I should have named Sweetwater one of my underrated movies of 2013. That’s how underrated it was, even I forgot to include it in my list! When I saw the film at Sundance last year, I was impressed by the badass western. I was hoping it would gain some notice for the writing/directing team of Logan and Noah Miller, and perhaps change the way people look at January Jones. It only got a minimal theatrical and VOD release towards the end of 2013, but maybe now that it’s on Blu-ray people will discover Sweetwater. At the very least, I should finally do my diligence and write about it in full.
Sweetwater revels in the nasty side of the old west. Miguel Ramirez (Eduardo Noriega) is persecuted everywhere he goes. The local banker (Stephen Root) cheats him out of his savings and there’s nothing he can do about it. The nearby cult leader Prophet Josiah (Jason Isaacs) considers Ramirez a heathen. Even his wife Sarah (January Jones)’s family thinks she should leave him. Miguel is a noble man but there’s no law to stop Josiah from murdering him and leaving Sarah pregnant with a farm and no money.
This is the setup for Sarah’s revenge and that part of the film is awesome, but what’s cool about Sweetwater is there’s so much more to it than that. The Millers, from a story by Andrew McKenzie, craft a world of fascinating characters and then just let them confront each other. Josiah is a frightening threat, self-justifying with delusions of grandeur. When the quirky, take no shit sheriff Cornelius Jackson (Ed Harris) comes to town to investigate the missing person, watching the characters face off is a delight.
The movie opens with Harris howling into the wind, and he swaggers through the rest of the story with a reverence for the era but no patience for the clichés that often populate it. Cornelius beats the town’s ineffective lawmen excessively, and Harris can kick pretty high. He blatantly disrespects Josiah’s hospitality to show he means business, and wait until you see him autopsy one of Sarah’s victims. Using the church as justification could be a cliché for a villain like Josiah, but what makes it fascinating is he’s still so base and violent. It’s not even a façade, he’s just raping and murdering. Sex with Josiah is sweaty and gross, like everyone is kind of gross in Sweetwater. This isn’t the studio back lot old west. This is the grimy, hot, don’t shower for weeks old west.
Since it is a small, indie movie, Sarah’s revenge isn’t full of Wild Bunch level gunfights. Instead, the Millers make each shot count with buildup, framing and impact of the bullet. One clever scene has Sarah in a close range standoff that answers the western cliché of expert marksmen, perhaps to the other extreme. Her seduction setup of two of Josiah’s men in the river is elegantly badass. By now it’s gotten out that January Jones has a nude scene in Sweetwater. I didn’t want to spoil it at Sundance, because it’s a such a cool example of Jones not giving any fucks about it and taking out the garbage. Where she holds her gun is badass and I don’t think I’ve ever seen that before in a western.
Jones plays the steely killer well. She’s no Sharon Stone, but it’s not that kind of movie. In this sexist, racist old west, Sarah is objectified wherever she goes, and she’s not entirely thrilled with her husband standing up to everyone who threatens him. I mean, fight racism, sure, but maybe now is not the time to provoke men with guns when you live miles from the nearest neighbors, let alone any law enforcement. Sarah goes on the stone cold killer warpath, but more like she’s worn down, not getting any satisfaction out of it.
The modest Blu-ray has minimal extras. Really just a basic “making of…” short touching on the basics of getting the film together. All the actors are featured in it, but we got a lot more out of our 36-minute interview with Isaacs. The extras also include the song by Hudson Moore. Not even a music video, just the song playing over a picture of the singer.
Perhaps if Sweetwater had broken out more, there would have been more bonus features, but it’s not exactly the kind of movie that demands in-depth extras either. Sweetwater stands on its own as a badass western. It also speaks to the eclectic selection of films at Sundance. You get the somber dramas, the edgy comedies, but also some good old American westerns with a distinct personality of their own.
Fred Topel is a staff writer at CraveOnline and the man behind Best Episode Ever and The Shelf Space Awards. Follow him on Twitter at @FredTopel.
