The Homesman Reviews

I wasn’t really sure what to expect from this flick but since there was a decent cast involved, I was quite eager to check it out. Well, to be honest, I turned out to be actually slightly disappointing. I mean, I have to admit it, the concept was interesting. Indeed, it was the first time I saw a movie focusing on the psychological damage following the harsh living conditions on the Frontier. Unfortunately, the first issue was that we never get to know these 3 women. Sure, they gave us a few flashback scenes explaining how and why they snapped at some point but we never got to see them before. To make things worse, they became more apathic and lifeless as the story moved forward so it was rather difficult to relate with them and care for what might happen to them. Still, they did something so bold in this movie, something I had never seen before and I have watched more than 6000 movies by now. Indeed, before the 3rd act, they actually killed the main character and not with an accident, some random illness or a brutal murder but by suicide. Following what happened to this poor woman, it was actually an understandable outcome but it was so shocking mostly because we are so used that the main character somehow ALWAYS prevail, no matter the dramas and obstacles they have to face. In this case, the main character basically just gave up before the story was actually finished and it went against the most basic narrative rules. So, for this bold move, this movie did get a few extra points from me but, to be honest, the rest was pretty much a rather generic Western road trip and while it was well made with a solid cast, it never really dazzled me. Anyway, to conclude, in spite of its flaws, it was still a decent watch and I think it is worth a look, especially if you like the genre. 

Hilary Swank tries her darnedest to win another Oscar but fails. This is a thankless role, much like her character. What saves it is Tommy Lee Jones' unrestrained performance and nice cinematography.

The Homesman is something of a mess, but in fractured moments it possess a stark, uncompromising poetry and a stellar pair of lead performances. The problem is, instead of just leaving well enough alone and pointing the camera at Hilary Swank and Tommy Lee Jones, Jones, who also directs, takes the narrative from wild turns of ambiguity and calamity into wild torrents of absurdity. There seems to be some internal struggles throughout The Homesman between regurgitating western totems and tropes with little thought to challenging them or their meanings, and giving the whole genre a feminist spin. Guess which one wins out in the end.

In its earliest moments, we believe that The Homesman will give voice to the women so often regulated to the sidelines or completely left out of the narrative in a western. Then we realize that the movie intends to speak for them, and not with them. That makes all the difference, as the three women driven to insanity for a variety of reasons (all of them understandable given the circumstances) are rendered mute for much of the film, frequently cast aside as helpless victims with all the faculties and depth of a trio of toddlers. This is a great shame, but a greater one is forced silence built into the plot when they reach their final destination and the minister’s wife instructs that she doesn’t wish to hear of their plights. We know them because we saw them play out in the earliest scenes, but we don’t know how any of these women feel about their predicaments or if they even understand.

Much of the talking, and explaining, is left to Jones’ character who is forced into helping them out by the machinations of Swank’s Mary Bee Cuddy, a spinster with the task of transporting the three women from Nebraska to Iowa for mental care. Selfishness and bravery, compassion and desperation got confused for one another, or blood together to reach the same ends, and it’s Jones who ends up the hero of the film despite entering it as a near-death drunkard. His performance is solid, but then again, he’s played this type so often that he could do this tender-hearted rapscallion thing in his sleep. He’s much better playing second fiddle to Swank’s pragmatic, slowly breaking heroine, and the first two-thirds are the better parts of the film despite their problems for this very reason.

Once we land in Iowa, and Meryl Streep in a glorified cameo as the minister’s wife comes out to deify Jones, we’re in trouble. Hell, even before this part, Jones angrily burns out a hotel that refused him (and the women) service in revenge, stealing food, and leaving James Spader (yet another glorified cameo in a film littered with them) to burn in his wake. The haunting specter of tragedy looms large over The Homesman’s characters, and these sequences are supposed to underscore all that has been lost and all that has been compromised to reach this point, but it plays out in aggressively overindulgent tones. And the last scene is a bit of a confusing head-scratcher – was that supposed to be a great tragedy, a cruel joke of irony, or something else entirely?

So praise be to Hilary Swank for making this material work so effectively. Even if the plot pulls her character into mawkish territory during her final scenes, the actress digs deep into Mary Bee’s internal conflicts and slow emotional breakdown. Her performance taps into Swank’s hard to cast peculiarities, like her tough, athletic frame, and ability to project both strength and weakness at the same time. That iron exterior goes deep, but her core is soft and fluid. She is a woman of few options in this, but she’s fascinating to watch as she expresses her agency and demands respect. So when the film drops her to focus in on Jones, The Homesman ultimately feels like a superficial bait-and-switch vanity project.