For director Robert Redford the trick was directing himself. The Oscar-winning director (Ordinary People, Quiz Show) says that he is one kind of actor (in the moment) and a different kind of director (more controlling). Whatever the problems, Redford has worked it out beautifully in this leisurely paced adaptation of Nicholas Evans's bestseller, The Horse Whisperer. When the prized horse of New York magazine editor's (Kristen Scott Thomas) daughter suffers a horrible accident, she tracks down Tom Booker (Redford), a Montana horse healer who is known for working magic. Soon East Coast brashness meets Old West simplicity as the reluctant Annie takes her even more reluctant daughter (Scarlett Johansson) to Marlboro country. Booker's influence goes beyond the horse through healing the heart of daughter and mother. The 2-hour and 44-minute film is a beautiful travelogue of scene and sky (with a giant assist from Oliver Stone's usual cinematographer, Robert Richardson). Never complicated, the movie's rewards may be hidden in its length and Redford's tendency to introduce us to a way of life instead of focusing on a story. The major deviation from the end of Evans's novel is a welcomed change. --Doug Thomas
Robert Redford's fifth feature as director, and the first self-directed film in which he has starred, The Horse Whisperer features him in a role he could have been born to play, Tom Booker, a gentle, thoughtful Montana rancher with a gift for healing "horses with people problems". When Grace MacLean (12-year-old Scarlett Johansson) suffers a shockingly well-staged riding accident her New York magazine editor mother drives daughter and horse, both carrying physical and emotional trauma, to the Booker farmstead. What unfolds is a 162-minute film in which little happens, yet which is lyrical, deeply moving and richly atmospheric. Inevitably both girl and horse start to heal, while the mother, Annie (Kristin Scott Thomas), who in the early scenes seems disconcertingly to have modelled her performance on Anne--The Weakest Link--Robinson, comes to reassess her life. The adulterous affair of Nicholas Evans' novel is reduced to temptation and treated with much greater maturity than in Scott Thomas' previous English-language film, The English Patient (1996). Indeed, The Horse Whisperer is everything that Oscar winner was hailed as: an intimate sweeping romance in the tradition of David Lean, with superlative cinematography by Robert Richardson and a career-best musical score by Thomas Newman. Thematically echoing Redford's own multi-Oscar winning directorial debut, Ordinary People (1980), The Horse Whisperer is one of the finest films of the 1990s.
On the DVD: Shot at 2.35:1 against very similar landscapes to Legends of the Fall (1994), The Horse Whisperer has a real epic visual sweep and the anamorphically enhanced image captures the endless landscapes and ever-changing skies well. However, there is more than expected grain, and some scenes show obvious compression artefacting. The Dolby Digital 5.1 sound is largely confined to the front three speakers, though creates some wonderfully atmospheric ambiences when called for; Thomas Newman's score is served particularly well in several key scenes. The extras are the American theatrical trailer and a music video for Allison Moorer's New Country ballad "A Soft Place to Fall", both crawling with compression artefacts. Also included are three "featurettes" on the production, Redford, and real-life "horse whisperer" Buck Brannaman, though each runs less than two minutes. The lack of any substantial extras is explained by Redford's comment in his "featurette" that wanting to know about how everything is done ruins the magic of the movies. --Gary S Dalkin
Customer Reviews:
Avg. Customer Rating: 4.0 / 5.0
Brilliant film I ABSOLUTELY LOVE THIS FILM. ITS ABOUT A GIRL GRACE AND HER BELOVED HORSE WHO SUFFER UNSPEAKABLY IN A ROAD ACCIDENT, AND BOTH ARE TRYING TO COME TO TERMS WITH THE TRAUMA BECOMING STRANGERS UNTIL THE HORSE WHISPERER DEVOTES TIME TO HEALING NOT ONLY THE HORSE BUT GRACE AND HER MOTHER.
Truly touching This film is remarkable - it is so emotionally engaging that you can't help but fall in love with the film and the character's in it as they embark on their journey of healing and discovery.
The twists and turns that occur throughout the film keep the audience gripped and we are left feeling satisfied if a bit sad at the end of it all as the characters find themselves choosing the path to follow.
I highly recommend this film! A tribute to Redford's directing skills.
evelynmac I watched this film a few years ago and really enjoyed the stunning scenery. The unfolding story of the healing of the horse and the girl who was involved in the accident. The second time I watched this film the thing that really struck me was the healing of the mother, and the horse whisperer himself, I missed that first time round. As a mother myself, and like the mother in the story quite controlling and weighed down with trying to make everything perfect and trying to fix everyone. The part where the... more info
Deals with life altering changes for the main characters More so than "Horse Whisperer", the movie deals with life altering changes for the four main characters (the mother, the father, the daughter, the horse whisperer) and the horse of course. Even the affair is positive. It helps Tom Booker get over his wife when he puts that record back in it's sleeve, and it helps Annie get off her so called "high horse attitude." It's a movie of changes for the better all around. Enjoyable, real, well done.The scenes interacting with the horse are wonderful. Sitting in that... more info
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