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Mixed feelings about "Cowboys"
Sep. 19th, 2021 06:08 pmCowboys - Hulu
TLDR: Well made, but too serious.
This is a story about a family-- a mom, dad, and a kid-- that is having some trouble. The story starts with the dad taking off with the kid and the mom calling the cops to report a kidnapping. The story goes back in time to show us that the kid is trans, and was being bullied by his mom, so his dad came and got him. Together they take some camping gear and a friend's horse, and head out from their Montana town towards the Canadian border. The dad is mentally ill, impulsive, sometimes manic; when he loses his medication in a river, things really start to fall apart.
This film was well made but it was too serious and scary for me. It did not feel aimed at trans folks. It does have a happy ending (ish), but it spends so much time showing the mom being transphobic, that it's hard to understand her sudden change of heart; it's hard to trust her to be a good parent to her kid at the end of the film.
The Montana landscapes are beautiful and the performances are good. The dad is very accepting of his son, and is really trying to do the right thing, but is making some bad decisions due to his mental illness.
Content notes for gun violence, incarceration, a parent slapping a kid across the face, transphobia, "dyke" used as a slur.
TLDR: Well made, but too serious.
This is a story about a family-- a mom, dad, and a kid-- that is having some trouble. The story starts with the dad taking off with the kid and the mom calling the cops to report a kidnapping. The story goes back in time to show us that the kid is trans, and was being bullied by his mom, so his dad came and got him. Together they take some camping gear and a friend's horse, and head out from their Montana town towards the Canadian border. The dad is mentally ill, impulsive, sometimes manic; when he loses his medication in a river, things really start to fall apart.
This film was well made but it was too serious and scary for me. It did not feel aimed at trans folks. It does have a happy ending (ish), but it spends so much time showing the mom being transphobic, that it's hard to understand her sudden change of heart; it's hard to trust her to be a good parent to her kid at the end of the film.
The Montana landscapes are beautiful and the performances are good. The dad is very accepting of his son, and is really trying to do the right thing, but is making some bad decisions due to his mental illness.
Content notes for gun violence, incarceration, a parent slapping a kid across the face, transphobia, "dyke" used as a slur.
