Y tu Luna también: Open Range (2003, R)

*Mild spoilers.*

Now that I’m doing weekly Tony Leung Chiu-wai reviews with The Duke of Mount Deer, I wanted to pick up my more occasional reviews with a different actor, and Diego Luna was the obvious choice. In the last year, I’ve watched a good chunk of his work, enjoying myself thoroughly, and there’s just too much great stuff in there not to give him the full filmography treatment. This feature is going to be called Y tu Luna también, because what else would I call it?

A small band of cowboys freegrazes their cattle across the West, making their own rules and living as they see fit. But when one of their younger members gets into some trouble on a supply run, veteran cowboys Boss and Charley find themselves in a feud with a corrupt sheriff and an opportunistic rancher, who are determined to claim their cattle and run them out of town.

As I’ve said before, I’m not a western fan, but I enjoy myself well enough when a good one comes along. And as I’ve also said, I have a lot of affection for westerns that realize that not all cowboys were white, so I was excited when I saw that Luna had a western in his filmography. When I was initially scrolling through the movies on his IMDb, this film was probably the one I was most interested in and (cautiously) excited for.

It turns out that caution was well-warranted. Open Range is fine, but it didn’t really scratch the itch I was looking for. While there is one Mexican cowboy present onscreen, the story is all about Boss and Charley, stoic white men of the West with hints of darker pasts, men who want to live simply and quietly but who are more than capable of handling themselves when greedy men come along picking fights. The first part of the movie, which establishes the itinerant life of the four cowboys, is full of Boss and Charley giving sage, laconic wisdom to their younger charges, Mose and Button. And when the sheriff and rancher start twirling their mustaches, these towering pillars of men saddle up, load their guns, and stoically prepare to do what needs to be done.

In short, it’s just a lot more “same old thing” than I was hoping for. It doesn’t mean it’s badly made—I’s not. On the whole, I’d say it’s well done, and the performances are mostly strong. Robert Duvall and Kevin Costner deliver what they’re meant to, there’s a nice turn from Annette Benning as the closest thing the film has to a female lead, and Michael Gambon is suitably-slimy as the villainous rancher. I’d say the film generally succeeds at what it sets out to do, but that just doesn’t interest me as much. Somewhere between the townsfolk looking to these two courageous strangers to save them from their corrupt leaders and Charley saving a puppy from a flood (literally,) it gets to be too much deification of these noble cowboys for me.

But hey, let’s talk Diego Luna! The bad news is that it’s a long movie and his part isn’t that big. He plays Button, who is one of the four cowboys in the central group, but again, the movie isn’t really about the group. It’s about Boss and Charley. Mose is part of the inciting incident that puts them in the sheriff and rancher’s crosshairs, while Button plays the role of the “now it’s personal!” quasi-damsel. Button is badly hurt when the ranchers’ goons come after the cattle, thus motivating Boss and Charley to go all scorched-earth on the bad guys. But this means that, after the first half-hour, most of Luna’s screentime is devoted to wordlessly convalescing. I guess this still would’ve been pretty early days for him in Hollywood, so maybe it’s not surprising that his role is plot-pivotal but small. Naturally, though, I wish we got more.

This is especially true because, when he’s not being used as a plot device to fuel Boss and Charley’s righteous anger, I really like Button. That first section of the movie, with the four cowboys traveling across the open range, is my favorite part. Button is the newest and youngest member of the group (Boss mentions at one point that he’s 16,) and while he’s super eager to prove his worth while avoiding the least desirable grunt work, he’s kind of running before he can walk. Yes, it gets a little corny to have Boss and Charley offering him sage cowboy wisdom every few minutes, but Luna makes those scenes work precisely because Button isn’t an earnest vessel waiting to soak up all their experience and knowledge. He can be a little shit sometimes, complaining about chores he doesn’t want to do and pestering when he’s denied opportunities he wants. Compared to Boss and Charley’s stalwart western archetypes, Button feels more like a person, which adds just enough sharpness and unpredictability to balance out some of the more clichéd moments.

Recommend?

In General – Nah. It’s— I mean, it’s fine, but it didn’t hold my interest well.

Diego Luna – Soft maybe. I really enjoy what we get of Button, but there’s not much of him in a very long movie. Honestly, if you’re purely in it for the Luna of it all, you could just shut it off after the first half-hour.

Warnings

Lots of violence, language, drinking/smoking, and thematic elements.

Further Thoughts on The Power of the Dog

*Spoilers.*

The Power of the Dog wasn’t my favorite Best Picture nominee this year, and I admitted that, while undeniably well made, it wasn’t really for me. However, the film definitely made an impression, and I was still thinking about it long after I saw it. So today, I’d like to revisit the film and its depiction of Phil.

Before I get going, I have to reiterate in no uncertain terms that Phil is terrible. His psychological torment of Rose is relentless and twisted, and when he underestimates Peter’s propensity for getting back, I understand why Peter decides to unequivocally take him out. A big part of the reason the film got under my skin, even though I wasn’t really a fan of it, is down to how disturbing Phil’s behavior is.

