hung right away again when the group reaches a new city and you'd wonder what the old bastard did in said city to evoke such a response? We'll never know as it happened before we join in and watch. Pity. However, for best western of the year, I still have to give the edge to "The Salvation" from Denmark starring Mads Mikkelsen in a great tale of revenge including all the elements from classic westerns decades ago.