Montana Story

Name: Montana Story
Genre: Drama
Released: May 13, 2022
Duration: 113 min
Rating: 73
Cast: Asivak Koostachin, Eugene Brave Rock, Gilbert Owuor, Haley Lu Richardson, John Ludin

2022

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 22 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 9 Ratings

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6.3

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6.3	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 9 Ratings

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Movie Details & Credits

Bleecker Street Media | Release Date: May 13, 2022 | R

Starring: Asivak Koostachin, Eugene Brave Rock, Gilbert Owuor, Haley Lu Richardson, John Ludin, Kate Britton, Kimberly Guerrero, Owen Teague

Summary: Two estranged siblings (Haley Lu Richardson, Owen Teague) return home to the sprawling ranch they once knew and loved, confronting a deep and bitter family legacy against a mythic American backdrop.

Director: David Siegel and Scott McGehee

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: R

Runtime: 113 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Chandler Levack

Sep 13, 2021

Thanks to the specificity of Richardson’s performance in particular and Giles Nuttgen’s gorgeous cinematography (the movie is shot on 35 mm), Montana Story evokes a grandiose style of American frontier filmmaking, somewhere between John Ford and Kelly Reichardt. See it on the largest screen you can find. Read full review

The Film Stage Dan Mecca

May 12, 2022

McGehee and Siegel are at the top of their game, building to an emotional and memorable climax. Nothing is too shocking, but nothing happens exactly as expected either. One could look at the premise of this film and convince themselves they’ve seen it before. They’d be wrong. Read full review

Bill Goodykoontz

May 18, 2022

Montana Story is a personal film, a small story told under the Big Sky. Those skies can make any story feel epic in scope — they frame tales as mythology in a way. But in Scott McGehee and David Siegel’s film (they wrote and direct), those same skies are so grand and far-reaching they can make you lose your perspective. Read full review

IndieWire Robert Daniels

Sep 17, 2021

Montana Story doesn’t reinvent the Western wheel. Rather it offers tender mercies as a sentimental work that explodes in well-earned fury. Read full review

Mick LaSalle

May 23, 2022

It moves, makes us care and involves us in the genuine drama of two young people trying to heal themselves. The austere beauty of the locations doesn’t hurt either. Read full review

Natalia Keogan

May 16, 2022

An intimate drama about a family disbanded by abuse, Montana Story is superbly acted, but lacks a formidable narrative capable of carrying its protagonists. Read full review

Jake Cole

May 12, 2022

The film is initially distinguished by its poetic understatement, only for it to eventually succumb to staleness. Read full review

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User Reviews

melstr

May 19, 2022

This movie is one of my favorites in a long time. It starts out slow, and builds one little bit at a time. And each piece lays on top of the last so delicately, but all the while you have this uneasy feeling, like tension building. It is so cleverly done, and feels very confident in the wayThis movie is one of my favorites in a long time. It starts out slow, and builds one little bit at a time. And each piece lays on top of the last so delicately, but all the while you have this uneasy feeling, like tension building. It is so cleverly done, and feels very confident in the way it sets things up. In some ways, it can feel old-fashioned, like movies used to be. It's built on character and relationships and history and unspoken secrets. And it all plays out in a Montana landscape that is just breathtaking, and beautifully captured by the cinematographer. The side characters are all very interesting and strong, not throw-away characters, but people who have interesting stories, too. And I LOVE movies about horses. I definitely recommend this movie to anyone who loves movies, or horses, or Montana or the American West. And Haley Lu Richardson should win awards for her performance. I think she steals the show.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

Grumpy52

May 26, 2022

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Wonderful, thoughtful movie. Superbly acted. Erin and Cal are normal, relatable, responsible young people trying to find their way forward as their childhoods and shared trauma come to an irrevocable close. Siegel and McGehee made a huge -- and to my mind, correct -- choice to keep the film centered entirely in the present. There are no flashbacks, which would have been distractions. The pain of the past is acknowledged, but these characters have swallowed the pain, put on a brave face and meet the world with stoicism. They don't need to wallow in the past. The viewers don't need to see Erin being brutally beaten, or the years of neglect and escalating estrangement leading up to the breaking point, just to satisfy gratuitous voyeurism. The film is anchored in today, and the question is whether Cal and Erin can let go, begin to forgive, and begin to heal.

