An action western about a farmer who takes in an injured man with a satchel of cash. When a posse comes for the money, he must decide who to trust. Defending a siege, he reveals a gunslinging talent calling his true identity into question.
“Old Henry” is a western to be enjoyed, to provoke ethos, curiosity, and surprise from its audience. Tim Blake Nelson depicts the title character as a man with deep sorrow and secrets and an almost robotic way of moving through his life. He is not necessarily a sympathetic character, but most of all, he is a man of some mystery. His wife has died and left him alone on an isolated farm with only his teenage son Wyatt, played by Gavin Lewis, who seems resentful and alienated. There is a gulf between the two, exacerbated more than might be expected, due to the father’s seeming lack of emotional investment in their relationship. As a result, the younger man is indifferent and insensitive to the father’s troubles, behaving in an almost hostile manner to him. An uncle seems the only mitigator between the two. Trace Adkins’ metamorphosis from musician to Uncle Al in the film slipped my notice at his first appearance and it wasn’t until later I recognized the Country and Western star. That seems indicative of some depth as an actor I believe.
Nelson is matchless as the mysterious father whose past is shrouded in secrecy. Lewis, however, doesn’t quite match up to the older, more experienced Nelson. He seems too “whiney” and immature initially to make the complete capitulation required later in the film.
Into this subdued frontier life, a mystery suddenly appears. After finding a wounded man lying out in a field with a sack full of money at this side, Henry makes a decision that illuminates an unexpected charitable bent to his makeup but also introduces a tip into his past. His choice will alter the lives of every character in the story and begins the game of “Who Do You Trust?” Scott Haze is convincingly confusing as the “sheriff/outlaw” who rides in with his “posse/gang” demanding Henry hand over the wounded man he has secreted inside his house. The audience is led to wonder, who are the good guys – Henry or the band of men chasing after him? And who, exactly, is “Old Henry”?
Because “Old Henry” deliberately blurs the audience’s perception of the “good guys” and the “bad guys,” that deviation would serve as one mark of a “revisionist” western. But director Potsy Ponciroli gives us more in this film. Character profundity is fascinating in Nelson’s “Henry” and Haze is masterful at revealing and concealing his character so we are always kept guessing as to his real intent. Inserted, too, is the emotional background and current struggle played out between father and son. It is a western remindful of “The Man Without a Name” and other similar films. Most of all, it just feels good to see a western with horses, wide horizons, mystery, darkness, shootouts but also with characters that are not easily definable.
In Theaters Friday, October 1st
