A couple of years ago, when Top Gun: Maverick was riding high, the term ‘dad cinema’ caught on as a way to describe the few Hollywood films that took their cue from the pre-CG, pre-superhero age.
Well, with his first feature in 21 years, Kevin Costner may have just invented granddad cinema. Horizon: An American Saga is a western of the breed John Ford made in the 1940s and 50s: earnest, stately and – even in the face of dire odds – humane and hopeful; full of crisply drawn characters and wide landscapes golden with promise, and without a crumb of cynicism in sight.
At the Cannes premiere of Costner’s $100m passion project, its director and star received an 11-minute standing ovation – which will have doubtless been reassuring for him, since this deeply old-fashioned film is also something of an experiment.
What screened at the Palais was just the first chapter of a two-part whole, which will play in British cinemas in late June, with the second to follow in mid-August. (Costner has promised a further two chapters, yet to be filmed, after that).
A possible challenge is that the film is virtually cliffhanger-free, so audiences will have to be coaxed back on vibes alone, but those vibes are warmingly moreish. Costner and Jon Baird’s tonally precise script has three main stories play out side by side – but takes its time with each, allowing their flavours to build in long, unhurried scenes. In Costner’s section, he plays Hayes Ellison, a lone rider with a moustache like a hoof print who rides into the mining town of Watts Parish, befriends a young woman of negotiable virtue (Abbey Lee), and summarily becomes embroiled in a deadly feud.