Dead Man's Burden (2012)

It is a performances centric movie

Fantastic!

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

I, personally, love slow burners like this one - with beautiful western scenery, long single- take shots, and interesting and attractive characters. I agree with nearly everything already mentioned in the previous reviews so won't repeat all that here. Save to say I felt the dialog, and this the film, was spoiled by Martha's mumbling! I had to turn on the sub-titles to understand what Clare Bowen was saying as she truly is one of the world's greatest mumblers. (Even in Nashville I have difficulty understanding her.) And even the sub-title writer must have had problems, because quite often in Martha's speech it would just say "inaudible". That said it is a beautiful western! And we don't see too many of them around these days.

This is one of those movies where people who do 'bad' things even for good reasons must be punished. In final denouement some will be moved but if you are like me you will just be annoyed at the clichéd predictability of it all. It really doesn't start out this way but as the story progresses the intent becomes clear, though we hang on, however vain the hope, that something good may develop. I suppose that's a positive. The director does keep us clinging to our wishful thinking, though we know deep down that our hearts must be broken in this version of the western kabuki play. There are some decent performances. Clare Bowen makes a valiant effort but her character was never fully believable for me. The others seemed like competent stock characters. The direction seemed to be amateurish at times and the numerous attempts to use lens flares and back-lighting 'creatively' I found irritating and distracting. Then there is the matter of a shotgun being able to drop a fast moving horse at a distance of 200 plus yards and other assorted improbabilities and inconsistencies. I hope the director gets another shot. I think with experience and some competent mentoring he may do some fine work.

Dead Man's Burden is a low budget independent film that follows the story of a family post Civil War. I was impressed by Jared Moshé's directing and writing and while there is room for improvement I believe he does hold much skill and knowledge for film. The film location alone of New Mexico adds intrigue and beauty as well as capturing the tone of a traditional Western. Barlow Jacobs and David Call were decent, however at times rather cheesy. Clare Bowen gives a standout performance as Martha Kirkland. I hold high hopes for her in the future as she continues Nashville and works on future projects. All in all this film is worth viewing at least once and I urge you to give it a chance.

Director Jared Mosche makes a fine feature film debut with "Dead Mans Burden" This film made its east cost premier at the 20th Hamptons International Film Festival. Mosche brilliantly captures the lawlessness of the mid to late nineteenth century American west. The film centers around the death of a family member, and the mine that wants to purchase the family ranch. Richard Riehle (from the comedy "Office Space") does a fine job playing the best and only friend of the deceased. His performance captures the loneliness and disconnection of a person living in the middle of nowhere, coping with the death of his friend. Hopefully this film finds a distributor.