Strange, off-putting, sick in the head; these terms only begin to describe Tommy Lee Jones’ The Homesman. Troubling, thought-provoking, unpredictable…those fit, too. But they still aren’t enough. Jones’ second directorial effort is an elusive experience, difficult to pin down in many ways, though it comfortably belongs to the genre of Western. Here’s the most important thing I can say: What becomes of the film’s hero, a tough-willed frontierswoman by the name of Mary Bee Cuddy (played by a top-form Hilary Swank), left me stunned, confused, haunted, and sick to my stomach. Jones took me somewhere I didn’t want to be, somewhere deeply unsettling that; I find that admirable.

The story comes from a Glendon Swarthout novel, set in 1855 Nebraska. This isn’t a tall tale of cowboys with big guns, big britches, and big egos, but rather a solemn, contained story about a handful of sad, broken souls, bound together by circumstance. When we meet Cuddy (on her farm, which she built herself and takes pride in having done so), she’s dug herself into a sorry situation, offering her hand in marriage to a man over dinner. He calls her “plain” and “bossy” before hitting her with a stiff rejection. The townsfolk view Cuddy with much respect (though they too find her to be “plain” and “bossy”), and the local minister (Jon Lithgow) addresses her with particular admiration and thinks her work ethic and toughness make her as good a man as any. Why a “good man” and not a “good woman”?

The film’s commentary on gender inequity (an imbalance which tragically isn’t much different today than it was back then) is, like everything else in the movie, underplayed and largely expressed between the lines. In our eyes, as a modern audience, Cuddy is an extraordinary woman who has literally built a life for herself with her bare hands. To describe her as “plain” is laughable to (most of) us, but back then, women were only of interest if they fit a certain mold, looked a certain way, and fulfilled specific, “ladylike” societal requirements. Cuddy didn’t meet the requirements, so to everyone around her, she was of no interest. I think that’s what they mean by “plain”.

Cuddy’s entrusted with the task of transporting three mentally disturbed women across the frontier expanse between Nebraska and Iowa on a wagon to deliver them to a reverend’s wife. It’s a risky endeavor, even for the thick-skinned Cuddy, but just as she’s about to embark on the trek she comes across a man about to be hanged, the horse between his legs the only thing saving him from the noose. The man is a drunkard claim-jumper called George Briggs, who agrees to help Cuddy on her escort mission as payment for saving his sorry hide. We then follow the five travelers through the snowy, barren trails they hope lead to a better place, their minds and mettle pushed to the breaking point as madness slowly poisons them all.

Their journey isn’t exciting or full of grand heroic acts like the ones you’d find further West in John Ford’s Monument Valley; it’s full of sorrow, unanswered prayers, and bitter reality. Jones isn’t interested in pleasing crowds; the horrors the travelers encounter are grisly, blunt, and come at the most unexpected times. I found myself reeling every time the plot refused to go in directions that seemed most logical or convenient. Almost every plot twist and turn is an unpleasant one. One key revelation mid-film is an absolute knockout, its stark grotesqueness so shocking you could practically hear every jaw in the theater hit the floor.

That being said, the film is beautiful: the painterly landscapes are drop-dead gorgeous, and even though there’s a sense that doom lurks behind every tree and under every rock, there’s a strange, fatalist serenity to that. There are moments when the characters support each other (one in a river is tearjerking), but they fail each other more often.

The role of the cantankerous Briggs is right up Jones’ alley. Much like Jeff Bridges’ turn as Rooster Cogburn in the Coens’ True Grit, Jones’ Briggs is an unstable madman with more heart and moral fiber than you’re led to believe he has the capacity for. While there are some big names making brief appearances in the story’s periphery (Lithgow, Meryl Streep, and James Spader, all of whom do a fine job), Swank is the one who mesmerizes, the one who rips out your heart and tramples it. A fireside confession by a stripped-down Cuddy (literally and figuratively) to Griggs is so elegantly under-expressed that you won’t know what’s truly going on until it’s too late and you’re clobbered right in the gut. The way Swank slowly chips away at, then smashes Cuddy’s walls of strength into a pile of rubble, is inspired.

You could look at The Homesman as a subversion of the American West mythology, with most of the key narrative events pointing to the reality that the bad guys are more often then not rewarded for their crimes. Its more compelling form, however, is as a feminist Western, a sobering reminder of how little has changed in society since the dark days the story covers. The societal pressures put on the women on Cuddy’s wagon drove them to lose their damn minds. Are things really so different these days?

