Tl;Dr If you don’t like the usual Oscar nominees, you’d like this one!
Hell or High Water is the underdog film of Oscars 2017. It’s that movie that doesn’t pick up much steam or get a ton of attention, but boy-oh-boy is it good or what! We watched Hell or High Water right after Hacksaw Ridge, on a bit of an Oscars marathon 🙂 And it was just what we needed! A not-in-your-face-classy movie that has just the right amount of entertainment, pace, story, screenplay, editing and brilliant, brilliant music! In fact the music is the first thing you notice, coming straight from Hacksaw Ridge which is completely bereft of any musicality. With Hell or High Water, you’re assured of two things – a pace that doesn’t give you a chance to be distracted and a perfect soundtrack that sets the mood that carries through the film.
We can’t help but describe Hell or High Water as a meeting of Ocean’s Eleven and Once upon a time in the west, minus the panache of Eleven and the over the top theatrics of westerns. It’s a modern day take on the western genre, where you see the dilapidated expanse of Texas that has gone under in an economic crisis. These landscape shots paired with an excellent background score define the aesthetic of the film, right off the bat. Directed by David Mackenzie and written by Taylor Sheridan, Hell or High Water is an original story and screenplay, which honestly is a welcome break in Oscars season which is so dominated by real life stories. It got it’s fair share of Academy Award nominations with Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor (Bridges), Best Original Screenplay and Best Film Editing, but came out empty hand at the end of the big Oscar night. We’re so surprised that it didn’t get a music nomination, because that is the stand out feature of the movie.
Hell or High Water is essentially a heist movie with a heart, where brothers Toby (Chris Pine) and Tanner (Ben Foster), make one final attempt to ensure the future of those who matter. The plot follows their plan to raise money to prevent the foreclosure of their family farm, which is all Toby has to give to his kids. Tanner is an ex-con who has nothing to lose and is the aggressive one in the partnership, whereas Toby is the submissive half who just wants this over with. This journey brings the two brothers together for the first time in a long long time and their relationship, the fun and games of siblings, the humor, the fight, the rebellion, the anger, the years of history together, the nostalgia of what could have been their life are all part of this equation. One of my favorite scenes is watching them sing a song together – it almost feels like the good old times, but not quite.
While Toby and Tanner make one part of Hell or High Water, the other part is made of another duo – Marcus Hamilton (Jeff Bridges) and Alberto Parker (Gil Birmingham), two Texas rangers chasing the bank robbers. Jeff Bridges as a lonely ranger close to retirement, with a dry sense of humor and years and years of experience is a treat to watch. This case becomes his sole obsession, almost like a new lease of life, the kind of excitement he no longer expects so close to the end of his career. Watching him revel in the wishful fantasy to ‘dodge his retirement in a blaze of glory’, is at once disheartening and charming. His partnership with Alberto, who he relentlessly pokes and jabs at is personal and you know that the two men care for and respect each other, despite all.
Set in an economic depression where bank has become the most hated institution, Hell or high Water has undertones of Robin Hoodesque heroism in stealing from those in power to help those in need. Money is a scarce commodity and everyone is fiercely protecting whatever little they own. The film works with the backdrop of economic exploitation by the banks and in that way, Toby and Tanner stealing from them is payback. To each of the protagonists, this is personal and there’s a lot at stake. Another recurring theme is the racial tension depicted in the legendary rivalry of ‘cowboys and the indians’. This furthers the picture of Texas – the old and the new co-existing in a wasteland.
Hell or High Water captures the fantasy of the wild, wild west, after the end of its glory days. You’re not inundated with images of past glory or the stereotype of horse riding hunks. The cowboys do not strut around in cowboy hats and boots, styled to meet the archetype of rugged good looks and dangerous dark eyes! These are looked at wistfully as figments of a bygone era. Everything’s rustic, broken, dilapidated and the film is unapologetic about it. Stripped of the theatricality of a western, the movie hinges entirely on the drama and the performances of Bridges, Pine and Foster. Hell or High Water picks two of the most stylized, well known genres of Hollywood – westerns and heist films and subverts these to create something as dry as the west Texas landscapes in the movie, but just as breathtaking.
From the onset you don’t expect a and-they-lived-happily-ever- after ending, but what you get is in my opinion, as good as it gets 🙂 So if you’re a fan of good music and a no-nonsense entertaining film, without any of the pretense we’ve come to expect from many of the Oscar nominees, Hell or High Water is for you.
Until next time, keep the popcorn tub handy!
Adi & Sahil
@ThePopcornWaltz