(rated R)
It’s New Mexico in the year 1865 when part Apache Indian daddy (Tommy Lee Jones) comes home to reconcile with his daughter Maggie (Cate Blanchett) a local ‘healer’. Like daddy, Maggie has a history of sadness. Unlike long lost dad, Maggie’s life is her two daughters Lily (Evan Rachel Wood) and Dot (Jenna Boyd). No sooner Jones shows up that deep hidden secrets slowly emerge with the unexpected kidnapping of a family member. Val Kilmer has a tiny role as a lieutenant that if you blink, he’s gone. This is a movie about mother love that pulls at your heart strings like those women who would lift a 6,000 pound car with their bare hands to save their child trapped underneath. Full of curses, Indian chants and spells, it is a dramatic western with mystical overtones. A deep and moving story with the quality of convincing acting that only Jones and Blanchett could demonstrate. And Ron Howard’s directing is not so shabby either. His most confident piece of work to date, expect Oscar nods for all.
It’s New Mexico in the year 1865 when part Apache Indian daddy (Tommy Lee Jones) comes home to reconcile with his daughter Maggie (Cate Blanchett) a local ‘healer’. Like daddy, Maggie has a history of sadness. Unlike long lost dad, Maggie’s life is her two daughters Lily (Evan Rachel Wood) and Dot (Jenna Boyd). No sooner Jones shows up that deep hidden secrets slowly emerge with the unexpected kidnapping of a family member. Val Kilmer has a tiny role as a lieutenant that if you blink, he’s gone. This is a movie about mother love that pulls at your heart strings like those women who would lift a 6,000 pound car with their bare hands to save their child trapped underneath. Full of curses, Indian chants and spells, it is a dramatic western with mystical overtones. A deep and moving story with the quality of convincing acting that only Jones and Blanchett could demonstrate. And Ron Howard’s directing is not so shabby either. His most confident piece of work to date, expect Oscar nods for all.