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The Thicket (2024)
Directed by Elliott Lester
A passion project for Peter Dinklage, who's been linked to the picture since 2014. The pandemic delayed production, leading to the loss of several cast members—but not Dinklage, and he's the driving force behind this western thriller.
There's a thread of sadness woven throughout the film - and a throughline that concerns family - those who cause damage, those we loved and lost, those not of blood, but bonded to. And it's that love of family that pushes a young man (Levon Hawke) to persuade Dinklage's Reginald Jones and his partner Eustace (Gbenga Akinnagbe) to help him rescue his kidnapped sister (Esmé Creed-Miles) from the clutches of Cut Throat Bill (Juliette Lewis) and her gang.
The story, written by Joe R. Lansdale and adapted by comedy writer(?!) Joe Kelly isn't anything we haven't seen before, a tough trek through harsh terrain to save someone was had in classics like John Ford's "The Searchers". It's also a lengthy film, and a bumpy ride in spots, with subplots that add little and go nowhere (the bits with the 2 brothers), yet it's predominately a compelling odyssey, populated with intriguing characters.
Your acting aces? Dinklage exudes cool, is composed in manner and more dangerous than others perceive. He's Initially stern, seemingly uncaring, which gradually gives way to compassion. The word that comes to mind for Reginald is soulful, it's in his eyes, it's in his demeanor. And this complexity of character lends added weight to the tale. His antagonistic opposite is Juliette Lewis's psychologically and physically scarred mad-woman, Cut Throat Bill. What you see in her drug addled eyes is damned creepy.
There are times when the movie becomes a nightmarish trip through hell - along with Bill and her odd twitches, raspy voice, and erratic behavior, we briefly meet a menacing pimp, and later, a broken, bleeding preacher who recounts Bill's horrific past in a manner that would make Poe shudder. There are towns without pity, unforgiving wintery landscapes, a place ominously named "the thicket" that instills fear in people -- and a score composed by Ray Suen that accentuates the oneiric quality of the flick (it accompanies an art filled credit sequence that sets the tone effectively).
I love a good western, and this was a good, if occasionally uneven, character driven western. At times strange and unsettling, at others mournful and heartbreaking - but also offering a shaft of light to hold the sorrows a bay.
The Thicket (2024)
Directed by Elliott Lester
A passion project for Peter Dinklage, who's been linked to the picture since 2014. The pandemic delayed production, leading to the loss of several cast members—but not Dinklage, and he's the driving force behind this western thriller.
There's a thread of sadness woven throughout the film - and a throughline that concerns family - those who cause damage, those we loved and lost, those not of blood, but bonded to. And it's that love of family that pushes a young man (Levon Hawke) to persuade Dinklage's Reginald Jones and his partner Eustace (Gbenga Akinnagbe) to help him rescue his kidnapped sister (Esmé Creed-Miles) from the clutches of Cut Throat Bill (Juliette Lewis) and her gang.
The story, written by Joe R. Lansdale and adapted by comedy writer(?!) Joe Kelly isn't anything we haven't seen before, a tough trek through harsh terrain to save someone was had in classics like John Ford's "The Searchers". It's also a lengthy film, and a bumpy ride in spots, with subplots that add little and go nowhere (the bits with the 2 brothers), yet it's predominately a compelling odyssey, populated with intriguing characters.
Your acting aces? Dinklage exudes cool, is composed in manner and more dangerous than others perceive. He's Initially stern, seemingly uncaring, which gradually gives way to compassion. The word that comes to mind for Reginald is soulful, it's in his eyes, it's in his demeanor. And this complexity of character lends added weight to the tale. His antagonistic opposite is Juliette Lewis's psychologically and physically scarred mad-woman, Cut Throat Bill. What you see in her drug addled eyes is damned creepy.
There are times when the movie becomes a nightmarish trip through hell - along with Bill and her odd twitches, raspy voice, and erratic behavior, we briefly meet a menacing pimp, and later, a broken, bleeding preacher who recounts Bill's horrific past in a manner that would make Poe shudder. There are towns without pity, unforgiving wintery landscapes, a place ominously named "the thicket" that instills fear in people -- and a score composed by Ray Suen that accentuates the oneiric quality of the flick (it accompanies an art filled credit sequence that sets the tone effectively).
I love a good western, and this was a good, if occasionally uneven, character driven western. At times strange and unsettling, at others mournful and heartbreaking - but also offering a shaft of light to hold the sorrows a bay.