The Homesman

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it's not altogether fun. i think most who have seen it would agree... but i think it's a masterful piece of storytelling. and kudos to tommy lee jones for not giving in an inch to clichés... there was so much that surprised me in this film...the reactions that i always try to guess before they happen...the lines that come out of the actors mouths... sure i guessed SOME of the times in this film...but i'm not usually as surprised by dialogue/character choices as i was here... it made it all so much more realistic for me, rather than watching characters who are mouthing lines of people who've seen too many bad movies and not met or done enough interesting people or things, respectively... there was one major turn in the plot towards the end that was unexpected. but in a way that i felt was also, given what we'd seen of this character already, not really in line with who they seemed to be... i know it was based on a book. and all that's in a book can rarely be shown in a two hour film...so i'm thinking that whatever changes this character had to go through to get from 'point A to point B' might have been left out. Otherwise it didn't really make much sense/needed to make MORE sense than it did...at least for me... i, of course, don't want to be more specific b/c then it would surely be a spoiler. i don't know what reviewer could ever think that i would want to know an important piece of information before i've seen a film... the film was beautiful to look at...the acting was extremely good. i expect Oscar nominations for swank and jones. maybe also director AND , depending on the field, maybe best picture. let's call it a dark horse... ;-) since i know a lot of people who read these might not get around to reading a lot of the comments made by, let's say, the director, i'd like to leave you all with these words from tommy lee jones: (on how he learned to direct) I've worked with more than 50 directors and I've paid attention since day one. That's pretty much been my education, apart from studying art history and shooting with my own cameras. I've seen 50 different sets of mistakes and 50 different ways of achieving. You just leave the bad part out. i wasn't crazy about another of jones's movies--the three burials-- but this one does what he says above to the frame...if i did just one thing in my life of this quality i'd feel it was a life worth having lived... you DO know what's happenin...DON'T you, mr jones?

December 19, 2014 A homesman is someone tasked to bring people back to their homes. In this film, the people that needed safe transport are three mentally- disturbed women. Mary Bee McCuddy, a plain but hardy spinster, volunteered to be their homesman. Along the way, she rescues a old man Thomas Briggs from being hung by vigilantes and conscripts him to help her with her mission in exchange for saving his life. Together, they gather the three ladies and escort them from Nebraska homes across the dangerous Midwest prairie to a safe haven in Iowa. Hilary Swank is an actress who had already won a couple of Oscars for playing strong women who had taken on masculine roles in life -- Brandon Teena in "Boys Don't Cry" and Maggie Fitzgerald in "Million Dollar Baby". As Mary Bee McCuddy, a pioneer lady who bravely accepts a task only men are expected to do, Swank again goes on the same award-baiting path. The movie worked so well when Swank was on screen. She was absolutely compelling in this offbeat role as if this was written with her in mind. The movie was not the same when her character was not there. Tommy Lee Jones is one actor who, as of late, had seemingly been confined to playing curmudgeonly and cantankerous old men, and his Briggs here is not any different. This film is only Jones' second directorial effort since his critically-acclaimed debut in "Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada" back in 2005. As director, he was very generous to his lead female star Swank, and always gave way to let her shine. As actor, he does consistently as he is expected but this role of a grumpy old outlaw seems too familiar for him already. He wisely played Briggs with some self-deprecating humor to break the tendency of the story to become monotonously bleak. There were some remarkable cameos from other award-winning or nominated stars in much smaller roles. John Lithgow is his usual capable self playing the Reverend Dowd who reluctantly sends McCuddy off on her task. Hailee Steinfeld plays 16-year old Tabitha Hutchinson to whom Briggs offers a surprising proposal. James Spader, in his usual over-the-top style, plays condescending hotel owner Aloysius Duffy. And last, but definitely not the least, none other than THE Meryl Streep plays perfectly kind and hospitable Altha Carter, who runs the institution in Iowa the women are headed for. These actors appear on screen for only ten minutes or so, but they leave a lasting impression. The narrative may have been slow and desolate . However, the unusual situations, disturbing imagery, startling story developments and committed performances by the cast all keep our attention riveted. The cinematography with the muted colors worked well with the windswept landscape of its setting, as much a character in itself. The costumes and production design rang true to its mid-19th century time period. The haunting and unsettling musical score create an atmosphere of bitter emptiness. The insufferably miserable topic is clearly not for everyone. But for those who decide to give it a chance, the rewards will be satisfying. 7/10.

(Some plot spoilers below, be warned!) I have to rate this one star, because I felt totally exploited having sat through this. It presents itself (falsely) as the story of a charming, tough and pragmatic woman (a spinster, in that era) who has her own farm and is very independent and competent. She volunteers to take 3 insane women back from the Nebraska wilderness to "civilization" in Iowa, and along the way, picks up a drifter who is about to be hung. She saves him, and after a variety of typical "journey through the old west stuff" (Indians, rustlers, etc.), she abruptly kills herself. He tries to abandon the crazy women, but then has a change of heart and delivers them to Iowa. Hilary Swank is very fine in her role as Mary Bee Cuddy, but god what a waste of her talent. She is presented as a strong character, and then kills herself because she is rejected (for the 2nd time in the film) by a man she throws herself at (the drifter, played gruffly by Tommy Lee Jones). This is incongruous and inconsistent with everything we've been shown up to this point. It would have made more sense if aliens had landed in a space ship. There is no way a tough pioneer woman like Mary Bee would have killed herself over a romantic rejection. It makes no sense. It is also beyond ridiculous that anyone would consider her "ugly" back then -- check out some photographs from the 1850s. The most gorgeous celebrities of the day were not what we modern folks would have considered "hot" -- no makeup, greasy hair, etc. Mary Bee would have been a STONE FOX in 1850. Even if she'd been crippled, lame, pockmarked and blind in one eye -- her money and land would have attracted SOMEONE. There was a shortage of women in the Old West. This is a FACT. Men could not be choosy the way they are today, in a large modern city. On the other hand, Tommy Lee Jones is a grizzled man in his late 60s. He really was repulsed by the attention from a 31 year old woman? even if she was fat and covered in pimples, he would have probably been so grateful to have sex, he would have fallen on his knees in gratitude. There is something mentally wrong not with the 3 insane ladies here (whose back stories are very choppy and vague -- and it is not plausible that 3 of 6 women in the same town would have the same mental breakdown at the same time), but with the AUTHOR and SCREENWRITER for putting this hateful rubbish on the screen. It has to be the most anti-feminist, female-hating movie I have seen in my life, positing that a woman who is "plain" (which Swank very obviously is NOT, making it idiotic) has to kill herself, because not having sex or failing to marry is such an absolute disaster. Never mind the many thousands of spinsters of this era (some of them very famous: Jane Austen and Emily Dickinson, among others). It was not all that uncommon to remain single in the 19th century (for men or women). Also it cannot be that surprising that Mary Bee couldn't find a husband in a tiny prairie settlement with approximately 10 people in the entire TOWN (6 of won are other women, 3 of which are insane). Didn't any of the husbands of the insane women want a new wife? a mother for their children? Yeesh. Near the end, as if to rub it in, 70 year old Tommy Lee Jones proposes to a comely 16 year old waitress (Hailie Seinfeld, utterly wasted) as if to prove that "men only want extremely young hotties...see?" If this was not a DVD borrowed from the library, I'd burn it. Avoid at all costs.