For
the first time in his career, Robert Redford has decided to direct and star in
the same movie, with mixed results on both sides of the camera. Redford plays
the title character, a man who tries to a help a family and their horse come to
terms with a traumatic event. Kristin Scott Thomas, and Sam Neill play the parents
and newcomer Scarlett Johanssen is their emotionally disturbed child. Thomas,
fresh from her nominated turn in The English Patient, is nothing special here.
Johanssen, however, is outstanding in her first major role. Redford also gets
terrific performances out of his supporting cast including; Chris Cooper, Diane
Wiest, and Sam Neill. He also gives himself some great moments, but not enough
to fully recommend.
The
Horse Whisperer's main attribute is that it's always beautiful to look at. Although
Redford does tend to go overboard with his aerial shots of cars driving down long
winding roads through the Montana countryside. For the most part, however, the
cinematography is stunning. Especially the sequences that deal with the horses.
Thomas Newman's beautiful score is also quite noteworthy.
The
Horse Whisperer's main problem is it's running time of nearly 3 hours. This film
is not as big as it wants to be. The same story could have been told more effectively
in under 2 hours. Redford spends a lot of time letting scenes linger far too long.
I was also quite disappointed by the romance aspect of the film. I didn't feel
that there were enough sparks between Redford and Thomas. A friend of mine joked
that they should have called this film The Horses of Madison County. We were both
in agreement that The Bridges Of Madison County was a much better love story.
The
Horse Whisperer wasn't a bad film. It's certainly better than a lot of the other
junk that's playing right now. I was just hoping for the masterpiece that I know
Robert Redford can deliver.
