The Homesman
Posted: Sat Feb 21, 2015 1:56 pm
This movie is Tommy Lee Jones' second directorial, and like the first, it's a masterpiece. I'm watching it a second time and I never do that.
I suspect the story, which was a novel by Glendon Swarthout, is probably close to the true raw life women faced in the west mid 1800 and the depiction by the actors and Jones as director and actor is superb.
Andrew O'Hehir, the only movie critic who matters in my book, gives a very accurate and colorful description for anyone interested. O'Hehir, a wonderful writer in his own rite is engrossing in his articles.
When the character played by Tommy Lee Jones in “The Homesman,†who calls himself George Briggs but may not be the most trustworthy source, tells Mary Bee Cuddy, the plucky frontierswoman played by Hilary Swank, that she’s “as plain as an old tin pail,†you may want to stop the movie and file a complaint. As Jones is well aware, he’s no beauty-pageant contestant himself, and Briggs is a grubby, unkempt character with a disreputable past, who resembles a hunk of gristle chewed and then spat out by a stray dog. But 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.“The Homesmanâ€: Tommy Lee Jones and Hilary Swank are unforgettable in a ruthless, classic western - Salon.com
I suspect the story, which was a novel by Glendon Swarthout, is probably close to the true raw life women faced in the west mid 1800 and the depiction by the actors and Jones as director and actor is superb.
Andrew O'Hehir, the only movie critic who matters in my book, gives a very accurate and colorful description for anyone interested. O'Hehir, a wonderful writer in his own rite is engrossing in his articles.
When the character played by Tommy Lee Jones in “The Homesman,†who calls himself George Briggs but may not be the most trustworthy source, tells Mary Bee Cuddy, the plucky frontierswoman played by Hilary Swank, that she’s “as plain as an old tin pail,†you may want to stop the movie and file a complaint. As Jones is well aware, he’s no beauty-pageant contestant himself, and Briggs is a grubby, unkempt character with a disreputable past, who resembles a hunk of gristle chewed and then spat out by a stray dog. But 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.“The Homesmanâ€: Tommy Lee Jones and Hilary Swank are unforgettable in a ruthless, classic western - Salon.com