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.

A Little TLC(w): The Duke of Mount Deer: Season 1, Episode 2 (1984)

*A few stage-setting spoilers.*

I’m still working on keeping everything straight, but purely on a Tony Leung Chiu-wai level, I am definitely all in on The Duke of Mount Deer. As I started this show, looking at the number of episodes, I was mostly excited and a little nervous, not quite sure what I was getting into. But this is just so much fun.

In the first episode, Wai Siu-bo gets caught up with a martial arts adept who’s a Ming loyalist, and while Siu-bo isn’t one for politics, he gets semi-taken under the guy’s wing (he’s given his name, but Siu-bo constantly calls him “Fatso,” so I will too.) After a disagreement about a set of loaded dice, Siu-bo and Fatso wind up captured by an old man who, although in poor health, is quite the adept himself. Lacking the martial arts skills of either his new friend or his captor, Siu-bo needs to rely on his wits to survive, which can be a bit of a tall order for him.

Like I said, I don’t have the plot down completely yet, but I’m starting to put things together, gradually putting names to faces and keeping track of who supports Ming vs. Qing. I’ll admit that some of the politics doesn’t hold my interest quite as well, but that’s mainly because Wai Siu-bo’s misadventures are so entertaining for me—I always want to get back to them.

The characterization that seems to be emerging for Wai Siu-bo is that of a “clever fool.” He’s irresponsible and shortsighted, and he makes easy mistakes that get him (and Fatso) into trouble. He has more confidence than he merits—completely assured, for instance, that he can instantly transform his loaded dice into major gambling winnings. He screws up a lot and knows pretty little, but he often walks around like someone who has all the answers.

But for all that, when the chips are really down, he’s usually able to demonstrate some quick thinking to get him out of the fire. Fatso would call Wai Siu-bo’s tactics “dirty tricks,” but Siu-bo would argue that he’s just seizing an advantage where he finds it—he’d rather be underhanded and alive than honorable and dead. He can’t necessarily talk himself all the way out of a dicey situation, but he can at least shift his circumstances just enough to stay alive. This episode sees him finding “refuge” in a veritable lion’s den, where he’s made fairly dependent on someone who will definitely kill him if he slips up. He’ll have to stay on his toes to navigate his current surroundings, and I can’t wait to see it!

Now, obviously, this show isn’t going to rank near the top of Tony Leung Chiu-wai’s performances. When movies like Hero and In the Mood for Love exist, that would just be absurd. But it’s interesting; characters like Wai Siu-bo and other entries from Leung’s likable-scoundrel catalog appear to have far less in common with Leung than his soulful romantics who communicate mainly through their eyes. What I mean is, in interviews, Leung’s go-to move seems to be “introspective and soft-spoken,” which is right in the wheelhouse of many of his most acclaimed roles. So in that way, playing a hapless schemer who never stops talking actually demands a lot from him. It’s a perspective that makes me appreciate this branch of his work even more.

Relationship Spotlight: Marc Spector, Layla El-Faouly & Steven Grant (Moon Knight)

*Spoilers.*

For me, Moon Knight is all about characters and relationships. Now, plenty of that happens within the DID system of the protagonist, and I’ve already talked at length about Steven, Marc, and their relationship. But when you add Layla into the mix, the whole thing levels up even further. These three, separately and together, are why I’m crossing my fingers that we’ll get a season 2, or some other continuation of Moon Knight’s story.

Even though Layla is Marc’s wife, we’re actually introduced to her when she’s meeting Steven for the first time. She doesn’t know that Marc has DID—she’s confused by the British accent her husband is “putting on” and is first annoyed, then alarmed, when he insists that he doesn’t know her. Their early scenes together are marked by Layla’s conviction that Marc is working undercover and refusing to drop the act even in front of her. It’s not until they have a dangerous run-in with Harrow and she sees Steven flounder that she realizes she’s dealing with something much deeper than she thought.

Steven, meanwhile, is instantly taken with Layla. They share a love of Egyptian history and antiquities, and they even have the same favorite poet. Much of what’s going on in his life is massively confusing at present—he’s only barely started to grasp the fact that he has DID—and this woman who’s come along calling him Marc and saying that they’re married confuses him too, but rather than being frightened, this is a confusion that Steven will gladly put up with to be around her.

As they get more involved in their mission against Harrow and Layla gains a greater understanding of what’s going on with Marc and Steven, she adjusts really well to this very unexpected turn of events. She and Marc do the undercover/more dangerous stuff, while she urges Marc to let Steven front during the brainy Egyptology-related stuff. It doesn’t take long before she’s treating them like separate people.

An additional complicating factor is that Marc and Layla were estranged at the start of the series. Marc has disappeared on her—unbeknownst to her, he left because he thinks Khonshu wants her for his new avatar and wants to keep him away from her—and when Layla initially comes across Steven, it’s because she has divorce papers for Marc. But Marc never stopped loving her, he just has a really clumsy/kind of paternalistic way of trying to protect her, and so it angers him to see her getting friendly with Steven. At different times when Steven is fronting, Marc warns him not to close too cozy with Layla, and after Layla and Steven share a kiss, Marc manages to take control of their hand so he can sucker-punch Steven.

But for all that Steven is falling for Layla, he’s also kind of advocating for Marc? As the more emotionally-open of the two, he’s able to bridge the communication gap between Marc and Layla. He tells Layla things that Marc has kept from her, and even though Layla is angry at Marc’s “I kept secrets for your own good” attitude, it does give her more insight into his actions and where his head is at.

I get that it’s the MCU and Disney is pretty vanilla, but honestly, the best resolution for me is for Layla to date both of them. They both like her and she likes them, and they have the same body. This seems to be the least messy way to go about it, though there’s no evidence yet on what Jake thinks of Layla, or how she’ll react when she meets him. All of this is just further proof of why we need a season 2.