The Mill Valley Film Festival has built a reputation as a showcase for future Oscar winners and emergent independent and foreign filmmakers. The festival has hosted five of the last six Best Picture Oscar winners, rolling out the red carpet for A-list actors and filmmakers while heavily supporting local filmmakers as well. Nestled in one of the most beautiful places in the world, filmmakers, actors, and attendees alike are drawn to Mill Valley every year by the easy, low-stress atmosphere, the gorgeous surroundings, the varied special events and, of course, the films. In its 37th year, the festival looks to deliver everything loyal festival-goers expect and more.

“Variety has said once–probably more than once–that Mill Valley has the ambience of a destination festival and the clout of an urban festival,” said festival founder and director Mark Fishkin at yesterday’s press conference. “Change” is one of the themes of this year’s festival, with the folks behind the festival embracing the evolving landscape of film and film distribution. Said Fishkin: “For us, change is inevitable, but we are still part of a special division of the film industry, which is theatrical exhibition. We take our role as curators very seriously, whether it’s films that are coming from the Bay Area or films coming from Cannes.”

The Homesman

Tommy Lee Jones‘ latest offering, The Homesman, will open the festival, with star Hilary Swank set to attend. The film is a Western, following a claim jumper (Jones) and a young woman (Swank) as they escort three insane woman through the treacherous frontier between Nebraska and Iowa. Fishkin describes it as a “feminist Western” that is “extremely moving. We’re just so proud to be showing it in this year’s festival.”

Co-headlining opening night is Men, Women, & Children, Jason Reitman‘s new film starring Ansel Elgort, Adam Sandler, Judy Greer, and Jennifer Garner that explores the strange effect the internet age has on parents and their teens. Reitman will be in attendance to present. Lynn Shelton‘s Laggies will also play opening night, completing the killer triple-threat. The film, about a woman stuck in slacker adolescence, stars Chloë Grace Moretz, Keira Knightley, and Sam Rockwell.

The festival looks to finish as strong as it started, with Jean-Marc Valée‘s follow-up to Dallas Buyers Club, spiritual quest movie Wild, starring Reese Witherspoon as Cheryl Strayed, who embarked on a 1,100-mile hike to heal deep emotional wounds. Laura Dern also stars, and will be honored with a tribute.

French favorite Juliette Binoche stars across Kristen Stewart in Clouds of Sils Maria. Binoche plays an actress who’s asked to return to a play that made her famous 20 years ago, but this time in an older role, forcing her to reflect on the young woman she once was and what she’s become since. Another French actress who can do no wrong, Marion Cotillard is outstanding in the Dardenne brothers’ new film, Two Days, One Night. Recalling the best of Italian neorealism, the film follows a woman who’s got a weekend to convince her co-workers to forego their bonuses to save her job.

The Theory of Everything

Two emerging young actors will be spotlighted as Eddie Redmayne and Elle Fanning will be in attendance to discuss their respective new films. Fanning stars in Low Down, which views the troubled life of jazz pianist Joe Albany (John Hawkes) from the perspective of his teenage daughter (Fanning). Set in the ’70s, the film also stars Glenn Close, Peter Dinklage, and Lena Headey. In a breakout performance, Redmayne portrays legendary physicist Stephen Hawking in the stirring biopic The Theory of Everything, which is quickly generating momentum on the festival circuit.

Several other films that have been building steam on the festival circuit will play at the festival as well. English landscape painter J. M. W. Turner is played brilliantly by Timothy Spall in Mike Leigh‘s Mr. Turner, which we loved at Cannes. Also portraying a significant real-life figure is Benedict Cumberbatch, who stars in The Imitation Game, the story of English mathematician Alan Turing and his groundbreaking intelligence work during World War II. Steve Carell‘s highly-anticipated turn in Foxcatcher as John Du Pont, the man who shot olympic great David Schultz, will surely continue to stir up Oscar talk as the film plays late in the festival. Robert Downey Jr. stars as a big city lawyer who returns home to defend his father (Robert Duvall), the town judge, who is suspected of murder.

Metallica is set to play a pleasantly unexpected role in the festival as his year’s artist in residence, with each of the four members of the band presenting a film. Drummer Lars Ulrich has naturally chosen to highlight Whiplash, Damien Chazelle‘s drama about a young aspiring drummer and his relentless instructor. Chazelle will also be in attendance. Lead singer James Hetfield has chosen to present a classic, The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly, while guitarist Kirk Hammett, one of the world’s foremost horror aficionados, will offer up Dracula vs. Frankenstein. Bassist Robert Trujillo is showing a sneak peek at a documentary he produced himself, Jaco, which tells the story of legendary bassist Jaco Pastorius.

