Broadly speaking, 'Old Henry' is nothing new, neither as a film nor as a twilight western. It doesn't even need to be done, because it doesn't have to be about innovating, but about knowing how to take advantage of what you have. Or what you have and get it right with what you want to propose. From a humble and simple film that uses the archetypes of the genre in its favor in a practical and effective way.
Or when less is more. There is no reason to get complicated. And 'Old Henry' doesn't get complicated: Nothing is left over or lacking in this western of dirty realism that presents, of course, a harsh and merciless world where all calm is tense and conflicts are resolved with bullets. All this unfolded with parsimony and contemplative calm, in no hurry to reach the inexcusable final burst of violence.
Slowly but steadily, displaying an economy of means that is magnetic and captivating. From the gestures to the dialogues, the plot of 'Old Henry' could be summed up on a napkin. The usual in the genre. But, as was the case with 'Bone Tomahawk', it is during that supposed waiting period in which the film molds the stimulating personality that it displays.
His personality, that of a job well done whose expectation and reality coincide. That of 'Old Henry', a raw, rough and dry western where any hope is stained with blood and in which sententious dialogues shine that, in the mouths of Tim Blake Nelson and Stephen Dorff, sound like a John Ford classic. A simple western that makes simplicity its best and most forceful weapon.
By Juan Pairet Iglesias
@Wanchopex
