Quantum Cowboys

I was lucky enough to catch a screening of this film last night, and it is wonderous.

The film uses a mix of animation along with live action to create a surreal world that is always shifting and changing. This does take some getting used to, but by the end of the movie it works seamlessly. The story as well is incredibly confusing, but once you adapt the mentality of "I'm just gonna run with it," it manages to provoke deeper discussion that I love to see from films.

The animation in particular is something that I have never seen, and I doubt I will see again. The way it combines so many styles into one more or less coherent story is marvelous and incredibly impressive.

Now, is it a perfect movie? No, certainly not. Like all movies it has its flaws, but you can tell this is someone's (Geoff Marslett's, in this case) untethered vison of a film. Because of this it becomes something that is truly incredible to watch. I can't wait to watch this again.

Quantum Cowboys is a brilliant, mind and genre bending act of cinematic wizardry! Keeping the audience gleefully teetering on a time warping, paradoxical roller coaster ride through the old west. Beautifully acted and masterfully directed, and oh so clever in its scripting and storytelling.

Musical genius, Howe Gelb not only created the musical score and perfectly crafted songs, but appears as the legendary Blacky Ranchette. This character and his music are expertly woven throughout the film. My favorite thread within this film is the understated First Nations wisdom and commentary, that respectfully builds upon the ever growing cultural awareness and honoring of the Original people of North America. This film is a truly original romp through western quantum trickster medicine.

I did not expect to like this movie and i was more than pleasantly surprised& impressed. I had the opportunity to see this at AFF23 and you never know with indie films (especially westerns set in the past, present, and future) Not to get too religious, but I lowercase-b believe we live in a matrix & this movie shook hands with my already held ideas about life & the universe+ time and space. I can't wait to watch this again when it is available to screen at home for hidden treasures. Please also make more of this content for me to consume & absorb. I will buy mercy, share with my friends and family and anyone who will listen. I will make memes for Reddit. I will make tiktok videos with the characters. It will make everyone involved a lot of money.

I saw this at the Hell's Half Mile film festival in Bay City, Michigan and was absolutely mesmerized by it. It's one of those movies you need to see several times to fully understand it (i really doubt that I did) but it's such a wonderful visual experience that it aches to be seen on a big screen. It feels loose and improvised, though I doubt that it was, and the cast is just so damn cool. I mean, Neko Case and John Doe?! Come on!!! Stylistically, it's all over the place, which could hurt but really serves the film and the entire experience. I can't remember the last time I saw a movie where every moment was a surprise and every image a work of art.

As an artist myself, a painter specifically, I thoroughly enjoyed this movie as a moving, literally and figuratively speaking, flowering of rich, unique, and varied animated imagery. I will include "Cosmic Cowboys" in my own personal curatorial list of works I find particularly insightful, entertaining, and strangely relevant in a world hellbent on violence and destruction. Regarding relevance or the question of why this movie is of our present time, the movie offers Hope, at least, a hint that we are not totally powerless and without agency, that we have the ability to peer beyond an authoritarian materialism, and that our mere observation, our particular focus, can indeed affect future events.

David Kwiecinski, Hatch,NM. 2023.