Sundance Film Festival: 'Buck'
Monday, January 24, 2011 at 7:47PM Tweet by Bennett Owen
(updated February 3, 2011)
“Nobody votes for a new idea. It’s something you have to grind out by yourself.”
- Robert Redford –
The Sundance Film Festival is well underway, with a new Documentary Premier section, intended to put greater focus on the independent edge of the fast-growing documentary market. Among those being screened this year is a doc entitled Buck, an impressive story of the original Horse Whisperer, and fellow Montanan Buck Brannaman. Take a look at the (horse) trailer:
Of Course Sundance founder Robert Redford directed and starred in the 1998 feature film, The Horse Whisperer, a story based on Buck:
I sense closure in there somewhere. Say, are those White Boots that Robert’s wearing?
Photo courtesy of qbac07.
I believe even Buck would have met his match with Nicky, the obnoxious Shetland pony we had as youngsters. The first thing he did (after bucking me off for the first of many times) was chew all the outside water fixtures off, so we had to use a pair of pliers to water the yard! God, just thinking about that awful creature makes me wonder why anyone would want a pony.
To set the record straight, I come from solid, pedigree horseman stock. My great grandfather Marchesseault was a pioneer freighter with a proud herd of Percherons and my grandfather, R. D., was a consummate cowboy who liked to say that “all a man needs to be happy is a good horse and a loyal dog,” to the great consternation of my grandmother.
Despite those differences they produced four sons (my uncles - the four on the left in the photo below) who have spent the better part of their lives in the saddle.
My grandpa Owen was a champion rodeo rider and his brother founded a big ranch just north of the border in Alberta. So ... all of that experience and still Nicky had to be re-broke every spring. Grown men being thrown around by a pint-sized pack of dynamite with nothing but evil intentions. And I personally think Nicky would have put the “buck” into Buck Brannaman too.
See Sundance fans discuss 'Buck':
Update:
Getting Some Bucks out of Buck
The documentary Buck won the US Documentary Audience Award at the recently concluded Sundance Film Festival, along with standing ovations at many of its screenings. Critical reviews have generally been positive as well. Here’s a sampling:
Deadline Hollywood – a write-up of director Cindy Meehl
The reviews tend to focus on the film’s surprisingly emotional impact, with the LA Times correspondent describing sitting next to an inner city rapper reduced to sobbing at some of the scenes. Meehl came to Sundance without a distributor but based on its success she’s now talking to several, so…coming soon to a theater near you.
Buck’s money quote: “All your horses are a mirror to your soul and sometimes you might not like what you see in the mirror.”
So what does that say about my sister and me if our souls were mirrored in that vicious little powder keg pony named Nicky? He tried to roll on Donna in a creek! He launched me a half-dozen times and earned my Grandpa’s respect by keeping pace with the saddle horses. HE CHEWED THE CAST IRON WATER FIXTURES OFF THE SIDE OF THE HOUSE!
But since our original post on Nicky, friends and relatives have been mailing us pictures to prove that not all ponies are pernicious. Send us yours as well! We're going to post them under PHOTOGRAPHY CHALLENGE.
And finally, I get the feeling that Jerry Seinfeld had a Shetland Pony when he was a kid…. follow this link, and please scroll down for the comments!