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| Scene from Woman Walks Ahead |
In case you didn't know, A24 is one of the great purveyors of modern cinema. Since 2013, the studio has found a way to innovate independent cinema by turning each release into an event. As a result, A24 A-to-Z will be an ongoing series that looks at every release from the studio by analyzing its production history, release, criticisms, and any awards attention that it might've received. Join me on a quest to explore the modern heroes of cinema by exploring every hit and miss that comes with that magnificent logo. They may not all be great, but they more than make A24 what it is and what it will hopefully continue to be for years to come.
Released: June 29, 2018
Release Number: 68
Directed By: Susanna White
Starring: Jessica Chastain, Louisa Krause, Boots Southerland
Plot: Catherine Weldon, a portrait painter from 1890s Brooklyn, travels to Dakota to paint a portrait of Sitting Bull and becomes embroiled in the Lakota peoples' struggle over the rights to their land.
As June came to an end in 2018, A24 was starting to prepare for the summer ahead. Following the recent successes of First Reformed and Hereditary, the studio took a different approach to summer entertainment with director Susanna White's Woman Walks Ahead. The film set out to show a different side of the western. Unlike previous A24 examples like Slow West, this was to be done through the representation of women and Indians, whom White saw as marginalized communities in the cinematic conversation. While the film didn't start a new revolution, it helped to prove that the studio could still produce important work, shifting conversations towards more progressive and representative narratives. It may have been one of the smaller films of the summer, but it continued to prove A24's desire to challenge the social norms through their movies.
The story begins around 2004 when writer Steven Knight sat down to write the script based on the memoir of Catherine Wheldon's time with Indian chief Sitting Bull. He found his story fascinating and wanted to make a film with director Edward Zwick. While he would come to produce the 2018 film, he had little involvement over the next decade as Knight rewrote it, hoping to find a studio that would release it. First came the involvement of White, who was intrigued by how the language was used. As a fan of westerns, she had a desire to make a film that was true to the genre but reflected from the perspective of women and Indians, whom she felt were marginalized groups. Knight and White would share his scripts over the preproduction before White decided to give more of a three-dimensional outlook to Wheldon's character. Once this was done, they sought after Jessica Chastain for the lead role, in part because White felt that Wheldon needed to be outspoken and political, much like Chastain. Luckily, she agreed to the part.
Sitting Bull came with a little more work before landing on Michael Greyeyes. Much like the other people who read the script, he became intrigued by what the film was doing with characters. Sitting Bull didn't talk in the cliche way that the Lakota tribe had been depicted on film. He spoke dual languages and had a dignified approach to his life. He was allowed to be sympathetic and also flawed. There was so much to his character that intrigued Greyeyes, even if he felt deep down that it would be difficult to show a complex portrait of an icon beloved by indigenous people the world over. Still, he agreed to do it with the hopes of making it the best role that he could. He would help to share a story that he felt wasn't well known and hopefully inform new generations about the importance of Sitting Bull and the problematic history of America.
The film shot in New Mexico largely because White loved the landscapes and skies. She even built a cabin that was to scale and helped set the scene. She wanted it to be more authentic than films she had seen that used barrels randomly. Everything had to have a purpose, and she made sure of that. Similarly, she made sure that the costume designs were not only period-appropriate but also reflected the reality that Indian tribes had to dress in Americanized outfits sometimes due to oppression. It wasn't the cliche dressing, but something often more casual. The film pulled influence from Nicholas Roeg's Walkabout as well as White using Jane Campion's The Piano to help give the film a more feminine touch. Greyeyes would come to consider White and Chastain allies in depicting history with a more nuanced lens than had been present in the past. Greyeyes would also claim that he felt that there was a positive turn in the portrayal of Indians in media in recent years based on the scripts he was offered.
The film would have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September of 2017. It was then followed by A24 and DirecTV picking up the distribution rights. It would then have a limited release on June 29, 2018. Based on the $5 million budget, the film failed to turn a profit, grossing $76,713. While this is average for DirecTV-branch A24 films, it still was a reflection of how the film was perceived. In spite of Greyeyes' belief that it was a great portrayal of Sitting Bull, many took issue with the film's approach to history and believed that many key factors were wrong. While it wasn't big enough to court controversy, it's the predominant discussion point on their IMDb trivia page, which does an exhaustive compare and contrast between reality and the film.
While not a complete failure critically, the film would earn 53% on critics aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes. While many didn't criticize the inaccuracies of the film, many found the film to be a bit too tepid and the idea of a woman using painting to solve the representation of Indians to be a bit milquetoast as a concept. Among the more critical was David Fontana of Film Inquiry, who suggested that "Though based on an empowering story, and containing two fine performances by both Michael Greyeyes and Jessica Chastain, its choppy pacing, unimposing cinematography, and underdeveloped characters make it an unfortunately forgettable endeavor." Similarly, Alan Scherstuhl of Village Voice noted: "The good intentions it carries out to the plains don't make up for the tentative falseness at its center, a hero who could herself benefit from a portraitist's clear vision." Jeannette Catsoulis of New York Times was one of the few defenders when she said that "It's all ridiculously romanticized and self-serving. But the performances are so good and Michael Eley's vistas, shimmeringly shot in New Mexico, are so stunning, it feels churlish to resist."
