Six Reasons Why

It takes place in the future, but that's just a time frame. Of the fact that it's in the future you will only see TWO visual hints. I won't name 'em.

This is a western that harks to old Eastwood 'Fistful of dollars' style but done 21st centurywise. The Directing and camera work is done spare and elegant. You start off thinking it's being done cheap-- but it isn't. The creators have an innate feel and understanding of what the adult 'Western' sought to illuminate.

The focus are the Men and their Pasts, All strangers meeting in the desert. And the Desert as a crucible from which the Truth and Survival is forged.

There are no spoilers here, that would be an insult to the film's creators. . .So have a brew or a glass ready nearby and Watch the movie. And just try to figure out who is Who. The ending WILL surprise you.

The overt mythic qualities of Six Reason Why nearly suffocate the agile and action-based story line that concerns cowboys laying down the law of the land with their six shooters. Long moments are spent showing the cowboys guns fingered into readiness as they face each other down; characters peer at each other from beneath the brim of their hats; the only horse in the film gets long camera takes almost as if as a separate character his appearance states a certain truth about the place this film holds in the Western myth.

The filmmakers eschew any semblance of character goal-achieving objectivity by locating the essence of their tale in storytelling and a dialogue-driven re-affirmation of the code of the old west, with more than a few twists and turns to renovate the film vehicle into a post-modern parable told and retold in flashback as with each successive plot point we go into each character's past to see how they have arrived at the present place in the tale. The overt concept that the Nomad uses as motivation for dispatching his prey is nebulous and without an objective correlative that identifies it must be found in the viewer as part of the baggage he brings to the film from seeing just this kind of western before.

Six Reason's Why is an echo of earlier creations of both Sergio Leone and Sam Peckinpah, if on a smaller scale. If you like these filmmakers, chances are you will appreciate SRW. If you don't know these filmmakers, its still definitely worth a look for its layered storytelling, and new take on old school westerns.

After viewing the film, I was quite impressed, knowing that this film was shot with a shoe-string budget, didn't really cross my mind while I was watching it. That in itself is a feat. Also working with relatively unknown actors (aside from Feore, who's scenes are short but sweet), one might think that without a lightening pace, interest could fade. It doesn't. In fact it builds throughout the film as each character's pasts and motives come to light. Some are explained more than others, which leaves some questions to be asked, but in a good way, a la the man with no name. The story is told in a Tarantino-esquire, non linear format that leaves the viewer hanging, and the slow build to the inevitable showdown is done with sharp stylized dialogue, splashes of violence and some beautiful eye candy shots.

This film is not for the impatient, but if you stick with it, you will find it rewarding with its post-apocalyptic hinted setting, cryptic storytelling and an outcome that will leave you wanting to know more about the story, after the film ends. A great little indie film. Qudos to the Bros Campagna, looking forward to see what comes next.