The abrupt removal of the Bond movie and most Sony and Warners films from the next eight months gives you some clue what the cinematic narrative for 2021 is going to be; a long uphill struggle. Any business that requires packing people together to break even, whether blockbusters, festivals or live events, is surplus to requirements as it dawns on audiences that even with vaccines, there’s little chance of normal service being resumed. Of course, with huge captive audiences at home, there’s even more product to review than ever, but the cinema to streaming model has been broken, perhaps permanently, and there’s no way to break even at best.
Thomas Bezucha’s Let Him Go has been one of the few success stories of 2020, a number on hit in the US and UK, yet still taking in a fraction of the box-office that might be expected. As with the duelling Liam Neeson movies du jour (Honest Thief, The Marksman), it seems to hark back to another era; the most excitingly cast movie of 1987, Let Him Go features Kevin Costner and Diane Lane as a resourceful couple of stand up for their family bonds when their grandson is spirited away by a violent matriarch (Lesley Manville) and the Weboys, her fiendish family of thugs. If you imagine that this adaptation of Larry Watson’s novel will end with Costner facing down a handful of goons with a shotgun, you’d be dead right; with a few minor twists and turns, this is a straightforward revenge story with a few grace notes.
So let’s be positive; Costner was and still is a movie star; he seems to be have been rejuvenated by a hair-transplant, and is still a draw when he returns to the crowd-pleasing action roots of Elliot Ness in The Untouchables. As retired sheriff George Blackledge, Costner has a nice line in measured steel, and is ably matched by Streets of Fire chanteuse Diane Lane as his wife Margaret, who sees their grandson being cuffed in the street one day by his step-father, and sees an urgent tear in her family unit. While Costner is fine, it’s Lane’s presence that elevates Let Him Go to something more than just a period (1963) Western drama.
Not everything lands here; there’s no explanation of how the Weboy clan came to exist in such isolation and yet with such protection from the law, Manville is way over-the-top as the scheming mother, and the treatment of a Native American Indian character as a plot-point isn’t great. But those seeking old-school Western gravity will enjoy the attractions here; two big, personable movie stars fighting to defend their family is easy to watch, particularly when Costner and Lane evoke the hard-scrabble back-stories of a desperate, driven couple who have already known enough pain for one life. Sure, we’ll always have streaming, but films like Let Him Go represent the last gasp of a kind of traditional cinema that’s unlikely to survive beyond the year.
Big fan of Costner and Lane has some decent work in her portfolio. So am looking forward to this even if on the small screen.
Yes, this is proper movie star stuff, and has a haunting, elegy quality that’s quite compelling…
‘last gasp of a kind of traditional cinema…’ or next gen? We’ve had revisionist, spaghetti, and modern westerns. This film seemed to have many traditional elements, including multiple clashes (people, ideas, morals); dis/respect for the land/nature; a depiction of wild west justice/civilization vs lawlessness; and tradition vs technology (iron horses, guns vs arrows, & telegraph vs smoke signal). It also seemed to have another echo of older westerns–the morality of violence & vengeance vs letting go. That’s perhaps a better title for this film?
This film might aso have been called Three Mothers-one seemed to be vying for over the top Manchurian Candidate mommy award (or Mrs Lift, Throw Mama From the Train); one was a robo mom; and Lane was Mommy Fiercest. Women seldom had lead roles in westerns, nor, as you point out, did Native Americans. Worst still, whites with spray tans got the Indian roles.
I’ve been doing research for a future blog about cowboys. Quickly realized working title ‘How the West was Hung,’ wouldn’t work. The dime store western has come and gone, however, I’d like to think we’ll see future Westerns that address traditional themes with as much candor as can be mustered, and a bigger nod to telling the stories of unsung heroes. Unfortunately, I don’t think Superman’s parents quite pulled it off in Let Him Go. I did appreciate the brevity of dialogue and grandeur of uncivilized spaces. Costner does a better job in TV series Yellowstone IMO. However, the wild west frontier still exists–as vast expanses of unsullied land, and as an imaginary line separating the known from unknown. It still dares us to cross that line and rediscover those elements that attracted many intrepid souls to Go West and be awed.
I’d be keen to read a blog called How The West Was Hung! I think the cowboy brand is seen as toxic right now, but mainly due to the efforts of a few yahoos. So at least Costner and Lane are trying to rehabilitate something, even if the results are rather conventional. There’s a little S Craig Zahler in here as well, with the violent disfigurement and the out-of-time atmosphere. But the outcome never in doubt, and that was a probalem; the good guys better drawn than the bad, and an unbalancing of the film as a result…
Yep.
