10 Brilliant Films That Were Intentionally Boring

In his best (and oddest) directorial effort yet, Tommy Lee Jones has crafted a film that’s boldly unsentimental and impossible to peg. It’s not a western, and he’d probably wince at you for calling it that. And it’s not an anti-western, which he’d scowl at you for.

Based on the 1988 novel of the same name by Glendon Swarthout, The Homesman tells the dream-like tale of a rugged claim jumper (played by Jones) and a spinster (played by Hilary Swank) who set out to transport three insane women to a sanctuary in Hebron, Iowa.

Few will regret having seen The Homesman, and yet it’s not exactly an enjoyable experience. There are handful of brilliant scenes, interspersed by stretches that plod along in a dutiful way. But unlike the majority of the films in the same vein, this one gets better as it goes along, and by the time it’s over, there’s a feeling of arrival. It’s hard to imagine anyone volunteering to sit through it twice, but the initial trip is well worth the effort.