In a movie-verse full of Katnisses, Black Widows and whatever that “Divergent” girl is supposed to be, pioneer homesteader Jane Hammond (Natalie Portman) doesn’t quite stand out as a superheroine. But when her husband Bill (Noah Emmerich) arrives home with five bullets in him, Jane’s resolve not to fall victim to his vengeful shooter overtakes her in a tale with more feeling than sense.
That’s not exactly a dismissal. All three of this Western’s central characters — Jane, her former betrothed Dan Frost (Joel Edgerton), and the villainous outlaw Colin Bishop (an unrecognizable Ewan McGregor, with a black broom resting above his upper lip) — are drawn to a fight they know better than to pursue. But hey, no one ever accused people of being reasonable.
Jane’s probably aware that the smarter thing to do would be to grab her young daughter and hightail it out of their New Mexican barely-a-town. But her sense of honor forbids it, which is how she ends up enlisting her embittered but still smitten ex-fiancé in a struggle for her life as the Bishop Boys come to finish Bill off and to take care of some unfinished business with Jane.
Directed by Gavin O’Connor (“Warrior,” “Pride and Glory”), “Jane Got a Gun” takes long pauses in the action to chronicle through flashbacks how this love triangle comes to defend a single home. The film’s greatest surprise is that these unabashedly emotional flashbacks work. Before Jane’s life is threatened by Bishop, it’s thrashed about by the chaos of the Civil War and the terrifying lawlessness of the frontier.
As the mystery behind the demise of Jane and Dan’s engagement slips away, what remains are two young people who were too hopeful and too in love to imagine the tremendous hurt the world could visit upon them. That they now know better is, of course, absolutely no help to them at all.
It turns out that the Hammonds’ history with the Bishops snakes back far and with a whole lot of venom. Sexual assault looms large in the plot, and the fact that Jane seems to be one of only two women in town who isn’t a prostitute is no coincidence.
But thankfully, this isn’t another historically revisionist, grim-dark bleak-a-thon like, say, “The Revenant” and “The Hateful Eight.” The trap that Jane and Dan painstakingly set for their would-be killers approaches humor in its cathartic sadism, and when the two finally reconcile over a gravely ill Bill, there’s a groundswell of empathetic relief.
Jane isn’t a natural ass-kicker — she’s no sharpshooter like Dan, who ends up rescuing her multiple times. But she’s flinty enough to drop some gunpowder into her husband’s wounds and light it on fire to cauterize his wounds, or to blow off a piece of an attacker’s cheek when he grinningly offers to “share” her with another man. Lilting beautifully in Jane’s native Missouri accent, Portman is in her default ice-princess mode here. She doesn’t quite pull off Jane’s maternal grit, but she (and the squinty, mumbly Edgerton) certainly nail the film’s dusty chic. (Sand in your eye never looked better.)
Sharper characterization and a greater sense of place and time would have rendered the obligatory scenes in Edgerton, Anthony Tambakis, and Brian Duffield’s Black List script less generic. In the only outright disappointing moment, Jane and Dan strike too modern a tone, with her surprising him with a romantic hot-air-balloon ride.
But there’s little trace of the film’s storied troubles, when director Lynne Ramsey abruptly departed the project and several actors followed suit. Jane got a gun — and her very own tale to tell.
Sundance 2016: 13 Breakout Stars to Watch, From Parker Sawyers to Lily-Rose Depp (Photos)
Tika Sumpter and Parker Sawyers, "Southside With You" - Richard Tanne's drama chronicles the epic first date of Barack Obama and Michelle Robinson across Chicago's South Side in the summer of 1989. This could be Sumpter's breakout feature role, and while Sawyers doesn't have a U.S. agent heading into Sundance, expect that to change quickly.
Harley Quinn Smith and Lily-Rose Depp, "Yoga Hosers" - The Colleens from Kevin Smith's "Tusk" are back in the director's follow-up, which finds the two teenage yoga enthusiasts teaming up with a legendary man-hunter to battle an ancient evil presence that threatens their party plans. The daughters of Smith and co-star Johnny Depp stole a couple scenes in "Tusk," but this is their first real opportunity to prove they can hold the screen like their fathers. Depp is already on Hollywood's radar, co-starring opposite Natalie Portman in "Planetarium" and testing for the lead in Paramount's "Looking for Alaska."
