Cowboys

Description

Noted screenwriter Thomas Bidegain brings the tough, tense attitude of his earlier scripts for A Prophet and Rust and Bone to a contemporary adaptation of John Ford’s The Searchers. When Alain’s 16-year-old daughter Kelly disappears at a French cowboy fair in 1994, he begins an epic journey to find her. Discovering that she has left of her own accord and wants to be left alone does not deter him; if anything, it spurs him to even more desperate action. As the multi-year quest leads him to far-flung locales in the Middle East, and he begins to involve his son George, the story expands to encompass an impressive array of themes and milieus. The choice of time period of Cowboys, set both before and after 9/11, allows for a provocative exploration of the paranoia and xenophobia that arose globally after that tragic event. As Alain trails his daughter to Belgium, Syria, Afghanistan and Yemen, the motivating factors behind his search evolve from a place of love and concern into something darker and more obsessive. Bidegain is expert at revealing volumes in small moments—for all of the film’s globetrotting, it’s a fairly intimate story—and takes his time to let its impact seep into the viewer gradually. By the film’s denouement, as Kelly’s circumstances and Alain’s obsessions reach their endpoint, everyone in the family is utterly changed and yet trying to move forward in our perplexing and challenging new world. —Rod Armstrong

Film Details