Taylor Sheridan : A Case Study
A look into the works of one of the best writers of neo-western films. Mild spoilers ahead.
As superheroes , sequels and big franchises have started to take over Hollywood, the Western genre of films has lost its importance. Originally set to be one of the most durable and money minting genres, it has started to loose grip on the audience. Even big production houses like Disney were unable to save movies from tanking at the box office (cue the 2013 $250 million Johnny Depp starrer The Lone Ranger ). Then came the Coen Brothers. They redefined the genre (hence neo-western) with movies like No Country For Old Men. There is something fundamentally amazing about these movies. For starters, it is based in regions/locations which are not often dwelled or discussed upon. They are based on harsh studies on people and relationships ; meaning the problems shown are realities faced my millions of people. But what I love the most about western genre is the lack of any sort of rules. People live in remote areas far from the metropolitan cities, where the rules which we follow in day-to-day lives are missing. This creates moral ambiguity. Which means, characters get to create their own rules. They break rules when necessary. This is why it is my favourite genre of all. There have been some amazing films in the past like Fargo , Unforgiven and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, but the flame is still kept alive through shows like True Detective and Fargo. Some of the great directors of this genre include like Clint Eastwood , Howard Hawks, the Coen bros. Another upcoming writer/director is Taylor Sheridan. All these motifs I have discussed are reflected in Taylor Sheridan’s work.
Taylor Sheridan is a fairly new writer with only three films till now. He has written Denis Villeneuve’s Sicaro (2015) , Academy Award nominated Hell or High Water ( 2016) , and most recently Jeremy Runner starring Wind River (2017) which was also his directorial debut. He made a very pivotal shift late in his career( he was 40 when he wrote Sicario) from an actor to a writer. And it has paid off very well till now.
Let’s examine the themes in Sheridan’s movies. He writes fairly simple and straightforward plots. This allows allows the characters to take the centerstage and this is where Sheridan brings in the western themes. We don’t have to waste time in figuring out where the plot is going since it so straightforward, this allows us to stay engaged with the characters and dialogues. The biggest and most important theme which his movies draw from older western movies is that all characters always feel remorse for their doings. This puts humanity and hope into movies which otherwise would be cold-blooded action thrillers. The moral dilemma is shown in much more realistic light. It is very prominent in Sicario through the hardships faced by Kate. She goes through all the struggles including facing death right to her face only to end up with everything stripped away from her in the end. A similar motif is presented in Wind River as well. Elizabeth Olsen initially is shown as a preconceived FBI agent who is too focused on getting her work done. Only when she sees the victim’s mother the reality hits her. Now is when she enters into an unfamiliar world filled with dilemma.
The other theme is the self-made rules by the characters.In Hell or High Water, after the final robbery, both the leads come face to face with the local militia. They decide to fight against them because they believe the local police have failed to protect them.In Wind River, we can see Jeremy Runner’s character who is a helper for the fish and agricultural department working out of his jurisdiction as an advisor to the FBI. Taylor Sheridan likes to play with our feelings of right and wrong. Towards the end when we see Jeremy torturing and killing the antagonist we are left confused. We don’t know how to feel about that. However , in his other film Sicario, the case is different. There is conflict in the characters itself. Emily Blunt is in constant dilemma whether to support Matt’s(Josh Brolin) methods of treating innocent civilians, which what he believes is for the greater good.
Another recurring theme is that all the main characters in Sheridan’s movies are looking for atonement. They have done something wrong in their past and they are trying to make amends now. In Wind River , Cory is trying to find Natalie’s murder in hopes to do justice to what happened to his own daughter. In Hell or High Water , the brother are seeking vengeance from the bank which manipulated and kept their mother in poverty. In Sicario , Alejandro is trying to find and kill the man behind the assassination of his family. In doing so, all these characters are brought to their moral bottom. Yet Sheridan tries to show us that its not the people or the banks who have wronged these people, it is society itself. This all feels like a poetic justice in the end.
There is another reason you might want to check out Sheridan’s movies (like Dennis Villeneuve and Roger Deakins weren’t enough), that is the use of dialogue. Sheridan uses dialogue to reveal layers of his characters. My personal favourite from his movies is Hell or High Water .Gone are the times of Tarantino and Mamet when dialogue writing was a piece of art. But movies like this are in which each character speaks with such plainspoken wit that you are hooked to every word uttered.
Taylor Sheridan’s upcoming works include a TV series Yellowstone and a sequel to the Sicario series. Until then, while I keep rewatching these three , I would recommend everyone to check out Sheridan’s work. Who knows, he might be the next Tarantino of writing. If some one really wants to dig deep, I’m attaching the scripts of Hell or High Water , Sicario and Wind River.
“Let your characters live in the gray. Let the hero do some really bad things. Let the bad guy do some really good things.”
Interviews used for this post :
