Sweetwater

when you watched this film. there were many gibberish mambo-jumbo religious crappy monologue or crazy enough talk-to-himself murmurings. and the directing was also quite weird as the film itself. there was an usual cunning vicious and violent religious bully who thought all the vast land was his lord and his own property. he committed murder after murder under the name and excuse of the lord and at the same time whenever he reached the climax when he screwed his female followers, he also praised the lord for his ultimate pleasure(guess why all the men and women would cry out in unison 'oh, my god, oh my god' is indeed a Christian mantra during intercourse or love-making?)

this is a very weird movie, an out-of-the-box very unconventional western, at times funny and ruthless, sometimes clueless and ridiculous. but what made this film above the cheap low budget western genre B movies was 1) most of the actors did great jobs and performed so well that didn't give you a cheap feeling of the average tasteless low budget and disgusting modern day western B movies; 2) the great cinematography of the camera, the wide angle wildness of the landscape, the beautiful light setting control. just by watching the glamorous camera works would worth the money and earned at least 8 stars; 3) although the screenplay was a bit over the top ridiculous, but still quite watchable, good enough to anchor your fat buttocks firmly on the seat to the end. again, a weird mindless clueless absurdity sometimes is not a bad idea.

I declare myself a lover of western movies. Of those of classic style, in which there are no surprises and the hero is clearly the hero, as dedicated to bourbon as he is to his gun; who takes the girl in extremis and has a very personal sense of justice and love. Westerns without surprises, I said, in which the good win and the bad die, be that as it may. But I confess my weakness for more or less experimental westerns. Sweetwater portrays fundamental themes known to all; the madness of religion and the eccentricity of the law. It does that through two singular characters, exaggerated, delirious, supposedly transcendental, totally overcooked. The script is very normal but it compensates this with other expressive resources, with scenes of fairly honest, extreme and suggestive poetry. A western filled with black humor and meaningless speech that deals with a harsh revenge, for once, at the hands of a woman. A little bit excessive movie, not suitable for anyone. A particular portrait of the madness of the Far West. A remarkable, risky but inspiring western.

January Jones plays the main lead in this and she is really great in this. Ed Harris also has a blast and the movie overall is a nice addition to the western genre. It has all the right ingredients (with added female nudity, which isn't something that is a given of course) and was obviously fun to shoot.

The movie itself which was playing at the Fantasy Filmfest in Germany when I watched it, is predictable because of the known story line (even without me saying where this is going, you'll see it coming from a thousand miles). But the fun you can have with it, is still there, especially if you have a soft spot for Western movies in general

Interesting script, sharp, well written dialog. Several subtle "funnies" along the way. Such a delightful departure from his "norm" and excellent performance by Ed Harris. I liked this dandy Colombo with a harmlessly psychotic twist. Amy Madigan almost stole the show with one short scene, played with so few words, very, very well. Some of the sharp dialog could have been delivered better by January Jones, Bless her heart, but a lead role like this can be exhausting, I'm sure. Hope she grows into them, though, because she was easy to watch. A cast of characters keeps things interesting, And one is always watching for twists and turns. Would have been interesting to discover her situation in the end. Seemed to end somewhat abruptly without closer in that area.

The plot: A psychotic preacher goes too far when he begins indiscriminately murdering innocent people. A manic sheriff and gun-toting ex-prostitute team up to stop him and his followers.

I liked this film, but it's really quite shallow. If you can enjoy a minimalist, high-concept revenge thriller, this is actually pretty enjoyable. Just don't look for anything more than violent action scenes, despicable villains, and violent anti-heroes who would make Clint Eastwood proud.

As I expected, Ed Harris is the highlight of this film. His crazy sheriff is unpredictable, darkly humorous, and fun. The little bits of back story that we were fed make him intriguing, but it's a bit unfortunate that they never capitalized on any of it. I thought that maybe there'd be plot twists and complicated alliances, like a Sergio Leone film, but I guess this isn't that kind of film. No, it's basically a beat-em-up video game where the hero kills all the villain's henchmen and then does a boss fight.

There are quite a few postmodern touches to the film that may annoy old-school Western fans. For one thing, this a modern revenge thriller that's been transposed into a Western setting. As such, I don't think this was really meant to appeal to fans of classic Westerns. Instead, it's going for the Quentin Tarantino crowd, though it could have used more style and quotable dialog. For a poor man's QT film, this is not bad, but I'd recommend the real thing instead.