After the claustrophobic shots and sweaty bodies in the cells of the beautiful "Starred Up," which went unnoticed a few years ago amid general indifference, the British David Mackenzie moves to the vast prairies of West Texas to film one of the surprises of the year. If in "Starred Up" the reconstruction of a family occurred through a coming-of-age story behind bars, in "Hell or High Water" the characters try to save what remains of a family and its legacy before the banks take everything away.
The re-proposition of narrative and stylistic motifs set in a modern context places "Hell or High Water" in the Neo-Western genre, in a Texas where cowboys don't have to defend their homes from Indian raids but from mortgage loan deadlines. In the well-written and melancholic dialogues, one can glimpse the shadow of Trump's "great again" America, where two local brothers with nothing to lose take on the role of bandits usually reserved for Mexicans, much to the surprise of the two Texas Rangers pursuing them.
Written by Taylor Sheridan and topping Hollywood's blacklist of screenplays for several years, "Hell or High Water" doesn't try to do anything new, but what it offers is presented with such solidity and awareness of the lessons of the masters that one can't help but applaud. Mackenzie has done his homework, serving up a film that breathes its vast landscapes and shines with poetry when it pauses to take a breath just before the storm.
Distributed in America in August, almost as a warning of what would happen in the presidential elections a few months later, in Italy it can be found on Netflix's catalog for the lucky subscribers, even though its long shots would have deserved the darkness of a theater. Three words on the actors before closing. If Chris Pine finally breaks away from the handsome stereotype to offer a solid performance and Ben Foster confirms his reputation as one of the most underrated young character actors around, Jeff Bridges predictably steals the scene from everyone. Watching his Texas Ranger shamble along with his belly heaving and mumbling during his last thief hunt before retirement, joking with his partner about death which could come from any corner at any moment, and that for him, it would be better that way, is one of the greatest pleasures of this sad 2016 now winding down.
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