"Miss Cuddy. I appreciate the offer, the supper the concert and all. But i cannot marry you, will not, wont. I ain't perfect but you are too bossy and too damn plain" -Bob Giffin
The Cannes film festival lineup is presented and among the pictures that will be running for the big prize, the Palm d'Or, is Tommy Lee Jones new feature in the director's chair and between the cast too. The early buzz was good and talk of potential Oscar power seemed eminent. The fact is that the film premiered without much of a splash, the reviews were mixed and it was taken as a kind of disappointing second effort. Still, I was hopeful and interested on checking this one out, had low expectations, was just hoping it would be worth the watch.
The Homesman is Directed by Tommy Lee Jones and it stars Hilary Swank, Tommy Lee Jones, Grace Gummer, Meryl Streep, Miranda Otto, Tim Blake Nelson, Hailee Steinfeld, Sonja Richter, William Fichtner and James Spader. "When three women living on the edge of the American frontier are driven mad by harsh pioneer life, the task of saving them falls to the pious, independent-minded Mary Bee Cuddy. Transporting the women by covered wagon to Iowa, she soon realizes just how daunting the journey will be, and employs a low-life drifter, George Briggs to join her. The unlikely pair and the three women head east, where a waiting minister and his wife have offered to take the women in. But the group first must traverse the harsh Nebraska Territories marked by stark beauty, psychological peril and constant threat."
One such as myself looks at the intriguing premise, looks at the amazingly talented cast and looks at an already proved to be talented director and thinks: "How much can it really go wrong, when you have all the pieces?". The answer to that question is: "A lot". Cannes had already put my expectations down, since at first the picture ranked among the most anticipated of the year. But nothing could really prepare me to such a low figure. This isn't just disappointing, this plain simply ranks among the worst films I have seen all year. A total misfire if I may say so. This is really sad, since there are tons of a talented people in the picture.
The picture never ignites. It never launches. Even though we are supposed to follow a really exciting, tricky journey through the dangerous west, we never really get to see any of that excitement. Instead we are locked up with five crazy people through a painfully long and dull ride through the old west.
It's hard to like a film where the characters are so unsympathetic and unrelatable. First of all we don't care for the purpose of the mission. Jones gives the three woman some generic flashbacks, that show a glimpse of the difficulties of what they've been through and that is it. So the first mistake is already been made since we never care for the purpose of this "mission". The lead characters don't get much more depth asides from the one note background. We know little about them, the dialogue between them is almost non-existent and when it's there, it's boring and their actions are more stupid than the ones the mental woman do. Bottom line: We end up being bored with a journey that either lacks the excitement and thrills it promises, and the interesting characters that are switched with empty vexatious ones.
It's sure is a long ride too. This felt like The Lord of the Rings both in length and in the fact that it has several endings. After Swan's character is gone the film was over for me. Even though I cared little for her, it was her character with whom I felt more close to. The film tries to explore her a bit, without much effect but we do get a sense of her struggle with loneliness and lack of love which made her a cold woman. After her disappearance from the screen, things get excruciatingly dull as we now follow for more half an hour, Jones' character through a journey I had already jumped off a long time ago.
It's a real shame to see that so many great actors are simply thrown away. What a talented cast this is and yet most of it is wasted on small cardboard characters. It's hard to believe that from such an enormous cast, not one performance would stand out and yet that is what happens. Jones' and Swank are the best of the bunch, they are the only ones who have enough material to make a performance out of it.
The Homesman is a true mess. And I got to say that much of the fault has to be put in Jones' shoulder. He both directed and wrote the screenplay. The screenplay is very weak and the direction feels misguided. Boredom installs soon as I found hard to care for any of the character, plus the fact that it never becomes engaging or even comes close to being intriguing and entertaining. Just a bad movie that could not be saved by arresting visuals and two average but well intentioned lead performances.
Rating: C-
The Cannes film festival lineup is presented and among the pictures that will be running for the big prize, the Palm d'Or, is Tommy Lee Jones new feature in the director's chair and between the cast too. The early buzz was good and talk of potential Oscar power seemed eminent. The fact is that the film premiered without much of a splash, the reviews were mixed and it was taken as a kind of disappointing second effort. Still, I was hopeful and interested on checking this one out, had low expectations, was just hoping it would be worth the watch.
The Homesman is Directed by Tommy Lee Jones and it stars Hilary Swank, Tommy Lee Jones, Grace Gummer, Meryl Streep, Miranda Otto, Tim Blake Nelson, Hailee Steinfeld, Sonja Richter, William Fichtner and James Spader. "When three women living on the edge of the American frontier are driven mad by harsh pioneer life, the task of saving them falls to the pious, independent-minded Mary Bee Cuddy. Transporting the women by covered wagon to Iowa, she soon realizes just how daunting the journey will be, and employs a low-life drifter, George Briggs to join her. The unlikely pair and the three women head east, where a waiting minister and his wife have offered to take the women in. But the group first must traverse the harsh Nebraska Territories marked by stark beauty, psychological peril and constant threat."
One such as myself looks at the intriguing premise, looks at the amazingly talented cast and looks at an already proved to be talented director and thinks: "How much can it really go wrong, when you have all the pieces?". The answer to that question is: "A lot". Cannes had already put my expectations down, since at first the picture ranked among the most anticipated of the year. But nothing could really prepare me to such a low figure. This isn't just disappointing, this plain simply ranks among the worst films I have seen all year. A total misfire if I may say so. This is really sad, since there are tons of a talented people in the picture.
The picture never ignites. It never launches. Even though we are supposed to follow a really exciting, tricky journey through the dangerous west, we never really get to see any of that excitement. Instead we are locked up with five crazy people through a painfully long and dull ride through the old west.
It's hard to like a film where the characters are so unsympathetic and unrelatable. First of all we don't care for the purpose of the mission. Jones gives the three woman some generic flashbacks, that show a glimpse of the difficulties of what they've been through and that is it. So the first mistake is already been made since we never care for the purpose of this "mission". The lead characters don't get much more depth asides from the one note background. We know little about them, the dialogue between them is almost non-existent and when it's there, it's boring and their actions are more stupid than the ones the mental woman do. Bottom line: We end up being bored with a journey that either lacks the excitement and thrills it promises, and the interesting characters that are switched with empty vexatious ones.
It's sure is a long ride too. This felt like The Lord of the Rings both in length and in the fact that it has several endings. After Swan's character is gone the film was over for me. Even though I cared little for her, it was her character with whom I felt more close to. The film tries to explore her a bit, without much effect but we do get a sense of her struggle with loneliness and lack of love which made her a cold woman. After her disappearance from the screen, things get excruciatingly dull as we now follow for more half an hour, Jones' character through a journey I had already jumped off a long time ago.
It's a real shame to see that so many great actors are simply thrown away. What a talented cast this is and yet most of it is wasted on small cardboard characters. It's hard to believe that from such an enormous cast, not one performance would stand out and yet that is what happens. Jones' and Swank are the best of the bunch, they are the only ones who have enough material to make a performance out of it.
The Homesman is a true mess. And I got to say that much of the fault has to be put in Jones' shoulder. He both directed and wrote the screenplay. The screenplay is very weak and the direction feels misguided. Boredom installs soon as I found hard to care for any of the character, plus the fact that it never becomes engaging or even comes close to being intriguing and entertaining. Just a bad movie that could not be saved by arresting visuals and two average but well intentioned lead performances.
Rating: C-
