Meek’s Cutoff (US, 2010)

This is the first film I’ve seen by director Kelly Reichardt and shall be pursuing her other two features. It’s based on a true story of a wagon train, reduced to three in the film, that get lost as a result of their guide’s – Meek – ‘cutoff’. The slow pace of the trio’s painful [...]

The Good, the Bad, the Weird (Joheunnom nabbeunnom isanghannom, S.Korea, 2008)

Undoubtedly the funniest film I’ve seen in a long time. It stars the man with the maddest hair in contemporary cinema, Song Kang-ho, and some of the best action sequences in any western. Clearly a homage to Leone’s spaghetti westerns the visual style, as you expect, is stunning but director Kim Ji-woon (also A Bittersweet [...]

Appaloosa (US, 2008)

It’s good to see Westerns still being made as it’s probably the most mythic of Hollywood genres; that is, the ideological machinations are so near the surface that the subtext is barely submerged. What does Ed Harris (director, star, co-scriptwriter and co-producer) make of it? Its rather meandering narrative switches between a variety of generic [...]

Into the Wild (US, 2007)

Lost in the wilderness Add a ‘coming of age’ (or not, in this case) movie to a western and road movie with an arthouse aesthetic where the beauty of the image has portentous echoes, then you might get Into the Wild. It’s true story of Chris McCandless who rejects his family, and their bourgeois aspirations, [...]

Matewan (US, 1987)

Brilliant recreation of the miners’ strike in 1920s West Virginia. If, maybe, the bad guys veer toward caricature, Sayles brilliantly makes a ‘Red’ the hero. Sayles regulars (Cooper & McDonnell) give their usual fabulous performances (didn’t realise Will Oldham played the preacher kid). Must be seen. (DVD, 3) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0093509/

The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada (US 2005)

A brilliant western for the 21st century focuses on illegal immigration (likely to be a constant theme until the ice caps refreeze). Tommy Lee Jones stars & directs a fantastic script by Guillermo Arriaga (you must see his Amores Perros and 21 Grams). Never looking more grizzled Jones is fabulous as cowboy who still has [...]