The Homesman

Starring: Tommy Lee Jones, Hilary Swank, Grace Gummer, Miranda Otto, Sonja Richter, Jo Harvey Allen, Barry Corbin, William Fichtner, Evan Jones, John Lithgow, Tim Blake Nelson, Jesse Plemons, James Spader, Hailee Steinfeld, Meryl Streep
Directed by: Tommy Lee Jones
Rating: R
Genre: Drama, Western
2014

Times Seen:
Tim: 1

Summary: A strong-willed woman (Hilary Swank) on the frontier hires a drifter (Tommy Lee Jones) to help her transport three insane women across the plains to a church that has offered to care for them.

Review:

Tim: I didn't really care a whole lot for Tommy Lee Jones' feature film directorial debut, The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada. It was decent, it was fine, but it wasn't anything special. Since that movie, he's directed on television film, and now, The Homesman, his second feature. I enjoyed this one significantly more. While it might not be great, it's a thoroughly entertaining, thought-provoking, grown up movie. I really, really enjoyed the direction, the cast, and the deeper areas of humanity the film attempts to explore. This is a movie that is absolutely worth seeing.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of this film is the prominence of women in the cast. Most Westerns tend to focus on the male characters (this could be said about most movies out of Hollywood). Now, while Tommy Lee Jones does play an increasingly large role as the movie goes on, the main character is played by Hilary Swank, and there's three insane women among the main players. There's a nice gender mix among the larger supporting cast. It was just refreshing to me to see so many women featured so prominently in this movie. I'm sure that is a reflection of the novel (which I haven't read), but it was nice to see this made into a movie regardless.

The movie explores some deep, emotional aspects of humanity. The most stark one is insanity in the American frontier. I admit I was fascinated by this aspect- 100+ years ago, there wasn't the understanding of mental illness that we have today. The women here were really looked upon as crazy, insane, and having lost their minds. This is an aspect of the American West that you don't see portrayed very often, probably because it's downright depressing. The West was hard enough when you had full command of your mental faculties. It doesn't seem fair to throw in mental illness. Jones the director has no problem showing the gruesome truth of the women's lives and their mental illness. There were more than a few scenes that caused me to cringe and hope the scene would end quickly. It was uncomfortable to watch, but appreciated. This is a movie for grown-ups, dealing with difficult topics. We need more movies to do that.

The cast is top notch. Tommy Lee Jones is an underrated actor and it was great seeing him here in this memorable role. It's perfect for him and he brings so many terrific elements to this character. There were a dozen, subtle things he did that impressed me. One of my favorites is the little laugh he does after announcing his name to be George Briggs. It's just a solid performance throughout. Hilary Swank was very good as well, in a surprisingly stripped down performance. She plays a character that several men refer to as "plain", and she worked hard to embody that. She might be plain, but she is a strong, determined woman and her performance was very memorable. She's part of perhaps the most surprising moment of the film, but just delivers a very good performance throughout. She works well with Jones and many of the film's best moments involve interaction between these two. The three actresses who played the insane women all did a good job being believable, but none really had enough to do to elevate their performance. The supporting cast was welcome, but it felt like a lot of great actors just for the sake of being there. John Lithgow was very good in a too-small performance. James Spader was fun to see and really made the most of his limited screen time. Meryl Streep was a nice addition to the end and she had a solid scene or two. It was also good to see Hailee Steinfeld sticking with the Western genre. Her part is very small, but adds to the film. The other cast members barely make a blip on the screen. Still, as a whole, this is one of the better Western casts in recent memory.

I do want to mention (spoiler free) the most shocking moment of the film. I never saw it coming and really had a hard time believing it was real. The movie moves on quickly, but I almost wanted to scream,"Wait, stop!" I wanted more time to think and process it. Why did it happen? What did it reveal about that character's psyche? It was a heartbreaking, tragic moment, and while it made me sad, I give the film (and I assume, the novel) credit for the unexpected moment.

All in all, I thoroughly enjoyed The Homesman. It's a hauntingly beautiful movie and a great reminder of how powerful the Western genre can be. I hope Jones continues to make movies like this, because we simply don't get enough of them.

Rating 1-10
Tim's Rating: 7.5



If You Enjoyed This Movie, We Recommend: The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada