Lovesusti
The Worst Film Ever
Vashirdfel
Simply A Masterpiece
RyothChatty
ridiculous rating
Anoushka Slater
While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.
Python Hyena
The Horse Whisperer (1998): Dir: Robert Redford / Cast: Robert Redford, Kirsten Scott Thomas, Scarlett Johansson, Sam Neill, Dianne Wiest: A rarity among romances because it doesn't support the idea of adultery. The title suggests encouragement or good will. It opens with two girls horseback riding when an accident renders one dead, one legless and a horse turned wildly savage. Kirsten Scott Thomas plays an editor who doesn't want the horse to be put down so she convinces a rancher, played by Robert Redford to tame it. Beautiful photography throughout with director Redford applying his usual theme of loss and recuperation that worked well in Ordinary People. Redford's challenge is not the horse but the rider. Thomas is persistent and torn between feelings of confusion. We know that potential romance blooms but what really excels is Redford's view of Sam Neill who plays her workaholic husband seen as an honest man. Scarlett Johansson is terrific as the emotionally wounded daughter who must face her fear. Dianne Wiest is also good casting playing Redford's mother who observes but comes off as offering advice only when needed. It is not everyday that we are met with a film that respects the act of marriage and goes low for forbidden fruit. Redford's film captures that with a strong theme regarding healing and returning to where one's passion began. Score: 9 / 10
Wuchak
"The Horse Whisperer" (1998) is a drama with Western elements starring Kristin Scott Thomas as Annie, a workaholic magazine editor from the Big Apple, who takes her troubled daughter (Scarlett Johansson) and horse across the country for succor after a horrible tragedy. Can Montanan horse expert Tom Booker (Robert Redford) help them? Sam Neill is on hand as Annie's husband in an aloof marriage.This is an outstanding drama that proves that ordinary life conveyed effectively is more engaging than the most overblown CGI-laden blockbuster with constant "exciting" things going on. Those types of movies have their place, of course, but they're usually only good when they include elements of ordinary life in which the viewer can relate (2009's "Star Trek" and 2013's "Star Trek Into Darkness" are good examples). As my title blurb points out, "The Horse Whisperer" is so potent it's a veritable spiritual experience (which I'll explain momentarily); you just have to be in the right mode for a long drama.One critic said Annie (Scott Thomans) and Tom (Redford) lack chemistry. Poppycock. Do you think director Redford would even do the film without the right actress in the starring role, an actress he had great chemistry with? Besides, the film itself proves this criticism wrong: There's a barn dance sequence late in the film that builds-up to a dance scene. Tom and Annie look deeply at each other from across the room until they ultimately come together, while still looking into each other's eyes. This is EXACTLY how a man and woman look at one another when they love each other. The film expertly captures this intangible element.Despite the above scene, "The Horse Whisperer" doesn't play like a steamy romance novel at all (not that I've ever read one, lol). Redford was 61 during filming and looks it, even though he definitely looked good for his age (Scott Thomas was 36-37, by the way). As such, the love elements are decidedly low-key – a look, a touch, a word – elements that slowly build over the course of the story. I'm not going to say any more or give away the ending, but it concludes the way it had to – excellent job on this front.Johansson does a great job, particularly considering she was only 12 during filming. It goes without saying, don't expect the voluptuous young woman she would soon blossom into for 2002's "Eight Legged Freaks" or 2003's awesome "Lost in Translation." Why do I call "The Horse Whisperer" a veritable spiritual experience? Because everything about it works to produce this effect – the story, the music, the cinematography, the locations – and maybe especially because it's a film about healing. Both Grace (Scarlett) and the horse desperately need healing, but so do Annie and her marriage; and I think maybe even Tom Booker.I don't know how else to describe "The Horse Whisperer" except to say that it's just a beautiful film and easily one of the greatest dramas ever made. If you love great films like "Grand Canyon" (1991), "The Green Mile" (1999), "Whale Rider" (2002) and "Dances With Wolves" (1990) you will also love this one. "The Horse Whisperer" shares qualities of these excellent movies, but is unique.To close, I'd like to share a powerful scene from late in the film (you might not want to read further if you haven't seen the movie, but it's only a mild spoiler at best): Booker tells Grace about this Blackfoot boy whom he was friends with and who became a paraplegic after an accident. Tom would visit him now and then, but the spirited boy he once knew was gone. It was as if he "just went somewhere else." Grace responds, "I know where he goes." The film runs 2 hours and 49 minutes and was shot on location in New York and Montana.GRADE: A
RNMorton
I had always dodged this movie, I think I still associated Robert Redford with what I thought were self-indulgent movies in the late 70s -80s. He never entirely gets away from being smug, but if you can deal with that this movie has a lot going for it. Scarlett J and her horse are involved in horrific accident which leaves both of them physically and psychologically scarred. Her mom Kristen Scott Thomas (always fine) tracks down horse whisperer Redford in Montana or thereabouts, and when he refuses to see them in NY she travels to his turf, Scarlett, damaged horse and all. Redford's family are nicely played, and there are tons of beautiful scenery where Robert calls home. What I liked best about this movie was the slow but persistent pace, along with the scenery and beautiful music. I would have played out the potential love interest between Redford and Thomas differently, but I really think the story is in the Redford-horse-Scarlett angle anyway. Much better than I anticipated.
tieman64
Robert Redford directed "Ordinary People" in 1981. That film watched as two wealthy parents feebly attempt to rehabilitate their suicidal son. Assisting them is a psychologist, with whom the son bonds.Based on a novel by Nicholas Evans, "The Horse Whisperer" finds Redford telling a similar tale. It stars Kristin Thomas as a mother whose daughter (Scarlett Johanasson) becomes suicidally depressed after losing a leg during a horse riding accident. The horse was similarly scarred. Both horse and child are rehabilitated by Tom Brooker (Robret Redford), a "horse whisperer" with remarkable gifts for understanding people and horses."The Horse Whisperer's" first act works well as a domestic drama. Young Scarlett Johansson conveys a powerful mixture of self-hate, depression and sadness, all of which she hides behind a facade of bitter sarcasm. Kristin Thomas is also fine as a mother who vows to preserve her daughter's will to live.By its second act, "The Horse Whisperer" has morphed into an idiosyncratic western. Tom Brooker is your traditional cinematic cowboy, stoic, tall, wise and wordless. But he's also something new: a healer, a nurturer, a cowboy who solves problems with compassion rather than six-shooters.During its final act, "The Horse Whisperer" then become a full-blown romance. Stuck in a love-triangle, the film watches as Kirstin Thomas falls madly in love for Brooker. Here the film resembles trashy erotic fiction – she's a big city British girl, he's a fantasy cowboy, complete with tight jeans, manly aromas and buttocks of steel – but Redford's direction is restrained and he keeps the duo's love powerfully unrequited.8/10 – Overlong for its subject matter, and filled with too many fades, montages and musical swells, "The Horse Whisperer" is nevertheless interesting and at times handsomely shot. See "Ride With The Devil".