a beautiful movie, poetic and poignant, if you can sit through the violent first few minutes, the story of a sensitive "tough guy" aptly named Arm, magnificently deals with his inner conflict, belonging to a gang, having an autistic son, and not wanting to do some of the terrible things asked of him by the gang.
A bleak, grimey experience from start to finish. Calm with Horses is a dark, sad tale about the families we choose, the families we don't, and the loyalty we may feel to each. Cosmo is fantastic as Arm, the retired boxer who finds himself wrapped up with the Devars criminal family business, while desperately trying to carve a life with his girlfriend and young son. A feeling of unease and dread soaks this movie, with only a few spatters of dark humour throughout to keep the film from feeling too suffocating. Pretty solid stuff.
The film starts with a close-up of main character's fist, which defines him as a person. "I'm told I was a violent child". Loyalty becomes the prison of a criminality that suffocates. A story told calmly, but with a constant sense of danger, even in the scenes between Arm and his son, who have a semblance of tranquility in his life. There are echoes of Nicolas Winding Refn or Michaël R. Roskam, but in a positive way.
It's based on a short story so it makes sense that the ending leaves some things unresolved, but the ending is not this movie's only problem. It's unclear what is the message that the movie was trying to convey, it was beautifully shot and well acted, but you don't know what you're supposed to take away from it.
It's like someone halfway through making a B movie with gangs and action decided that they also wanted it to be poignant to they added those bits that makes the characters sad (poverty, illness, small town anguish... etc).
It wasn't a total waste of time but it could have been better.
A grim, sometimes difficult to watch film.
Shout by CsncBlockedParent2023-02-03T22:46:49Z
Loved it. Cathartic. Movie that speaks to you and makes you feel something unlike these generic superheroes garbage. Great acting from Arm