The Dead Don’t Hurt – A Flawed Breath of Fresh Air (Early Review)

The Dead Don’t Hurt takes place on the western U.S. frontier in the 1860’s and follows fiercely independent Vivienne Le Coudy (Krieps) who enters a relationship with Danish immigrant Holger Olsen (Mortensen). After meeting Olsen in San Francisco, she agrees to travel with him to his home near a quiet town where they begin a life together. When the civil war breaks out, Holger decides to join the union which leaves Vivienne to fend for herself in a town controlled by corrupt Mayor Rudolph Schiller (Huston), his business partner Alfred Jeffries (Garret Dillahunt), and Alfred’s violent son Weston (Solly McLeod) who aggressively starts to pursue and make advances on Vivienne.

The film marks Mortensen’s second time stepping into the directors’ chair. While his debut, Falling,was a solid but flimsy first feature, The Dead Don’t Hurt is a massive step up, solidifying Mortensen as a director to watch for. It is a very well made western where audiences can feel his passion for this story and characters coming out in every frame. Not all of the choices Mortensen makes as a director work, but he takes a lot of bold swings that mostly pay off and crafts a western that stands on its own two feet while respectfully honoring those that came before it. The film is also gorgeously shot by Marcel Zyskind, beautifully capturing the Canadian wilderness and mountainsides. On top of that, one can’t help but respect Mortensen even more for composing the film’s music in addition to directing, writing, and starring in it.

By far, the highlight of The Dead Don’t Hurt is the relationship between Vivienne and Holger, and the excellent chemistry of Krieps and Mortensen. With the wrong casting choices, the central romance had the potential to drag it down but with two naturals like Krieps and Mortensen, it becomes the best part of the film. From the moment they first meet, the connection between Vivienne and Holger can be felt right away as many will want them to get some sort of a happy ending. Some of the film’s best moments come from Krieps and Mortensen simply conversing or hanging around their home, quite the feat in a western that’s not afraid of shootouts or bloodshed. Huston and Dillahunt made for solid yet understated villains that are more fleshed out than one might expect while McLeod nearly steals the show as the ruthless and very easy to hate Weston.

While there aren’t really any giant flaws here, its structure, pacing, and length hold it back from reaching the greatness it could have. Though it is easy to see what Mortensen was going for and as admirable as its non-linear structure is, it holds the film back more times than not. Granted, it is an interesting approach that isn’t typically done in westerns, but it distracts more than it ever improves anything, and there are few times where it isn’t totally clear where it stands within its timeline. A slow paced film, the middle portion of the film slows down that pace even further and doesn’t match up to its opening and closing acts. Meanwhile, it also goes on for a tad longer than it probably needed to and sometimes struggles at balancing its quieter romance and action/thriller elements.

In the end, The Dead Don’t Hurt may not be a knockout or a slam dunk but it’s a damn fine western that delivers a breath of fresh air in terms of the Western genre, even if not everything fully works out by the end. Whether audiences are fans of Viggo Mortensen, Vicky Krieps, Westerns, or romances, the film is certainly worth a watch somewhere down the line even if it never quite reaches the greatness it strived for.

still courtesy of Shout! Studios

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Connor Carey

www.connorsmoviereviews.com/