This might have been a masterwork. Acting, editing, photography and many other aspects of this film are excellent. Mike Jackson the director of many films surpassed even that work here, but the script is more than a bit heavy handed and clichéd. The writer James Hicks is also an actor—maybe that is one reason the script works well in details. It is less successful in scope and range.
Still Frances McDormand reveals her immense potential. Gary Oldman is a genius in all of his film work. Ned Betty and Dennis Hopper do their masterwork. The opening brought back memories for me of Southern summer mornings. Attention to historical detail is terrific.
I wish the entire film were as good as the opening sequence is. After that brilliant beginning, the rest of the film seems like too many other films about exploitation. I agree with the reviewer that the director ought to have brought us more into the interior life of the protagonist. Oldman has even more potential than Mr. Jackson used.
Still Frances McDormand reveals her immense potential. Gary Oldman is a genius in all of his film work. Ned Betty and Dennis Hopper do their masterwork. The opening brought back memories for me of Southern summer mornings. Attention to historical detail is terrific.
I wish the entire film were as good as the opening sequence is. After that brilliant beginning, the rest of the film seems like too many other films about exploitation. I agree with the reviewer that the director ought to have brought us more into the interior life of the protagonist. Oldman has even more potential than Mr. Jackson used.