Old Henry
Director: Potsy Ponciroli
Year Released: 2021
Rating: 1.5
Widower Henry (Tim Blake Nelson), who lives with his only son in the Oklahoma Territory, notices a horse without its rider wander on his property and then tracks down a wounded man named Curry (Scott Haze) who's been badly injured and being hunted after by some really bad hombres (led by Stephen Dorff). While I think it has the atmosphere down - ain't nothin' like a dusty Western, is there? - there's a lack of depth to any of the characters and it sort of just sits there idly ... that is until it springs a big reveal on the audience, resurrecting an old narrative only to appropriate its mythical quality and then kill it off again: it's a cheap and ill-advised move. Both Nelson and Dorff are very good - I like them both in gritty movies - but this is a far cry from Peckinpah.