Writer-director
Thomas Bezucha’s adaptation of Larry Watson’s neo-Western dramatic novel of the
same name Let Him Go is a low key middle-aged Western drama which starts
out as a strong tale of two elders traveling cross country to find their
missing grandchild only to happen upon a matriarch running a hillbilly family
crazier than the ones in The Wild and Wonderful Whites of West Virginia.
It’s a strange but modestly sized indie drama
which is largely quiet yet punctuated by explosive moments of violence and
mayhem that border on the ludicrous.
Starring Diane Lane and Kevin Costner who give pitch perfect
performances as they make their travelogue through 1963 Montana across the
country, it’s a generally solid picture which threatens to defecate on the bed
the moment a hammy Lesley Manville shows up to shake things up.
A
bit of a shame as I love low key modern westerns of the new millennia and Kevin
Costner certainly is no stranger to the American Midwest films. The real heroine of the piece is Diane Lane
who senses something is amiss in her daughter’s strained relationship with her
new husband after their son dies after falling during horseback riding. Somewhere in this scenic widescreen indie
effort lensed by Guy Godfree is a solid drama about the gulf of familial bonds
and how far one will go to rescue a loved one from an abusive
relationship. Lesley Manville will
always be the great actress from Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread to
me and seeing her chew the scenery up here couldn’t help but make my heart
sink.
As I said, the film is something of a missed
opportunity for the drama built up and the low-key mood sustained only to have
a near-parody of the miscreants from Deliverance show up to wreak havoc.
Yes it’s well adapted from the source and
well made but I can’t help but feel this one slipped on a banana peel and never
got back on it’s feet again.
--Andrew Kotwicki