THE HORSE WHISPERER
Release Date: May 15, 1998 Starring: Robert Redford, Kristin Scott Thomas, Sam Neill, Scarlett Johansson, Dianne Wiest, Chris Cooper, Cherry Jones, Catherine Bosworth Directed by: Robert Redford Distributed by: Buena Vista Pictures MPAA Rating: PG-13 (a disturbing accident scene) URL: http://www.execpc.com/~kinnopio/reviews/1998/horse.htm
If there's anything THE HORSE WHISPERER says very well, it's what it has to say about personality, and consequently, characterization. The three or four main characters in the drama, and the ten or so more that are significant supports, are very solid and very believable. And although that should be a given in most movies, it is almost thankfully so in this new Robert Redford film, a painstakingly thorough and mostly powerful motion picture. It's been hailed as the best movie of 1998 thus far, and although it may not warrant itself that award, it is definitely among the top three movies yet.
Redford directs himself for the first time in his thirty-six year career as an actor, and the results are somewhat muddled. His skills as both a director (ORDINARY PEOPLE) and an actor (OUT OF AFRICA) are excellent, but he loses some of his touch when devoting his energies to both positions on the set. Fortunately, the rest of his cast really picks him up, and in the end makes him seem better than he really is. Kristin Scott Thomas (THE ENGLISH PATIENT), Sam Neill (JURASSIC PARK), and Scarlett Johansson (MANNY & LO) all enforce the movie's solidity and concrete characterization. Believable as everyone is, though, the entire cast seems to lack an extra edge or push that would grant them any noteability. No one in the cast astounds or amazes (with the possible exception of Johansson, whose portrayal of a crippled girl is akin to Leonardo DiCaprio's portrayal of a mentally retarded boy in WHAT'S EATING GILBERT GRAPE), and thus the intense character issues are somewhat bland.
The movie begins with Grace (Johansson) and her friend Judith (Catherine Bosworth) out for a horse ride on a winter morning. Tragically, though, their horses slip on icy ground, onto a road andinto the path of an oncoming truck. The collision kills Judith and renders Grace minus her right leg, which severly traumatizes the girl as well as her horse. Annie (Scott Thomas), her mother, in her search for anything to help the girl, chances upon the name of Tom Booker (Redford), a rancher with a gift for helping horses. For lack of anything better, Annie leaves her husband Robert (Neill) behind and takes Grace and the troubled steed out to Montana to meet Tom and see if he can help them at all. It's from here on, throughout the last three-quarters of the movie, that best part of THE HORSE WHISPERER is clearly evident. The photography of Montana - the impregnable mountains, the wide open skies, and the rolling hills - is simply amazing. This movie may certainly garner an Academy Award nomination in this respect.
THE HORSE WHISPERER isn't for the uncomitted viewer. It runs almost three hours in length, and doesn't include a continual excitement factor in movies of similar length, such as Titanic or The Postman. Rather, it relies on important character relationships and the inklings of intense melodrama to keep an anticipatedly intelligent audience very interested. This strategy works - most of the time - as those watching become bent on learning just how Tom Booker will help the horse, or how Annie will deal with her new position in life. Other than its lack of sheer panache, there's nothing wrong with THE HORSE WHISPERER; this is quite possibly the best three-star movie I've ever seen.
FINAL AWARD FOR "THE HORSE WHISPERER": 3.0 stars - a good movie.
-- Craig Roush kinnopio@execpc.com -- Kinnopio's Movie Reviews http://www.execpc.com/~kinnopio
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