It's the Old West in Canada. A young man (Peter Mullan) trades his wife (Nastasja Kinski) and baby (later to turn into Sarah Polley) for a gold mine and years later becomes the benign dictator of the town of Kingdom Come. He builds a splendid home, along the lines of a slapdash version of Mad King Ludwig's.
The railroad plans to pass by, but not through Kingdom Come. Along with the rush of people, there is Kinski, now terminally ill, and Polley, who does not know that Mullan is her father. Kinski asks for help and Mullan remarries her in what seems to be an attempt to undo the immoral act he earlier committed. Not that he's in any big hurry to get rid of his monumental stash of stone-heavy gold bars in the locked shed next to his house.
Milla Jovovich is present as one of the more prominent whores in the flourishing cat house.
You know -- whatever else this movie has or does not have -- it must be said that this is a talented line up of gorgeous babes. Kinski, Polley, and Jovovich. Murderer's Row of pulchritude. And Kinski, though now old enough to play a the mother of a grown woman, is stunning. Age cannot wither nor custom stale her. They all turn in professional performances too.
It's all pretty tragic however. It's clear that Mullan is ridden with guilt and love but Kinski's destiny is fulfilled, so he's missed out on the most fruitful time they might have spent together. He's compelled to tell Polley that he's her real father and she stalks off into the snow without a word.
Then there's that pesky railroad. Since it will run through the plain below, it leaves Mullan and his mountain empire high and dry. Everyone leaves Kingdom Come to establish the new railroad town down there -- somewhere.
It's all too much for Mullan. He burns down the town he built and consigns himself to a snowy death.
It's a very deliberately paced and realistic-looking Western. The clothes are suitably heavy and drab. The mountains are majestic and snow-veined but as cold and forbidding in their own quiet way as the people who populate the town. There is laughter and booze, but it all seems forced. Nobody's love is fully expressed. There's no operatic content.
There's a little gun play too, but this is a Canadian movie and Canadian movies are always thoughtful, slow, a little dark, and lacking in scenes in which someone's head explodes or an arm is wrenched off or an eye gouged out. I can't even think of a Canadian film in which someone visits a dentist.
I admire it for its location shooting and for the performances, however reined in they are by the script and direction. Ultimately it's a gloomy story. No one enjoys seeing someone utterly demolished in spirit on the screen, not even a miscreant like Mullan. At least he was capable of remorse.
The railroad plans to pass by, but not through Kingdom Come. Along with the rush of people, there is Kinski, now terminally ill, and Polley, who does not know that Mullan is her father. Kinski asks for help and Mullan remarries her in what seems to be an attempt to undo the immoral act he earlier committed. Not that he's in any big hurry to get rid of his monumental stash of stone-heavy gold bars in the locked shed next to his house.
Milla Jovovich is present as one of the more prominent whores in the flourishing cat house.
You know -- whatever else this movie has or does not have -- it must be said that this is a talented line up of gorgeous babes. Kinski, Polley, and Jovovich. Murderer's Row of pulchritude. And Kinski, though now old enough to play a the mother of a grown woman, is stunning. Age cannot wither nor custom stale her. They all turn in professional performances too.
It's all pretty tragic however. It's clear that Mullan is ridden with guilt and love but Kinski's destiny is fulfilled, so he's missed out on the most fruitful time they might have spent together. He's compelled to tell Polley that he's her real father and she stalks off into the snow without a word.
Then there's that pesky railroad. Since it will run through the plain below, it leaves Mullan and his mountain empire high and dry. Everyone leaves Kingdom Come to establish the new railroad town down there -- somewhere.
It's all too much for Mullan. He burns down the town he built and consigns himself to a snowy death.
It's a very deliberately paced and realistic-looking Western. The clothes are suitably heavy and drab. The mountains are majestic and snow-veined but as cold and forbidding in their own quiet way as the people who populate the town. There is laughter and booze, but it all seems forced. Nobody's love is fully expressed. There's no operatic content.
There's a little gun play too, but this is a Canadian movie and Canadian movies are always thoughtful, slow, a little dark, and lacking in scenes in which someone's head explodes or an arm is wrenched off or an eye gouged out. I can't even think of a Canadian film in which someone visits a dentist.
I admire it for its location shooting and for the performances, however reined in they are by the script and direction. Ultimately it's a gloomy story. No one enjoys seeing someone utterly demolished in spirit on the screen, not even a miscreant like Mullan. At least he was capable of remorse.