Four-Time Oscar Nominee ‘Hell Or High Water’ Is A Neo-Western With A Striking Political Edge — IndieWire On Demand
Zack Sharf
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You only have a couple days left to catch up on this year’s Oscar contenders, and fortunately four-time nominee “Hell or High Water” is already On Demand and well worth your time. The neo-Western is competing for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Film Editing and Best Original Screenplay this Sunday night and has been turning heads ever since its acclaimed debut at the Cannes Film Festival back in May.
Chris Pine and Ben Foster play two brothers who carry out a series of bank robberies in order to save their family ranch. Jeff Bridges is the old-school sheriff trying to bring them down. The relatively simply plotting is heightened by director David Mackenzie, whose tightly controlled direction brings tension to every heist, and screenwriter Taylor Sheridan, whose dialogue crackles with political undertones about taking down the wealthy and bringing back hope to the middle class.
In his B+ review out of Cannes, IndieWire’s Eric Kohn praised the film as “No Country for Old Men” meets the heist movie. “A tale of scheming criminals and equally committed men in uniform engaged in a high-stakes game of cat and mouse, Mackenzie has crafted an ode to an effective formula,” he wrote.
For more on why “Hell or High Water” deserves your attention before Oscar night, watch Kohn make the case in the video above. Looking for more indies On Demand? Check out the best 6 titles on VOD below.
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