Post by stephen on Jul 29, 2018 17:36:26 GMT
Susanna White's story of a crusading portraitist eager to capture the visage of the last great war chief of the Lakota Nation is certainly gorgeous to look at, with sweeping vistas and lovely palettes that evoke the likes of Dances with Wolves. And to give it its due, it feels a lot less tone-deaf than Hostiles, which deals with a similar theme but mishandles it radically. The white-savior complex is still in effect, in a kind of The Help-esque sense, but Catherine Weldon (Jessica Chastain) feels more affected by what she experiences through her interactions with Sitting Bull and the rest of his people than the other way around, which is a nice change of pace. Even in the moments where you can almost see the story start to shape towards a "white woman using political clout to help natives," the story does subvert it somewhat.
The performances are decently solid, with special plaudits going to Michael Greyeyes for his gravitas-laden yet surprisingly easygoing portrayal of Sitting Bull. I also really liked seeing Bill Camp in a more sizable role than he had in Hostiles--the type of role that, quite honestly, he should've been playing in Scott Cooper's movie. Chastain's good, Rockwell does well with what he's given, and Ciaran Hinds does his best to make an impact with a rather thankless role. I was actually surprised to find out that Steven Knight, one of my favorite working screenwriters, handled this one. Not because it's a bad script overall, but because it feels so bloody workmanlike, gliding from one scene to the next without really getting to the meat of the matter. It's an adequate film bolstered by strong visuals and excellent costuming, but it's still let down by its core conceit.
The performances are decently solid, with special plaudits going to Michael Greyeyes for his gravitas-laden yet surprisingly easygoing portrayal of Sitting Bull. I also really liked seeing Bill Camp in a more sizable role than he had in Hostiles--the type of role that, quite honestly, he should've been playing in Scott Cooper's movie. Chastain's good, Rockwell does well with what he's given, and Ciaran Hinds does his best to make an impact with a rather thankless role. I was actually surprised to find out that Steven Knight, one of my favorite working screenwriters, handled this one. Not because it's a bad script overall, but because it feels so bloody workmanlike, gliding from one scene to the next without really getting to the meat of the matter. It's an adequate film bolstered by strong visuals and excellent costuming, but it's still let down by its core conceit.
