Damsel | SXSW 2018 Film Review

A western is one of my favorite genres of film. It’s a staple of cinema, but is getting increasingly harder to pull off due to the limited amount of things that can be done or covered. How many times can we see a cattle baron trying to steamroll the little guy? How many times can we root for the hero to save his fair maiden from the black-hat-wearing outlaw? Damsel makes an attempt at cracking that mold…and almost succeeds.

A dandy, young businessman (Robert Pattinson) travels west to the hills of California in search of his fiance, Penelope (Mia Wasikowska), that has been kidnapped by some dastardly scoundrels. Loaded up with a rifle, a guitar, and a Shetland pony, he teams up with his guide that happens to be an alcoholic reverend (played by one of the directors, David Zellner) whom is slated to be the one to wed them. As it turns out, not all is as it seems, and the blundering dance of miscommunication and awkwardness is underway.

Pattinson’s performance is top-notch as the gold-toothed Samuel. His simple-minded naivete mixed with his blind determination to find, rescue, and marry his fiance is a wonderful departure from some of his past roles. Pattinson’s tongue-in-cheek humor is parlayed with excellence while being slightly goofy, without going full Don Knotts à la The Apple Dumpling Gang. Seeing him stroll into town with a little pony and a guitar & rifle strapped to his back gave me flashbacks to Buckaroo Banzai. I just knew this shit was about to get crazy.

Zellner holds his own with Pattinson as the drunk parson just trying to make it from one day to the next. The other Zellner, Nathan, also pops up in a quirky bit I won’t disclose here for sake of spoilers. Mia Wasikowska seems to have found her niche with yet another period piece (Alice In Wonderland, Crimson Peak) but shows this is one tough-as-nails damsel that brings distress to others, instead of the other way around.

Damsel takes off like a rocket in the first half of the film. There are curiosities, hijinks, and a hum of comedy that never seems to drop. It’s as if you’re constantly on edge just waiting to laugh. And that’s a good thing. What the Zellner brothers do well is to not do what’s expected. When you think you have everything figured out, you don’t. This is what makes the first half of Damsel a fun ride.

Unfortunately, the second half needed much more than a couple of twists. It’s as if the film made turn after turn, got dizzy, and then could no longer find its own footing. The plot drags and after a major shakeup at “halftime”, there is no clear direction for which the movie to progress to.

Ultimately, Damsel culminates in an anticlimactic ending, albeit a humorous one, but probably should have had about thirty minutes or so shaved off of it. Instead of the clever shenanigans that were originally promised, it’s the audience who is left in distress.