'The Homesman' is Not Your Grandfather's Western

The 2014 Oscar race may have already begun as the trailer for Tommy Lee Jones’ The Homesman was just released. The film, which will debut at this year’s Cannes Film Festival, stars Hilary Swank as a frontier woman in the 1850’s who enlists Jones to help her safely transport three mentally ill women back East in order to receive proper care. As they go against the stream of settlers pushing Westward, they face the threats of criminals, territorial Native Americans, and the harsh elements of winter.

The Homesman, which is based on Glendon Swarthout’s epic Western novel by the same name, features a stellar cast which also includes Meryl Streep(!), John Lithgow, James Spader, William Fichtner and Jesse Plemons (who is poised to become Friday Night Lights' biggest breakout star). The three women whom Swank and Jones set off on their journey to aid are played by the talented Grace Gummer (Streep's real-life daughter), Miranda Otto, and Sonja Richter.

What is most intriguing about this film is the dynamic between Swank’s Mary Bee Cuddy and Jones’ George Briggs, who are seemingly at odds with one another until they unite in order to save women the world would otherwise discard. What’s more fascinating about the story is that Cuddy doesn’t need to be “saved by a man,” rather she demands that Briggs helps her after she saves his life so that they can do right by these women. It’s a power dynamic that is so rarely explored in film, let alone in Westerns.

It looks like the Western drama has some new voices and stories unfolding, finally giving the genre a remodeling that it so sorely needed.

Watch the trailer here:

Image: EuropaCorp/YouTube