Place of Bones is a 2024 western film directed by Audrey Cummings, who had previously helmed projects like She Never Died (2019), Darken (2017) and directed episodes of the TV show Astrid and Lilly Save the World in 2022. She's been kind of a recent female director of genre movies that update or give a new spin to old concepts. Place of Bones at first seems to be one of those films but it's not quite subversive in any meaningful way.
The plot follows widow Pandora (Heather Graham) and her daughter Hester (Brielle Robillard) living together in the middle of nowhere in the late 19th century. The two encounter a wounded bandit (Corin Nemec), whose presence brings to their small ranch a gang of ruthless bank robbers. Now the two women must face the outlaws.
This is a sort of revisionist western (in a loose sense), a modernized version of obsolete stories, using more modern music in the style of a Tarantinian tribute and dialogue, never going for a plain reconstruction of the more well known examples from older decades, however, there are some very Leone-like shots and some very identifiable John Fordian shots as well, so it is quoting from and using typical western examples after all, but I dont think it's constructing anything refreshing or new with them. The simplistic plot and the focus on action and quickly created intensity sort of gives me a very matinee-like vibe from even older and simplistic B-movie westerns. Overall, it's a hodgepodge of all of those things, molding them to its will in order to make a work that's not quite new but not a faithful recreation of the classics either.
The film is really low on production values and haphazardly constructed when it comes to its narrative. Tension is created only for time to pass quickly in a confusing manner that breaks the pacing and atmosphere the film was barely building upon before the editing dropped it. Characters spout out their conflicts in somewhat contrived and overdone manners, the performances are everything but subtle even if they are competent. Nothing is pushed to its most effective limit, distancing itself from the dramatic potential of the scenes by clunkily resolving them in anticlimactic ways.
The characters are sort of whinny if not useless or unprepared, the main leads don't really get their time to shine. Every event is simply mechanically executed and thoughtlessly added into a narrative that’s full of cliches. There's few or maybe zero life to the story and its action sequences, and the script doesn't do a good job in making its plot beats and key scenes compelling. It’s lacking invention and potent punches. It's missing a method and a concise point to get to.
Not everything is bad though. I liked the main mother-daughter relationship and their performances are solid enough, even if the characters are sort of one dimensional for the most part. The cinematography and the production design are serviceable as well. I also appreciate that this low budget joint is barely 90 minutes, it's a quick and digestible watch even if it doesn't work for a lot of it.
Only recommended for die hard western and girls with guns fans. It's nothing notable but it's moderately entertaining if you know what you are getting in for, cheap TV movie level stuff but not horribly done. I will say that the idea of a mother-daughter relationship in a western movie is the only idea that hasnt been done before to death. I do wish they could have gone further with the premise and perhaps constructed a more gripping storyline with the few resources they had.
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