The Homesman
classified 15Please note: This was screened in Dec 2014
Tommy Lee Jones' latest directorial outing is a captivating re-imagining of the Western (in the vein of True Grit and Meek's Cutoff) that focuses on the rigours of life and the female experience in the frontier. Hilary Swank is perfect as Mary Bee Cuddy, a feisty unmarried woman who volunteers to use her wagon to transport three very disturbed young women back east to civilisation and refuge with a minister's wife (Meryl Streep).
The trio have been driven insane by the hardship, disease and loneliness of life in an unforgiving, wind-swept wilderness, by the losses of children, of love, and of hope. Mary Bee soon realises how daunting the journey will be, so enlists the help of a low life drifter (Tommy Lee Jones), who finds working for women preferable to hanging (but just barely). Together the unlikely pair lead the women east, but first they must cross the harsh Nebraska Territories, marked by stark beauty, psychological peril and constant threat. With its stripped down imagery, unforgettable performances and unsentimental poetry, The Homesman is one of the year's most powerful, and most wrenching, American films.
Ticket prices: Screenings before 16:00: £5.50 full / £4.00 concessions. Screenings after 16:00: £8.00 full / £6.50 concessions.