PLACE OF BONES - Mark Reviews Movies

Place of Bones, The Avenue

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Review by Mark Dujsik | August 22, 2024

Place of Bones takes its time building toward an inevitable showdown. On one side of this Western is a dual thief, who robbed a bank with a gang of outlaws and subsequently took the money from his cohorts. On the other is the rest of gang, led by the brother of the now-dead posse's leader. Caught up in the middle of this are a widow and her daughter, living on a remote and dried-up farm with no neighbors of whom to speak and 95 miles from the nearest town.

The setup of Richard Taylor's screenplay is solid, especially since it provides such a sense of isolation and helplessness for Pandora (Heather Graham) and her daughter Hester (Brielle Robillard), who have somehow survived alone and without any obvious resources or any clear way of obtaining them if they wanted to. In theory, they can make do with what's at hand, since they both seem healthy and not at all concerned with how they're going to get their next meal.

Indeed, Hester just wants a chance to see more of the world than her little home, while Pandora's main worry is that her daughter occasionally doesn't use proper grammar when she speaks. These are not the concerns of desperate people.

The thieves, though, add a component of danger they might not have faced until now. They're ruthless in ways the two might suspect but of which can't quite be entirely certain. The thief Hester finds near the farm, for example, admits he and his gang robbed a bank, that the robbery turned violent, and that he did kill the other members of his posse. Calhoun (Corin Nemec) insists, though, that he had to do all of these things in order to survive. Surely, Pandora and Hester can at least comprehend some of that, if anyone can, given their present circumstances.

There are a few revelations here as the story, which is unfortunately repetitive by way of its enclosed nature, progresses, but none of them, save for one, is much of a surprise. That's fine, of course, because the one genuine shock of the story is so consequential but comes so late in the movie that there is no time for it to be explored or even for its significance to this tale to really register. It might explain a thing or two about why events happen the way they do, but that thought could be a stretch. If it's Taylor's intention, however, it feels like an even bigger stretch.

Anyway, the final beat of this story is ultimately irrelevant, if only because it comes across as a random—albeit rather wicked—surprise for its own sake. For the most part, Taylor and director Audrey Cummings use the limited backdrop, the basic premise, and the dynamics between these characters for a battle of wills and wits, which gradually rises toward a more straightforward kind of battle as the vengeful, greedy gang makes their way to the farm.

As such, it's initially compelling, because it presents us with two parties who should be at odds—and still are, simply because they're so different—but have to reconcile their differences on account of the looming threat. Pandora is a hardened, religiously devout woman, whose only motives are to protect her daughter, the farm, and herself—and maybe in that order. She has done a good job after the death of her husband, and while nothing is growing on the farm, she's hopeful things will turn around for the place.

While visiting her father's grave the morning after hearing a distant gunfight, Hester finds Calhoun badly wounded by multiple gunshots. Pandora tends to those wounds, including a leg shattered by a bullet, as well as she can, and when Calhoun comes to, he explains about the bank robbery and the saddlebag filled with cash he took from his gang. Pandora's willing to let him leave without his twice ill-gotten gains, but once Calhoun points out that notorious Bear John (Tom Hooper) will be looking for the money and him, Pandora realizes she and Hester could probably use the injured outlaw's help if the criminal and his posse arrive.

Pandora and Calhoun argue a lot—about his lack of morals and her moral stubbornness, his traitorously wily nature and her stern bedside manner, and his insistence on getting out of here with the cash and her refusal to let a bad man get away with his foul deeds. The performances here make it work on a foundational level, with Graham as a woman who has become harsh out of necessity and Nemec showing the easy charm of a man whose words cannot be trusted.

Quickly, though, the characters start talking in the same circles, since there's not much for them to say and even less for them to do until Bear John and his gang, currently tracking Calhoun, arrive. They're a nasty bunch, as a scene at their camp shows, but when they discover the dead gang members, we realize Calhoun might not be the mere thief he presents himself as.

Such details don't play into the dynamic at the farm, because there is, after all, the requisite showdown, which is smartly staged, to get to—not to mention that final revelation. Place of Bones may be patient in getting there, but it doesn't quite fulfill the potential of its suspenseful, character-focused setup.

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