Michael Barbieri and Theo Taplitz, "Little Men" - Director Ira Sachs returns to Sundance with this film that rests on the slender shoulders of its teenage stars. The duo play best friends whose bond is tested by their parents' battle over a dress shop lease. Taplitz has done plenty of theater and creates short films in his spare time, while Barbieri is a student at the Lee Strasberg Theater and Film Institute in New York. While "Little Men" is his feature film debut, he also appears in Matt Kazman's short film "Killer," which premieres at Sundance.
Lucas Hedges, "Manchester By the Sea" - You probably remember Lucas Hedges as the lead bully in Wes Anderson's "Moonrise Kingdom." The son of director Peter Hedges has since appeared in Jason Reitman's "Labor Day," Terry Gilliam's "The Zero Theorem" and "Kill the Messenger," in which he played Jeremy Renner's son. Here, he plays a teen who falls into the care of his uncle (Casey Affleck) when his father dies. Director Kenneth Lonergan has gotten strong performances out of his young leads in "You Can Count on Me" and "Margaret," and Hedges could be his secret weapon in this film.
Morgan Saylor, "White Girl" - Best known as Dana Brody on "Homeland," Saylor takes center stage in "White Girl," as a college student who goes to extremes to get her drug dealer boyfriend out of jail. It's a potentially explosive role for Saylor, so keep an eye on the rising young actress.
Jacob Latimore, "Sleight" - After holding his own opposite veteran co-stars like Forest Whitaker and Angela Bassett in "Black Nativity," Latimore graduated to supporting roles in box office hits such as "Ride Along" and "The Maze Runner." Now he's in the Sundance spotlight with "Sleight," playing a young street magician who turns to dealing drugs when he's left to care for his little sister following their mother's death. When his sister gets kidnapped, he must rely on his smarts and sleight of hand to save her. If that doesn't sound like a star-making opportunity, what does?
Emma Greenwell, "Love and Friendship" - The "Shameless" star is about to break out in a big way between her supporting role in this Whit Stillman movie and her upcoming turn in "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies." She plays Lady Catherine opposite Kate Beckinsale and Chloe Sevigny in this comic riff on an incomplete Jane Austen novella. Greenwell also co-stars in the upcoming Hulu series "The Path" with Aaron Paul and Michelle Monaghan.
Shashank Arora and the cast of "Brahman Naman" - Controversial Indian filmmaker Q has assembled an intriguing cast for his raunchy sex comedy, which showcases Arora's knack for comedic timing. Arora (in yellow shirt) plays a nerdy, hormone-fueled teen who competes for the National Quiz Championships in 1980s India while trying to lose his virginity along the way.
Lily Gladstone, "Certain Women" - This Native American newcomer is said to hold her own opposite her veteran co-star Kristen Stewart as a reclusive young ranch hand in the throes of her first existential crisis who meets Beth (Stewart), a recent law school grad who teaches an adult education class. Gladstone caught the acting bug after watching a "Star Wars" spinoff and quickly became involved in local theater in Montana, where she grew up on the Blackfeet Indian Reservation. She starred opposite Stewart's "Twilight" co-star Chaske Spencer in "Winter in the Blood" and had a small role in the Benicio del Toro movie "Jimmy P."
Lilith Stangenberg, "Wild" - This up-and-coming German actress plays an young anarchist who chooses a life without hypocrisy or an obligatory safety net. Stangenberg is an unknown entity in the U.S., but seeing as she shares the screen with a wolf, she's guaranteed to have tongues wagging in Park City.
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The festival has made stars out of Ellen Page (”Juno“) and Michael B. Jordan (”Fruitvale Station“). Who will it be this year?
It turns out that the Hammonds’ history with the Bishops snakes back far and with a whole lot of venom. Sexual assault looms large in the plot, and the fact that Jane seems to be one of only two women in town who isn’t a prostitute is no coincidence.
