The Homesman

Jones, as always, knows what he’s doing. In only his second feature as a director, the laconic 68-year-old star has made a wrenching, relentless and anti-heroic western that stands among the year’s most powerful American films. Not everyone will like The Homesman, but if you see it you won’t soon forget it.

Jones’ riveting Western is bleak and very nearly misanthropic, but it's also passionate, earthy, unpredictable, sensitive, and gloriously distinct.

Tommy Lee Jones shows some true storytelling grit in this superbly watchable frontier western; he has a muscular and confident command of narrative, driving the plot onward with a real whip-crack, and easily handles the tonal swings between brutal shock, black comedy and sentimentality.

Very much a feminist Western — one painting a vivid picture of how difficult it was for even a strong and determined woman to survive in frontier days.

The Homesman, director Tommy Lee Jones’ drama about the hardships of pioneer life in 1850s Nebraska, goes from deathly dull to shocking to intriguing to “Look, there’s Meryl Streep in a bonnet!”

There’s a wishy-washiness to the film’s ideological bent that keeps steering things in a more conventional direction, as if Jones (or perhaps Glendon Swarthout, who wrote the source novel) were afraid to take this risky material all the way. It’s a decidedly bumpy ride to an odd destination.

The film occupies that peculiar space that many of us would prefer to believe doesn’t exist, a movie that’s worthy but often inert, by turns enriching and enervating: a good boring movie.

This movie is a small movie with an small story and Tommy Lee Jones the director of this movie decided to make this a two hour long picture. And that is where this movie for me flaws. There are certain scenes that felt out of place and unnecessary involving characters that didn't add anything to the plot and for me were just there to make the movie's run-time longer. A lot of those unnecessary scenes where also very vague and they messed with the characters. Some choices which were made by certain characters felt unrealistic in regards to the character who made those choices. Also the first 30 minutes of the movie were a bit messy. Some shorter scenes were put in there to set up the plot, and dit did, but the scenes (which were about the same subject) would have worked better if they were just put together in one big scene in some sort of compilation. But besides those flaws: the writing was good and the acting and the cinematography were too. This movie also has some really unpredictable turns in it, which I really liked. The drama in this movie will please the drama fans for certain. And overall: this is a good movie.

Often called a "feminist western", The Homesman is decidedly not feminist and instead incredibly sexist. That aside, it is only a middling success. The cinematography is the best thing this western has going for it, as the shots here are truly gorgeous from beginning to end. The premise is interesting and well realized. Heck, even the characters are very well done and have nice little arcs to them. That said, the acting is spotty, the film is decidedly dull, and I typically avoid chalking up sexism as a con unless blatant, but the fact the film pretends to be feminist is what makes me do this. Ultimately, the film could use better pacing, but as it stands this one largely satisfied me. Truly dark and depressing, The Homesman is hits all of the western trademarks and brings some fresh twists to the arena.

Tommy Lee Jones directed and stars in this film about an intense, independent pioneer woman (Hilary Swank) who volunteers to deliver three mentally unstable wives back to a more civilized place. Jones plays the shiftless reprobate who she enlists to help her on the strenuous trek. The story unfolds in small episodes that provide short glimpses into their characters and situations they face. It's a bleak time and the threats they face are continuous. The film's mood reflects this (although Jones manages to give his character a few comic flashes). It's a sometimes uncomfortable journey (in both senses), but not especially intense or emotional. Still, if you have a taste for frontier stories you might find it interesting.

Grim, dour, depressing. Sad people living sad lives. An absolute misery of watch. They really want to dispel the mythos of the wild west with this one for sure. Right back off to watch something like the fun The Quick and the Dead.

I have no idea what TLJ was trying to accomplish, but this film is a complete mess from start to finish. The editing stands out as most problematic, but there are also issues with tone, music and plot.