On the local side of things is a special screening of Soul of a Banquet, a documentary by filmmaker Wayne Wang  about celebrity chef Cecilia Chang. Wang and Chang, who both have deep San Francisco Bay Area roots, will be in attendance to celebrate their storied careers and present their film collaboration. Chuck Workman, another Bay Area legend who’s best known for editing the clip reels at the Oscars, will be honored at the festival as well.

The Company Men is a feel good film about 3 different characters dealing with downsizing at their company. Their family, lifestyles and self-worth all must go through drastic changes. The film’s cast is stacked; Ben Affleck, Chris Cooper, Tommy Lee Jones, Kevin Costner, Craig T. Nelson and Maria Bello, but with no fault of their own, the film as a whole does not seem to hit emotionally. The film’s script takes no risks, which in the end, is what hurt it the most.

The Company Men starts off with Bobby Walker (Ben Affleck) driving his Porsche into work. Interrupting him brag about how wonderful his round of golf was today at the country club, is news from his co-workers that he is losing his job. The news hits him as swiftly as it hits the viewer, without warning. He was the divisional sales leader for 12 years and making 120k plus benefits but as of today he is now unemployed.

The news of layoffs spread like wild fire in the office and Phil Woodward (Chris Cooper) feels like he is next. For fear of losing his job, he cowardly hides in another office. As Phil comes home his daughter greets him with news about a school trip to Italy and asks him if she can go. He hesitates with his answer, the reason is obvious, but he replies with, “of course sweetheart”. It was more than a subtle hint of foreshadowing.

Gene McClary (Tommy Lee Jones) finds out about the layoffs while away at an investors meeting. While he is not being let go, the workers underneath his position were laid off. He feels betrayed by his boss who is supposed to inform him of business decisions such as these. Making the situation even more difficult, is that his boss is; the owner of the company, his old college roommate and the best man at his wedding.

You can tell it was not easy for Bobby to break the news to his wife. His self-worth is completely depending on his luxurious life-style he has. This wife goes over the finances and knows that sacrifices will have to be made. For now she tells him to eat more meals at home but it’s not long before she brings up the suggestion of selling the house. Which he immediately rejects, saying it is not needed.

On one morning, Gene’s stock in the company earned him a 2 million dollar raise since the layoffs. Him along with the highest executives at the company are getting brand new offices with generous city views but you cannot help but notice Gene feeling bad about receiving these benefits.

Bobby’s brother-in-law Jack (Kevin Costner) is one of the last people to find out about him losing his job. This was done on purpose as Bobby has always enjoyed living a higher paid lifestyle than Jack’s middle-class one. Jack owns his own small construction company that builds houses. When Jack received the news about Bobby he offers him a job working for him. Bobby declines as he cannot see himself being a “working man”. After all, doing manual labor for a living does not help him retain his lifestyle status he wishes to keep.

The reality of cutting back finally sinks in when Bobby is thrown out of the country club before a round of golf. Although we knew the whole time, Bobby finally admits that he needs to look successful. He considers himself “a 37 year old unemployed loser that cannot support his family.” Sounds like he is going through a mid-life crisis.

Maybe hearing himself say that finally registered or maybe he realized that he needs to put his family’s well-being ahead of his own successful status, but he bites the bullet and sells his beloved Porsche. And as if that was not hard enough for him to do, he ends up doing something he never thought he would do. He asks Jack if he can have a job as a construction worker, he is now a working man.

Bobby had a lot of overcome. He was a father but never really showed it. He cared too much about what other people thought of him. Luckily, he was able to get past these hurdles. Something Gene and Phil might have to as well.

When I watched the trailer for this film, I guessed it would go something like this; man loses his job, has a mid-life crisis, goes on to do manual labor, overcomes his crisis, get offered big opportunity at end with him most likely turning it down because of the new leaf he turned over. The film did not stray very far from that, there were no big surprises in there.

This is John Wells first feature film as a director and it delivers a good message but I felt like it was a little too safe. Also it seemed like the direction at the end was a toss-up on whether or not Bobby was going to stick with Jack or not. It could have gone either way I think the way it went was the wrong one.

Although the script is a little sloppy, the acting was not. Ben Affleck proves that he can do more than just rom-coms. Chris Cooper should have had a stronger role because I felt he was the most powerful in the film. Tommy Lee Jones is fearless and witty. Kevin Costner depicts a hardworking man with true values and does it well.

The Company Men had more potential than it’s outcome. The list of big-named actors does not justify the textbook plot. Also, it was not nearly as emotionally driven as it could have been. The relevant timing of story and real-life recession of the economy was not a coincidence, but rather a smart marketing attempt for viewers to relate to.