As Oscar season picks up, we are beginning to see more trailers for fall films that will most certainly be in the running for the little golden statue. Whether or not Tommy Lee Jones’s upcoming Western The Homesman ultimately makes the cut, its latest trailer makes it look like a breath of fresh air for the always difficult Western genre.
The Homesman stars Hilary Swank as a frontierswoman tasked with taking three insane women (Grace Gummer, Miranda Otto, and Sonja Richter) from Nebraska to Iowa, where they will be cared for by a minster and his wife (Meryl Streep). She enlists the aid of claim-jumper and grizzled everyman George Briggs (Tommy Lee Jones) to help her brave the wilds and protect the women as they move across the dangerous and desolate landscape.
This latest trailer for The Homesman paints the most complete picture we have seen yet, showcasing the performances of Swank and Jones and offering a few glimpses of Street, James Spader, and Tim Blake Nelson. Like many contemporary Westerns, the film seems most concerned with the perils of day-to-day life and travel during the frontier period, as Briggs and his charges face both human and natural perils.
I don’t see any reason why this film should not be a great one, given the cast, the director, and what we have seen of the cinematography. Jones has already proven himself as fine a director as he is an actor, with The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada and two TV movies under his belt. If he can bring the same intelligence and deftness of touch to The Homesman, I think we might have a winner.
The Homesman will open on November 14. You can check out the latest trailer below and decide what you think of Tommy Lee Jones’s latest effort.
Published: Sep 12, 2014 10:43 am