Erin's excursion through Dante's Inferno has drawn some comment and criticism. I thought it was a wonderful touch. This is a Rorschach test issue, so a word: the world is divided between those of us -- I suppose we're old fashioned and badly outnumbered -- who have actually memorized a thing or two, preferably worthy things, versus the TikTok generation that lives in the eternal present with imaginations bounded by a tiny screen. I had a throwback teacher who made us memorize the Gettysburg Address in 4th grade. We memorized all the creeds and reams of Bible verses prior to confirmation. I'm a little rusty but at one time I could have rattled off all the presidents, the kings and queens of England and bits and pieces of poetry. And if you ever want to know the 12 Caesars and hear a short sketch on each, just look me up. Many of my friends can do the same sort of thing; this used to be part of a liberal education and the intellectual training of a disciplined mind. The important purpose is not the particular thing that you memorize; it's the mental habit and discipline of making something worthwhile truly your own. This has gone out of fashion in modern schools that have abandoned history and the canon, but I find it enormously attractive to come across a throwback character like Erin, who actually bothered to read a foundational piece of the western literary canon as an adult -- and who picked out a list (and a damned good one) to make her own. Good for her. My kind of girl. I also understand that the younger set today doesn't have a clue about why this matters. Their loss.

The supporting actors are wonderfully sketched, in quick but effective strokes. We see enough of Valentina and Joey to understand that Wade's impending death, whatever its implications for Cal and Erin, is going to upset a number of other lives. And one of the cleverest understatements in a restrained and understated film occurs in a conversation across a gas pump, when Erin wonders how Mukki makes his living and observes that he has a LOT of keys. Mukki is willing to palm off a junker to a young woman for a cross country drive (it breaks down in about a hundred miles) ... and he's selling off Craigslist ... yeah, let's wonder how Mukki makes his living. Most reviewers are too busy worshiping at the intersectional altar to notice, but there's broad understated humor in this film (most of it from Erin) if you are sensitive enough to pick it up.

There were some missed opportunities. It would have been nice to meet someone -- maybe a pal of Joey's, or a neighbor of Mukki on the reservation -- who lost his very well-paying job when the big mine closed. There might have been a line or two invested in how Ace was recruited, and from where; many northern plains counties have been losing population for 50 years, and staffing rural health care services is a huge issue -- and therefore an opportunity for immigrants looking for a place to land. Erin should have apologized to Cal for not reaching out for Connie's funeral, and both Cal and Erin might have swung by the local cemetery to say goodbye to their mothers, since it's quite possible that neither of them will ever come back. Lurking in the background here is the sense of solitude in the shadow of eternity ... the timelessness of a rural landscape ... and the realization on the part of both Cal and Erin that this unplanned meeting is probably the last time they will ever see each other unless they find a way to bridge the gulf that separates them. But these thoughts are minor. This movie is a majestic slow burn that may not connect with the spandex crowd that is addicted to hyperstimulation. But the pacing gives the characters time to breathe, to talk seriously and to begin to move. The ice begins to crack. That's all. But in the quietude of this time and place, the cracking of the ice echoes loudly. Beautifully done.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

JLuis_001

Jun 2, 2022

Montana Story is an indie film that seems conventional in every way from the start and that's a good and bad thing at the same time.

It has quality craftsmanship. I can't say anything negative about it. The film is pretty well made overall. However, to what extent can we appreciate aMontana Story is an indie film that seems conventional in every way from the start and that's a good and bad thing at the same time.

It has quality craftsmanship. I can't say anything negative about it. The film is pretty well made overall.
However, to what extent can we appreciate a recycling of ideas that risks absolutely nothing?

Montana Story is a movie made to show off the actors work. Especially Haley Lu Richardson, who delivers a strong performance.
The problem is that her good work is inside a film that goes nowhere.

Yes, I repeat, the quality is good, but its entire course since its beginning has been more than defined.
It's so predictable that it doesn't provoke any real emotion and therefore leaves no memorable impression.

The only conclusion the film's plot offers is redemption and you know after the first 10 minutes and I'm telling you, this film doesn't try anything new.
What would have been truly interesting and challenging is if it had tried something else.

I can tell anyone that it's worth a look, but also understanding that this sort of drama has been seen too many times before.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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