Quantum Cowboys

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.

Super blend of animation that is fascinating to watch. Interesting and engaging from start to finish. Great and wacky cast. Strap in for this wild ride. Lily Gladstone anchors the cast along with some very strong supporting performances. Love the connection between the multiverses and the styles of animation. Who could imagine a cast that includes Kiowa Gordon, David Arquette, John Doe and Alex Cox. Add in Gary Farmer and Neko Case and John Way and you have as many acting styles as animation styles. The original music by Neko Case and Howe Gelb is great. This film really pushes into creative story telling and was super enjoyed it.

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.

QUANTUM COWBOYS is a very challenging film yet so much fun to watch, talk about with your friends afterwards, speculate and theorize about. This movie takes such huge and ambitious swings intellectually and visually there is no way you can't applaud it. Director/writer Geoff Marslett is a true mad scientist of a filmmaker with a wild imagination.

The cast and performances are captivating. It's so easy to fall in love with the trio of Lily Gladstone, Kiowa Gordon and John Way. David Arquette and Frank Mosley as Colfax and DePew really daw you in and help bring even more scope and layers to the story. The rest of the supporting cast bring so much life, fun and intrigue. I cant believe French New Wave icon, ANNA KARINA is this movie!!!

I want all the sequels/spinoffs to QUANTUM COWBOYS so definitely tell your friends about this and check it out!