Ok, so I watched Buck on Netflix last night, hoping to learn something about filmmaking. Although it won an audience choice award at Sundance last year, this film taught me less about filmmaking and more about what type of audience to expect at the nation’s premier film festival. You might find it inspiring if you like horses, or if you’re a big proponent of treating animals and people with respect. The film constantly draws parallels between parenting and horse training.
I like documentaries that are deep, character driven stories. Buck offers a two-dimensional image of a man who’s already undergone his most important human changes. There’s nothing in the way of real, onscreen character development. It’s all backstory.
I had to pin my eyelids to keep them open. Buck’s pace plods like an old mare, or more accurately, as slow as the main character’s cowboy drawl. I mean no disrespect to this man, of course. He’s quite amazing, actually. He can have a bucking bronco eating out of his hand in minutes. He rides a horse like it’s his own four legs. He can rope and shoe and saddle, and out-cowboy anybody. Yes, Buck’s quite the man. It’s the film that makes him boring.
We learn of his childhood with the ubiquitous panning photographs and testimonials from friends. It is indeed a painful history. Buck’s mother passed away when he was small, and his drunkard father beat him cruelly. Instead of succumbing to this pain, Buck has overcome it. He’s broken the cycle of abuse, and uses gentleness and empathy to break wild horses to the saddle. The film chronicles this journey with emotional interviews, interwoven with scenes from Buck’s traveling horse-training clinics.
The cinematography is simple and steady. It is very TLC. Some moody, brooding imagery could have really helped me get into the story, but alas, it was woefully lacking in art and style.
The film also features a cameo from Robert Redford, who hired Buck to work on the set of The
Horse Whisperer. Together they tell a little anecdote about how Buck coaxed one of his horses to walk over and nuzzle the main character. The sequence doesn’t add much, rather it feels like a cheap way to get Redford to appear in the film. But, maybe I’m being too harsh.
The most excitement comes when Buck’s assistant gets bit in the face by an ill-tempered young stud. Buck waves some flags at it, but eventually tells its owner that there’s no hope for the beast. I was hoping to see him tame this one. But, hey, this is real life, not a movie. He also has some choice words for the horse owner, which he delivers in his standard, avuncular tone: “This horse tells me a lot about you.” He tells her in no uncertain terms that it’s her fault that the horse is out of control. He approaches people and horses alike with the same, no nonsense honesty, and they actually listen to him because they sense that he cares. He’s quite winsome.
We also learn about how he’s close to his daughter, and his wife, and his foster mother. His family relationships show how he’s avoided repeating the mistakes of his father. The whole film has no dramatic arc, no character change, no plot, really. A documentary must either show a character change, or attempt to change audience perspective. A good documentary’s foundation is a real story, not just a portrait. This film is only worth watching if you want to see what sort of movie is adored by Sundancers. Frankly, I expected much more.
