Citizen Rules...Cinemaesque Chat-n-Review

Director: Tommy Lee Jones
Writers: Tommy Lee Jones & Kieran Fitzgerald
Actors: Tommy Lee Jones, Hilary Swank, Grace Gummer, John Lithgow
Genre: Western Drama


Synopsis [spoiler free]: On the desolate American prairie in the 1850's, three pioneer women have been driven mad by the deaths of loved ones. Their husbands are unwilling or unable to care for them so it's decided they will be sent back east to be cared for. With no one else willing to take on the arduous task of transporting them 500 miles by wagon...it's up to one ruggedly independent and stubborn woman, Mary Bee Cuddy (Hilllary Swank). Mary is a pious woman of 31 years of age and unmarried. She has not only survived on the prairie but manages to save money. Her prospects look good, but no man will marry her as she's "plain as a bucket and bossy." Along the way she rescues a good for nothing drifter, saving him from a lynching, George Briggs (Tommy Lee Jones). She insist that he accompany her on the trip and obey her orders. Briggs is not to keen on this idea but goes anyway as she offers $300 at the end of the trip.

Review: Sounds good huh? But I bet you've never heard much about The Homesman...probably because this is one poorly executed film. It's based on a novel and seems to offer the unique telling of pioneer days from the perspective of a woman. Hence some call it a feminist western. Nothing could be further from the truth. What we see is in a small community of a dozen people, three women go insane because they couldn't handle the lose of their loved ones. Mary Bee does starts out with fierce determination but then in one scene when she decides to be left behind to clean up a grave site and then gets lost she goes to pieces and turns into another overly emotional female character.

Two thirds of the way into the film after two men have rejected her proposals of marriage, Mary Bee decides to do something that's totally out of character for her. She's strong and religiously pious, so the last part of the film makes no sense at all, except to allow Tommy Lee Jones to take the limelight. It's Jones' movie, he's the producer and the writer and the star....so he gets to play hero and the film's third act focuses on him. We're 'treated' to several cliche scenes straight out of a Hollywood action western. If this was a spaghetti western or action western it would be cool, but it's not, it's suppose to be a serious look at how tough life was for pioneer women.

Hilary Swank is excellent in this movie, she steals the scenes from bumbling Tommy Lee Jones. John Lithgow has a brief but inspired performance as the town's minister. He's excellent. I wish I could say the same for Meryl Streep's cameo, she doesn't even try to get into her character. And Tommy Lee Jones himself, he's more of a caricature than a character. At times I could not understand his dialogue thanks to his fake western accent.

Perhaps the worst part of this film is the hatchet job editing. At that start of the film we see what appears to be an abrupt flash back showing people we have not yet been introduced to. Were not sure who they are until later in the film.

Director: Cherien Dabis
Writer: Cherien Dabis
Cast: Nisreen Faour, Melkar Muallem, Hiam Abbass
Genre: Indie Drama-light comedy

Amreeka is a small indie film that's surprisingly well made, with a charismatic lead actress and an insightful script. Written and directed by Cherien Dabis. This is her directorial debut.

Muna is a single Christian mother living in Palestine with her teenage son Fadi, (Melkar Muallem) and her mother and brother. Life is a hassle in occupied Palestine for this middle class family. With soldiers doing road checks and the ever present threat of violence...Muna decides to apply for a green card and moves to a small town in America with her teen age son.

The first part of the film is shot on location in Ramallah, Palestine. I found the actual scenes and sounds of occupied Palestine to be fascinating. The life that the family lives in such an environment gave much understanding to the characters reasons for immigrating to America. The first act is in Arabic with English sub titles. As soon as they arrive in Illinois the language is English.


In Illinois despite Muni's two degrees, she finds herself being turned down for jobs and is forced to work at a burger joint to support her family. She's a woman with pride, but her love and dedication to her family is all important to her, that's what this film is all about.

Somewhat predictable are the prejudices by the local high school bullies, who act as the antagonist in the film. But so what, even if we've seen these arch types before this film has heart and soul! And the lead actresses, Nisreen Faour shines!

Cool Trivia

Director: Michael Cimino
Writer: Michael Cimino
Cast: Kris Kristofferson, Christopher Walken, John Hurt, Sam Waterston, Brad Dourif, Isabelle Huppert, Jeff Bridges
Genre: Adventure, Drama, Western
Length 219 Minutes (Director's cut)

Synopsis [spoiler free]: A personalized telling of the real-life Johnson County Wars which took place in Wyoming in 1890. The cattle wars were a bloody battle over cattle ranchers rights and the rights of settlers to fence their prairie homesteads. In the film the war is reduced to more simply terms with the hungry immigrants eating the ranchers cattle thus earning the ranchers wrath. The film focuses on a well-to-do sheriff and his attempts to protect immigrant farmers from the Cattle Association who declares a bounty and hires 50 gunmen to execute 125 immigrant settlers.

Review: Beautiful, Tedious, Amazing and Long....those are words that come to mind after watching the restored Director's Cut, which runs nearly 4 hours in length. Heaven's Gate was surrounded in controversy, running way over time and over budget. Costing 44 million to make, which is a lot for 1980. The film was a huge box office flop and earned back only 4 million dollars, nearly bankrupting United Artist studio. Critics panned it and audiences staid away and the career of the director was nearly ruined. Thanks to Criterion Collection we now have a beautiful restored Directors Cut of this epic.

Heaven's Gate is so vast in it's reach that it's hard to critique. The director Michael Cimino was a perfectionist. Sets were built only to be tore down as the buildings distances didn't suit Cimino's needs. There were delays after delays, as Cimino wanted every last detail to look authentic. Much of the shooting was done in the prime light hours just after sunrise and just before sunset, when shadows were long but soft and the color temperature was warm. With such facetiousness the film should look great right?

It looks beautiful alright. The scenes are like moving art. The care in the art direction and cinematography really paid off. Even if the story is not that riveting at times, it's breath taking to look at. These still photos don't do the film justice, but here's a few examples of the artistry of Cimino.




Early morning light is softly bright and emotionally cheery, which imparts a light feeling to this ride through the country side.

Two of the most stunningly visual scenes are the prologue waltz dance at Harvard. And the violinist-roller skater in the huge Heaven's Gate building. In that scene the camera starts off with a really wide angle showing how vast and detailed the building is and how densely packed the immigrants are in it. Then a tele photo lens is used as the camera tracks the moving violinist as he skates around the floor. This scene was the highlight for me, amazing!

The characters themselves and the actors who play them are fine. They look the part and they're always in character. But this is not a character or story driven film...it's about the visual, but don't think that means there's no action...there's plenty of action. The action comes at appropriate places too and is as grandiose as the rest of the film.

I could go and on about the look of the film, but at almost 4 hours the epic story itself didn't always resonate with me like the cinematography did. The final battle while brilliantly staged, reminded me of a shoot em up, action film, but it was done in grand style.

Heaven's Gate is a triumph of the visual that worth 219 minutes of your time.

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