John Hillcoat directs Guy Pearce, Ray Winstone and Emily Watson in this Australian ‘western’ where a lawman who orders a notorious outlaw to kill his older brother or else his younger brother will be executed.

A tough, unforgiving movie. As much about brute colonialism and pragmatic civilisation as black hats and white hats. Why is it only the very worst of society who is sent out to bring society to others? Or to try to carve out there own home within uninviting savagery? Can men of violence ever truly deserve a home? Everyone has blood on their hands. And flies. The flies budget for this is through the fucking roof. The harsh violence is furnaced within myth. Danny Huston understands the assignment most. Might be Winstone’s best performance. Overall The Proposition is a little forced at times but it has ambitions way beyond what the DVD case ever promised and explores them well. “Why can’t you ever just… stop me?”

8

Perfect Double Bill: The Nightingale (2019)

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