That said, the film is also an excellent demonstration of how toxic masculinity hurts men as well as women. Certainly, women are the main target when it comes to this social attitude, but it also harms men even as they perpetuate it. In Phil’s case, there are a few things going on that contribute to toxic masculinity basically rotting him from the inside out.

For starters, he’s queer in an environment that’s all about manly men, so to preemptively deflect any suspicion, he’s decided that he needs to be the Manliest Ever to Man. So everything becomes a pissing contest. He walks with bow-legged swagger and takes a weird pride in being unwashed and grungy. He insults his brother at every turn and has to have absolute reign over day-to-day business at the ranch. He also sneers at anything lovely or feminine. When the cowboys come into Rose’s establishment for dinner and Phil sees the paper flowers Peter has made for the table, he can’t ignore them. He can’t even make a quick quip or scoff and move on. He has to make a whole production out of it and set fire the flowers while Peter is watching. And in addition to the behaviors he adopts to overcompensate, I’m sure being closeted just makes him bitter—not to mention he’s also bereaved, as it’s implied that he was in love with the late Bronco Henry. So he’s a lonely, deeply unhappy man who gets off on dragging others down into his misery.

Side note: Are there gay cowboy movies that don’t have soul-crushing endings? If there are happy movies out there about a couple of guys falling in love while rustling cattle or fighting outlaws, I want to know about it!

Furthermore, because he’s such a Big Tough Cowboy, Phil has no healthy outlet for expressing his feelings (‘cause that’d be girly, or gay or something.) So when George marries Rose, Phil can’t bring himself to be happy for his brother. He feels frightened and jealous, because it’s always been George and him against the world and he’s terrified that Rose is taking George away from him. But he can’t let himself say any of that to George, so instead, he decides to make Rose’s life a living hell. He’s punishing her, not just for “stealing” George’s love and attention, but because she made him feel frightened and jealous. He can’t deal with those feelings, and he can’t cut them out of himself, so he sublimates them into the perverse pleasure he takes in haunting Rose’s every step.

Phil’s issues don’t excuse what he does. At all. Again, he is awful. But it’s interesting to see how the toxic masculinity that causes him to torture Rose, belittle George, and underestimate Peter, also causes him to bring so much misery on himself.

The Harder They Fall (2021, R)

When I was writing my personal Oscar nominations post yesterday, I realized I hadn’t had time to post a review of this movie before the nominations came out and it became All Oscars All the Time. I still haven’t gotten around to some of the other films that were in the Oscar conversation prior to the nominations, like The Last Duel and Passing, but this is one I did get a chance to see. Since I’ve finished my Oscar-movie reviews and have one available post left before I write about the ceremony, I figured I’d better seize my opportunity to talk about this excellent film.

Nat Love has an old score to settle with Rufus Buck. When he learns that his enemy is getting out of prison, Nat rallies his gang to challenge Buck’s crew and get his revenge. The two groups of outlaws wage war, and it remains to be seen who will be left standing when the bullets stop flying.

Ever since I learned the historical factoid that over a quarter of cowboys in the Old West were Black or Latino, I’ve had a near evangelical zeal to tell people about it and side-eye lily-white Westerns (looking at you, Power of the Dog!) As such, I love that this is a Western where all the major players—outlaws, saloon owners, and lawmen alike—are played by Black actors. These characters’ races aren’t merely incidental, and there are a number of Black cultural references peppered throughout the film, but it’s not a story about race. Rather, it’s a classic Western revenge tale, wherein Black characters are given the chance to inhabit the full range of Western archetypes and conventions. (Side note: while the story is fictional, all or most of the characters are based on real-life Black outlaws/marshals/etc., which is neat.)

Besides that, it’s just a fun, cool movie. Western isn’t a go-to genre for me, but I have enjoyed the different films I’ve taken the time to see, and The Harder They Fall fits in well with that. The story is pretty standard, featuring rival gangs of outlaws, shootouts, robberies, saloon fights, and more—everything you’d typically expect from a Western. Director/co-writer Jeymes Samuel lends a stylish eye to this bloody brawl, and the whole thing is just swathed in layer upon layer of cool. The costumes look great, the dialogue crackles, and the anachronistic music choices are interesting and add greatly to the vibe of the film.

The first time I saw the trailer for The Harder They Fall, I wondered if it was possible to have a crush on a movie. That was for the coolness and the aesthetic, yes, but also the cast. The glorious cast. At the center of the film are Jonathan Majors and Idris Elba as Nat Love and Rufus Buck, both of whom light up the screen. They’re backed up by the likes of Lakeith Stanfield, Regina King, Edi Gathegi, Zazie Beetz, and Damon Wayans Jr. I’m not familiar with Danielle Deadwyler, but she makes a big impression too as Cuffee from Nat’s crew. And we’re not even done yet! The film also features Deon Cole (Dave from Kipo and the Age of Wonderbeasts!) and Delroy Lindo, awesomely, as the one and only Bass Reeves. Everyone is completely on their game, tearing it up from start to finish.

Warnings

Tons of graphic violence, language, sexual content, drinking/smoking/drug use, and thematic elements.