TIFF 2021 Review: Montana Story

Montana Story (2021) is an American drama film. It was produced, written, and directed by David Siegel and Scott McGeehee.

Our story opens with Cal Thorne (Owen Teague) arriving at the Thorne family ranch, somewhere in Paradise Valley, Montana. His father, Wade, is in a coma following a stroke. A nurse named Ace (Gilbert Owuor) has moved into the house, keeping a vigilant eye on Wade. Cal has returned home to the ranch to take care of the business end of his father’s apparently imminent demise.

Having mired himself in debt, Cal works with creditors to try and settle up with the people to whom Wade owes money. He is trying to sell the ranch and the vehicles, as well as figure out what to do with Mr T, Wade’s aging horse. Cal deals with all of this while also dealing with his own emotions, watching his father expire before his very eyes.

Wade also has a daughter, Erin (Haley Lu Richardson) who is Cal’s half sister, having been born to a different mother. When Erin arrives at the ranch, she doesn’t seem at all happy to be there. Not because she doesn’t want to see her father in ill health, but because the two of them are estranged, and the wounds of abuse that she has suffered at the hands of Wade are still open.

Erin plans to leave almost as soon as she arrives. Cal begs her to stay, but Erin isn’t trying to hear that. It isn’t until she discovers that Cal plans to send Mr. T to the glue factory that she decides to stick around a little bit longer than she had initially intended. Erin is a cook in New York City somewhere, and decides that, rather than let Cal euthanize Mr. T, that she will purchase a truck and a trailer, and transport the horse back to NYC with her.

As this course of action progresses, both Cal and Erin are forced to confront their familial demons, and sort out their emotional baggage, both with Wade, as well as each other, against the backdrop of the incredibly gorgeous, big sky country of Paradise Valley Montana.

I wanted to watch Montana Story for no other reason than it was set in this particular part of Montana. Having very recently traveled there myself, and basically fallen in love with the place, I was keen to revisit it, even if it was only on film, not actually being there in the flesh.

How did I feel about the film upon its conclusion? I mean, it was fine. It was pretty slow, pretty light in the story department, and ultimately not very memorable. The acting is solid. Everyone in the film does a fine job of bringing their characters to life. Save for a few supporting characters, the film belongs mostly to Richardson and Teague, with Owuor in the meatiest of the supporting roles.

However, despite the film’s heavy emotional tone, it just doesn’t feel that significant. It doesn’t really work as a tone poem the way that something like Days of Heaven (Terrence Malick, 1978) does. Nor does it work that well as an arthouse-y character study the way that something like Spring Forward (Tom Gilroy, 1999) does.

Additionally, Montana Story was produced during the whole Corona 19 lockdown thing, and it almost feels like it. I wouldn’t expect a story set in this geographical location would exactly be teeming with people. Nevertheless, even if I hadn’t seen this film until ten years after the conclusion of the Corona debacle (whenever that might be), I would likely suspect that it had been produced during that time. I can’t exactly put my finger on how or why. It just feels like a product of lockdown.

The scenery I was interested in feasting my eyes on once again was beautiful, and impressively shot. However, most of it takes place on the Thorne family ranch, as a result this is the majority of Montana that we see. I suppose I should mention once again that Montana is a place of majestic natural beauty. To paraphrase Alex DeLarge from A Clockwork Orange (Stanley Kubrick, 1971) “Oh it was gorgeousness and gorgeosity made from earth.” You know how that one song says that line about “purple mountains majesty?” Yeah, well Montana has actual purple mountains. No bullshit. Is there majesty? You bet your sweet bippy there is. Seriously, the place was magical to me, and I can’t wait to visit again.

Ultimately, Montana Story is basically a film where two damaged people talk to each other for just under two hours. It wasn’t a poorly executed film about two damaged people talking to each other for just under two hours, but it also wasn’t provocative or engaging enough to be a super successful film about two damaged people talking to each other for just under two hours. It just kind of was. It wasn’t great, it wasn’t terrible, it was just fine.

If that sounds like your kind of movie, then you are likely to dig the everlovin’ shit out of Montana Story. If not, you are better off spending your own just-under-two-hours on something else.