Matt Bomer Bill Pullman Josh Wiggins Lily Gladstone
Father-son bonding movies are usually well
received, especially when they occur after a period of estrangement. It’s clear when David (Wiggins) arrives
at the airport on a snowy day in Montana that he is a bit uneasy. His father Cal (Bomer) doesn’t seem to
notice; he is much more enthusiastic about the visit and seeing his son. He tells David excitedly about his plan
to take him moose hunting, and just maybe David will get his first moose. This was a milestone in Cal’s own life,
which he relates to his son, reminiscing about the time he spent with his own
father. The spoken memories are
enhanced by showing videos of him as a youngster (played by Alex Neustaedter)
with his dad (Pullman).
We eventually learn that David lives with his
mother in another state; she couldn’t take the Montana weather, and left his
father. Cal’s ties to the land
(and he owns a large parcel) are so strong, he couldn’t possibly think of
living anywhere else. David is
clearly from the city, and knows little about what most boys from the country
learn in terms of skills in camping, hunting, fishing, etc. Not only that, he appears to be rather
reluctant to go on a hunting trip and would rather play games on his
telephone. He’s a bit squeamish
about killing animals anyway. When
Cal realizes this, he is sorely disappointed, but gives David the choice of not
going. Of course, that’s accompanied
by the threat of sending him back to his mother and the knowledge that he has
let his dad down. This gets
through to David in a flash, and he decides he’d rather go hunting.
Eventually, Cal lets go of his macho front and
becomes a very good teacher on hunting in the wild, such as what to do if a
bear starts chasing you, and how hunting is different from killing an animal
for anything other than food. He
accompanies this with his childhood stories, which David seems eager to
hear. The meat of the film is when
two life-threatening incidents occur, and we see how the bond between the two has
become strong enough to support them during the rest of the trip.
It’s a coming-of-age story for David who will
never be the same afterwards.
Usually, I want movies to be shorter rather than longer, but I wish this
one had shown more about David’s transformation and his reunion with his
mother. Nevertheless, it’s a
skillful rendering of father-son bonding in the wilds of the breathtaking snowy
landscape of Montana.
Bomer and Wiggins capture the father-son
relationship so well, and the backdrop of Montana in the winter
(Cinematographer Tood McMullen) is exquisite. In this age of serial relationships among adults, I wonder
about if many teenagers would find this story helpful in identifying and
bonding with their fathers. I also
applaud the filmmakers for not shying away from depicting a very sensitive
subject.
An unnerving and heartfelt bonding of
father and son hunting moose in the wilds of snowy Montana.
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