western story

Scorsese, 81, tells an expansive and disquieting Western story soaked in blood and oil, with chastening reverberations for American history.

James eschewed well-trodden, Western story structures, instead opting for a phantasmagorical griot tale that was queer as heck.

It’s a disruptive choice to make a woman a central character in a western story, neither a silent wife nor one of the “balcony women” whose business relies on the constant flow of lonely strangers through town.

“Generally speaking, most people don’t associate blacks with the Western story, the Western experience. They’re surprised to hear that blacks were here and certainly surprised to hear that blacks were involved with some of the, what you might call iconic, experiences in the West,” Millner said.

A: I think the story has something to say beyond the violence, beyond the love story, beyond the normal Western story.