Damsel 2018

     The setting of this film is the Wild West of 1870.  Samuel Alabaster is an affluent pioneer and he travels across the American Front to marry the love of his life Penelope.  Along the way the once-simple journey becomes treacherous.  Samuel’s traveling partner is Parson Henry.  He is usually drunk most of the time!! 
     The best and cutest actor in this film is the miniature horse, Butterscotch!!  Yay for Butterscotch!!  This film is an unusual and sometimes comical western.  There are violent scenes with guns and shooting, characters die, blood spurts and there are bloody wounds, suicide, a hanging, dynamite and explosions.  The Parson is a heavy drinker and later he craves alcohol when it isn’t available.  Also, smoking with his cigarettes are gone.  Actually, the genre of this film is ambiguous because it turns conventional thinking sideways?  Personally, I thought this had a LOT of boring scenes and it was just too weird.  Despite it’s quirkiness, there is nothing new in this plot that we have seen many times before!!  2* (I didn’t like this movie)  

113 min, Adventure directed and written by David and Nathan Zellner with Robert Pattinson, Mia Wasikowska, David and Nathan Zellner, Joseph Biilingiere, Morgan Lund, Ray Kelleher, David Wingo, Russell Mael, Gary Brookins, Gae Casdorph, Landon Weeks, Larry Zeng, Sabrina Chappuis, Palmer Scott.

Note:  Imdb 5.5* out of 10* with 2,884 views, Roger Ebert 3* Christy Lemire, Rotten Tomatoes 69% with 106 critics 57% audience with 707 ratings, RollingStone 3* out of 4* Peter Travers, The Guardian 3* out of 5* Jonathan Romney, Common Sense Media 3* out of 5* Jeffrey M. Anderson, age 16+, 1* positive role models, 4* violence, 3* sex, 4* language, Amazon 2.9* out of 5* with 96 reviews.

Special Note:  Wasikowska and Pattinson were supposed to star in another western call Brimstone 2016.  They both dropped out from the production just weeks before filming started.  Pattinson read the script and passed on the project.  He thought this film would not be able to get financing.  A few weeks later he watched Kumiko, the Treasure Hunter 2014 and he loved it.  He asked his agent about the directors David and Nathan Zellner.  He found out that he had read the script for Damsel a few weeks earlier but didn't remember.  Pattinson and Wasikowska also worked together on Maps to the Stars 2014.