ANCHOR INTRO: KPBS film critic Beth Accomando traveled all the way to Wales to see Bone Tomahawk and loved it so much that she arranged for the only screening here in San Diego this Saturday at the Digital Gym. Bone Tomahawk is a slow burner. But when it ramps up, look out because it’s like being thrown off a cliff. It starts simply enough when a woman doctor tending a prisoner is taken... CLIP Do you know who did this?... Only one group that hunts with these… Who?... They don’t have a name… What kind of tribe doesn’t have a name… The kind that doesn’t have a language, cave dwellers. The sheriff and three men then take off to find her. Writer-director S. Craig Zahler understands that he can make use of the slow journey to develop his characters and distract us from the dangers that lie ahead. Then when violence erupts we realize how deeply we have come to care for these characters and how invested we are in their fates. We also realize how perfectly calibrated and meticulously crafted the film is. Beth Accomando, KPBS News.
Companion viewing
"The Searchers" (1956)
"Rio Bravo" (1959)
"No Country For Old Men" (2007)
“Bone Tomahawk” finally gets its San Diego premiere on Sunday, Feb.21 at the Digital Gym Cinema.
Last year, Quentin Tarantino sucked up all the attention the media was willing to spend on an old school western with his much-publicized 70mm roadshow of “The Hateful Eight.”
But the western that should have been getting all the attention was an indie gem called “Bone Tomahawk,” which also starred “The Hateful Eight’s” Kurt Russell.
I had read about the film late last year and was eager to see it and even inquired about getting a screening here in San Diego since it wasn’t showing up on any of the art house theater calendars. Luckily, I went to the Abertoir Horror Festival of Wales last November and had the good fortune to catch the film there.
Wow! What a grueling, richly rewarding and meticulously crafted film. As soon as the credits finished rolling I was determined to see that the film showed in San Diego because it plays so much better on a big screen and with an audience.
It was and still is available through streaming services such as iTunes and Amazon but if you have any interest in experiencing the film, I urge you to avoid watching at home or on a computer where you can pause it, leave the room, and not have the chance to appreciate the craft that went into structuring the film and building the tension. So I worked with The Film Geeks (a group of volunteer film programmers that I am a part of that works to bring unique programming to San Diego).
"Bone Tomahawk" is definitely a slow burner. Some have complained that it’s too slow. But I disagree. It takes its time but it uses the time well to develop the characters and when it ramps up, look out because it goes insane. It’s like you’re walking along and someone throws you off a cliff. It’s traumatizing.
It starts simply enough. Samantha (Lili Simmons), the town’s doctor, is called in late one night to tend to a wounded prisoner at the jail. But when morning comes, the sheriff discovers that she, the prisoner, and a young deputy have all been abducted. He assumes it’s “Indians” but he’s informed that it’s not. It’s a “tribe that doesn’t have a name” because they are cave dwellers that don’t have a language but they have a reputation for being ruthless, lethal and cannibalistic.
When Sheriff Hunt (Kurt Russell) presses for a name to call them, he’s told they’re known as “troglodytes,” to which someone asks how do you even spell that.
Hunt sets out on a rescue mission with three men: his aging back-up deputy Chicory (Richard Jenkins), gentleman gunslinger Brooder (Matthew Fox), and Samantha’s husband Arthur (Patrick Wilson), who’s hindered by a broken leg.
Writer-director S. Craig Zahler — making his feature film debut — understands that he can make use of the slow journey to develop his characters and distract us from the dangers that lie ahead. Then when violence erupts suddenly and without warning we realize how deeply we have come to care for these characters and how invested we are in their fates.
We also realize how perfectly calibrated the film is.
Zahler, who’s featured in this week’s Cinema Junkie Podcast, says that he could tighten the film and pick up the pace but then it would lose what it is that makes “Bone Tomahawk” unique. It delivers an old school western with nods to John Ford and Howard Hawks and their studio-style craftsmanship, but then mixes in a sense of contemporary indie audacity.
It also shares parallels with the Coen Brothers’ “No Country for Old Men,” in which an old sheriff faces what feels like a new and inhuman menace.
Zahler’s script crackles with smart, darkly funny dialogue. It also serves up great characters. Russell takes to westerns with ease (he was also great in "Tombstone") and invests Hunt with a sense of fairness, weariness, and earnest duty. Dang, his mustache alone deserves an award. But his natural ease in the role is no match for Richard Jenkins’ stealth work as Chicory.
Jenkins’ performance sneaks in under the radar to steal scene after scene because we keep dismissing Chicory as old and maybe even a little senile, yet as the film progresses we appreciate his wisdom and humanity more and more. Wilson and Fox also provide solid work.
“Bone Tomahawk” (not rated but for mature audiences due to violence) is not a film for everyone, which is why I love it. While so many Hollywood films dumb down their stories and try to ingratiate themselves with audiences by catering to whatever current whims are trending, “Bone Tomahawk” is resolute in being adult and being true to its intentions, which are by no means mainstream.
Zahler has dozens of unproduced screenplays, if any of them are even half as smart as this one, some savvy producers should snap them up. I can’t wait to see what he does next.
Limited tickets are available online and at the door.