Phew! I thought you might have been wounded in the battle of Bookywooky’s live in sex robot. Glad to know you are alive.
The Ancient One of Noplandia is immortal. Never fear.
Impressive. Hard to tell from the garbled results, but looked like there were a few flying tackles in there. aiming for a better clientele on this blog, no riff raff…
I’m excited for this one; it’s the kind of film I definitely would’ve gone to the theater to see. It does hurt to know that the movie theaters are going the way of the record store. For me, nothing beats the big screen. But streaming sure is great.
This one would have been better on the big screen, big landscapes, sunsets, scope. But the acting survives the transition, and still works at home, and the film works pretty well on its promise. Let’s hope cinema endures, but some joined up thinking is required…
And Diane Lane a grandmother! My god how time flies…..
She’ll always be Ellen Aim from Streets of Fire to me….
I’m afraid to tell you how much I love ‘Under the Tuscan Sun” so I’ll lie and say I remember her most as Connie from “Unfaithful”
Unfaithful IS good, and yes, I’m planning to review Tuscan Sun again soon, a very enjoyable film! No shame in digging that movie!
Can’t wait! Tuscan Sun is one of my most well worn DVDs…..
Deservedly so! Say it loud and proud!
I am all for cinemas going bust and failing. Temples of filth, that’s what they are. And while I might have meant that in a metaphorical, spiritual way, now that I think about it, I also mean in a literal way too!
And if all the movie stars suddenly stopped getting all the attention, or grabbing it, I’d be ok with that too. Of course, they’ll adjust (or the next generation will) and we’ll get more of the same just in a different way. Call me cynical but narcissism seems to be almost necessary part of being an actor.
If Costner is going thin, he should just accept it and go full on bald. I’ve never understood why men place so much value on such little extrusions from their heads. Like a bunch of little worms bursting out all over your skull!
That’s not what my hair is like, and if you’re having worms bursting out of your skull, maybe you should seek medical advice. Lusterous locks, that’s where I’m at. But otherwise, you’re right, rather than a cinema critic, I should terms myself a ‘filth advisor’ and direct people to where they can view appropriate filth while their local filth-temple in shut. Good shout!
I’m bald and beautiful! I’ll leave your locks to you 😀
A cinema critic? I don’t believe I’ve seen ONE review of a cinema building while I’ve been following you. Nothing about fire escapes, proper exit strategies, how to buy the cheapest treats, how to smuggle in bootleg treats if you’re really cheap, how to shut that jamoke up in front of you who’s talking on his cell during the movie. Things like that.
And you call yourself a cinema critic. I call you a movie reviewer….
Filth magnate to you, baldy!
Right, sorry. But I draw the line at “Mr” Filth Magnate. I’m just going to abbreviate you to FM, makes it easier to type. Or is that more of a title, like PhD?
Ol’10, FM….
10 Seconds from Now and The Temple of Filth!
Do you have to eat eyeballs, or monkey brains?
I take it you have both? Wouldn’t want to order off menu…
Sorry, we’re fresh out. Just sold the last monkey brain at the crack of dawn. We have some old stone pizza if you want it. For free even!
Sigh, ok, drop it off at the van then.
Yeah, those boys deserve a Stone Cold Pizza!
I saw this ..sad but interesting.
It’s not a bad little movie, and I also liked the melancholy air…thanks for the comment!
Hm. Kevin Costner is pretty close to a deal-breaker for me, I’m afraid.
And Leprechant 6 in Space isn’t? Alex, I’m sorry, but I have to question the process here; why does Costner draw a snarl but comedy slasher movies about gnomes get a free pass?
*sigh* Leprechaun 4 was In Space. Leprechaun 6 was Back 2 Tha Hood. Weren’t you taking notes??
Now, in answer to your question, Warwick Davis has greater range than Costner. He also looks like he’s having more fun. Plus I’m tired of watching aging stars facing down young punks and telling them to get off his lawn. Been done! But leprechauns in space???
I’m just messing with your melon, man, I know you can easily be confused by muddling up the time-line of your beloved Lep movies.
No fan of Lane? Streets of Fire? I’m just saying that you’re going down a pro-Lep rabbit hole and ignoring the rich tapestry of non-Lep cinema…
I actually do like Lane. And she might have counterbalanced Costner here but for your description of the plot, which sounds too close to Last Blood for me.
What about this plot, how does it sound to you?
Costner and Lane don the familiar little gold-buckled hats and return for another entry in the Leprechaun franchise; this time, playing miniature Irish adventurers in space.
That sound more to your liking?
If Costner gets trapped in an airlock and decompressed while the Leprechaun gets to sail away with Lane, I’m in.
Sigh.