The Dead Don’t Hurt

Sporting all the visual hallmarks of a classic Western, The Dead Don’t Hurt finds its potency by tweaking tropes through outsiders who are often marginalized or relegated to the background.

The sophomore directorial effort for actor Viggo Mortensen (Falling) is downbeat and methodical as it deconstructs masculinity in Western iconography with a tale of resilience and revenge that scrutinizes genre tropes through an immigrant lens.

Although it hardly makes any breakthroughs, the visually striking and deliberately paced film finds its niche with a character-driven approach that refuses to glamorize or sugarcoat the brutal violence and untimely death that constantly lingers in the background.

The story is set during the onset of the Civil War in a small town in Nevada — land which belonged to Mexico only 13 years prior. That’s where a tough-minded French-Canadian woman named Vivienne (Vicky Krieps) settles with Danish immigrant Holger (Mortensen) to start a modest life and a makeshift family together.

As their romance deepens, broader acceptance is complicated, of course, given the rampant financial greed, political corruption, and patriarchal and xenophobic oppression.

After Holger, who’s also the sheriff, joins the Union army, Vivienne is left to fend for herself, working as a bartender while dealing with a scheming mayor (Danny Huston), a shady rancher (Garret Dillahunt), and other unscrupulous men.

She also cares for Holger’s impressionable young son. And she remains uncertain whether Holger will return, or how their lives will forever change.

With personal touches given his own Danish heritage, Mortensen’s nonlinear screenplay clearly defines the heroes and villains as the story meanders toward an inevitable climactic showdown. However, the deeper thematic ambitions are undermined by stereotypical supporting roles and more formulaic plotting in the second half.

In the meantime, however, some of the quieter sequences carry a thoughtful intimacy, as Krieps (Phantom Thread) commands the screen by exuding an understated dignity that encapsulates Vivienne’s fierce independence.

The layered performances bring depth and complexity to characters who could easily been overlooked, conveying emotion through body language and facial expression as much as the multilingual dialogue.

As the gorgeous landscapes conceal the rugged harshness of life on the frontier, the aesthetic and authentic period touches in The Dead Don’t Hurt enhance the emotional stakes.

Rated R, 129 minutes.