So, I saw Brawl in Cell Block 99 a few months ago. Mainly on a whim. Had no idea what kind of film it was until the violence really kicked my teeth out. So I looked around to see what else this director has had a hand in. Mainly Dragged Across Concrete, which is yet to be released here as far as I know, and this here Bone Tomahawk.
So I now sat down to see if it would be in the same vein. And afterwards I can say yes. It is similar in tone and style. The look felt a little cheaper. Something about the lighting I guess. But the point in it isn't to be pretty. There are nice views but it isn't the point. The point is to tell an old school gut punching western. The kind that I've read about that's supposed to have been all the rage during right about the time the film is set. There is no frill. No hiding the ugly. And they barely got away with depicting native americans as unholy beasts by simply having a more regular indian in civilised clothes describe the villain tribe as troglodytes. Like Brawl it skates past on a razor sharp edge.
In most eyes probably barely defendable. The dialog is gruff. The violence is ugly. The morals, even among the heroes, is described as unquestionable, simply because of the lack of it.
And yet. Like Brawl. There's a brutal honesty to it. And I think at the halfway point, or thereabouts, I noticed that there haven't been any music. It is a sparse movie told with as little in the way of sugarcoating as they could manage. And in a movie landscape with so much excess in everything but the violence, to see one or two really double down on depicting the ugliness of it. It was kind of refreshing.
Now I'm even more excited to see what Dragged Across Concrete can provide. Because I think this director is one to keep an eye on.
So I now sat down to see if it would be in the same vein. And afterwards I can say yes. It is similar in tone and style. The look felt a little cheaper. Something about the lighting I guess. But the point in it isn't to be pretty. There are nice views but it isn't the point. The point is to tell an old school gut punching western. The kind that I've read about that's supposed to have been all the rage during right about the time the film is set. There is no frill. No hiding the ugly. And they barely got away with depicting native americans as unholy beasts by simply having a more regular indian in civilised clothes describe the villain tribe as troglodytes. Like Brawl it skates past on a razor sharp edge.
In most eyes probably barely defendable. The dialog is gruff. The violence is ugly. The morals, even among the heroes, is described as unquestionable, simply because of the lack of it.
And yet. Like Brawl. There's a brutal honesty to it. And I think at the halfway point, or thereabouts, I noticed that there haven't been any music. It is a sparse movie told with as little in the way of sugarcoating as they could manage. And in a movie landscape with so much excess in everything but the violence, to see one or two really double down on depicting the ugliness of it. It was kind of refreshing.
Now I'm even more excited to see what Dragged Across Concrete can provide. Because I think this director is one to keep an eye on.