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»Outer Range« with Josh Brolin: Dark western drama with bizarre »Twin Peaks« twists

2022-04-15T12:23:53.893Z


»Outer Range« is the next series masterpiece from the USA. A dark western drama with bizarre "Twin Peaks" twists - and the great comeback of Josh Brolin.


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Inexplicable, yawning, endlessly deep: the hole in "Outer Range" overrides the laws of logic.

Photo: Amazon

The wooden cross hangs on the wall like a question mark, and after a failed attempt at prayer, the cattle breeder Cecilia, in despair, turns to her husband Royal: "What should I say to God?" Even for the deeply religious woman, the world has been torn apart by terrible accidents get: The daughter-in-law has disappeared without a trace, the son has become a murderer in a fight, and the greedy neighbor wants to annex a piece of their land.

Up to this point it sounds like a classic Western, where it is often about overcoming fate in the face of overwhelming nature and the orderly character of modern civilization - in other words, about the American founding myth itself.

However, »Outer Range« is not set in the 19th century, but in the present, and Cecilia has no idea what Royal and the viewer have already seen but not understood: a huge, circular hole yawns in one of the Abbotts' pastures.

Inexplicable, yawning, seemingly endlessly deep.

Is it related to the strange recent events?

There stood a bison with two arrows in its flank as if enchanted in the meadow.

And a mountain massif disappeared for a few minutes, it just couldn't be seen anymore.

Sounds more like "Twin Peaks" than "12 noon" and in fact "Outer Range" is an amazing mix of genres that don't really seem to fit together.

But it is precisely because of this that this series so aptly comments on our breathless, unmanageably craggy present.

When crises overlap and truths believed to be certain dissolve – why shouldn't a crack in the space-time continuum also open up in the middle of Wyoming?

For Josh Brolin, at least, this isn't uncharted territory.

In 2008 he became famous in Germany with the neo-western »No Country for Old Men«, the film by the Coen brothers was not exactly squeamish about the old western myths.

After a good ten years at a career low, Outer Range marks Brolin's triumphant return to form.

As well as leading the cast, he's also executive producer (teamed with Brad Pitt) here, and the fervor with which he portrays the gnarly Royal Abbott - tough and confident patriarch on the outside, deeply insecure on the inside - makes it seem like he's got it all been waiting for this role for years.

In "No Country for Old Men" unyielding fate appeared in the person of sadistic killer Anton Chigurh.

In »Outer Range«, the rug is pulled out from under the feet of the characters even more relentlessly.

Royal tries with all his might to keep his family and tradition together, but centrifugal forces, over which he has no control, constantly increase friction.

The inexplicable disappearance of his son Perry's (Tom Pelphrey) wife was a real test for the family.

Now Royal Perry also has to save himself from prison, because during a fight he accidentally killed his neighbor's son Wayne Tillerson (Will Patton), with whom he is at war anyway.

But if you already have a mysterious hole on your land, why not use it to dispose of a corpse?

However, the body is lying in the forest a few days later, who should understand that?

And what does the mysterious young woman Autum (Imogen Poots), who has recently camped on Royal's pasture and posed as a poet, really want?

As the noose around Perry's neck tightens, Royal explores the depths of the hole himself, but what he experiences there will not be revealed.

Just this much: it breaks the rules of physics and logic and does not help Royal to get back on solid ground.

"Outer Range" is the latest entry in a wave of Western series that are gaining more popularity in America than they have in a long time.

Above all »Yellwostone« with Kevin Costner in the role of a rancher who is struggling with all sorts of problems.

The fifth season is currently being filmed, and three spin-offs are being planned that will trace the story back to the 19th century.

In »Yellowstone« too, the family is constantly faced with challenges, it's about surviving values ​​and traditional ways of life.

However, »Outer Range« is much more radical.

The western is still the film and series genre in which Americans reassure themselves of their roots.

But in times of deep social rifts and cultural struggles, it also seems to have become unclear what exactly these roots actually are.

»Outer Range« reflects this massive uncertainty.

Even physical rules and chronology seem to be suspended here.

And God?

Has played out.

"I don't even know if I believe in you," Royal lets him know.

"But I know I hate you."

Eight episodes, on Amazon Prime Video.

Source: spiegel

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