The Homesman is one of the strangest western movies in a long, long time. Essentially a feminist and revisionist western in one, Tommy Lee Jones' seemingly straightforward frontier drama is actually packed to the brim with an endless bullet hail of curveballs and plot twists: it's almost if the movie exists as a means of shaking things up when you least expect it, refusing to bow to pre-existing genre conventions. As a result, reviews for the movie were mixed. Critics were also particularly critical of the movie's "biggest" twist. The plot, then, concerns George Briggs (Jones), a claim jumper hired by a spinster named Mary Bee Cuddy (Hilary Swank) to transport three insane woman to a church in Iowa. What appears to be a road movie of sorts, however, switches up at the 90 minute mark, when - rejected and depressed - Cuddy commits suicide, leaving Briggs to carry out the task alone. One wonders why the response to this twist was so harsh; though it lacks emotional power, it cements this western as a truly barmy and curious oddity.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