Woman Walks Ahead may have not been a runaway smash compared to other A24 films, but with its heart, in the right place, it showed the studio trying to make important cinema. In a sense, it helped to give Indian actors major roles and help present an alternate side of American history. For all of its faults, it managed to tell a story that may have been riddled with inaccuracies, but full of deeper emotion. The next film wasn't nearly as maligned, in part because it was about a girl in a situation that was too real to be fictionalized. Even if Eighth Grade failed to get Oscar glory, it was one of the few films to warrant awards contention throughout the year and presented a shining promise to Bo Burnham's directorial career. It was an example of how the right subject can meet the right audience and produce the results that A24 always strives for. It may have not been their most prestigious film, but it was arguably their most relatable film of 2018.
Up Next: Eighth Grade (2018)
As June came to an end in 2018, A24 was starting to prepare for the summer ahead. Following the recent successes of First Reformed and Hereditary, the studio took a different approach to summer entertainment with director Susanna White's Woman Walks Ahead. The film set out to show a different side of the western. Unlike previous A24 examples like Slow West, this was to be done through the representation of women and Indians, whom White saw as marginalized communities in the cinematic conversation. While the film didn't start a new revolution, it helped to prove that the studio could still produce important work, shifting conversations towards more progressive and representative narratives. It may have been one of the smaller films of the summer, but it continued to prove A24's desire to challenge the social norms through their movies.
The story begins around 2004 when writer Steven Knight sat down to write the script based on the memoir of Catherine Wheldon's time with Indian chief Sitting Bull. He found his story fascinating and wanted to make a film with director Edward Zwick. While he would come to produce the 2018 film, he had little involvement over the next decade as Knight rewrote it, hoping to find a studio that would release it. First came the involvement of White, who was intrigued by how the language was used. As a fan of westerns, she had a desire to make a film that was true to the genre but reflected from the perspective of women and Indians, whom she felt were marginalized groups. Knight and White would share his scripts over the preproduction before White decided to give more of a three-dimensional outlook to Wheldon's character. Once this was done, they sought after Jessica Chastain for the lead role, in part because White felt that Wheldon needed to be outspoken and political, much like Chastain. Luckily, she agreed to the part.
Sitting Bull came with a little more work before landing on Michael Greyeyes. Much like the other people who read the script, he became intrigued by what the film was doing with characters. Sitting Bull didn't talk in the cliche way that the Lakota tribe had been depicted on film. He spoke dual languages and had a dignified approach to his life. He was allowed to be sympathetic and also flawed. There was so much to his character that intrigued Greyeyes, even if he felt deep down that it would be difficult to show a complex portrait of an icon beloved by indigenous people the world over. Still, he agreed to do it with the hopes of making it the best role that he could. He would help to share a story that he felt wasn't well known and hopefully inform new generations about the importance of Sitting Bull and the problematic history of America.
The film shot in New Mexico largely because White loved the landscapes and skies. She even built a cabin that was to scale and helped set the scene. She wanted it to be more authentic than films she had seen that used barrels randomly. Everything had to have a purpose, and she made sure of that. Similarly, she made sure that the costume designs were not only period-appropriate but also reflected the reality that Indian tribes had to dress in Americanized outfits sometimes due to oppression. It wasn't the cliche dressing, but something often more casual. The film pulled influence from Nicholas Roeg's Walkabout as well as White using Jane Campion's The Piano to help give the film a more feminine touch. Greyeyes would come to consider White and Chastain allies in depicting history with a more nuanced lens than had been present in the past. Greyeyes would also claim that he felt that there was a positive turn in the portrayal of Indians in media in recent years based on the scripts he was offered.
The film would have its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival in September of 2017. It was then followed by A24 and DirecTV picking up the distribution rights. It would then have a limited release on June 29, 2018. Based on the $5 million budget, the film failed to turn a profit, grossing $76,713. While this is average for DirecTV-branch A24 films, it still was a reflection of how the film was perceived. In spite of Greyeyes' belief that it was a great portrayal of Sitting Bull, many took issue with the film's approach to history and believed that many key factors were wrong. While it wasn't big enough to court controversy, it's the predominant discussion point on their IMDb trivia page, which does an exhaustive compare and contrast between reality and the film.
While not a complete failure critically, the film would earn 53% on critics aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes. While many didn't criticize the inaccuracies of the film, many found the film to be a bit too tepid and the idea of a woman using painting to solve the representation of Indians to be a bit milquetoast as a concept. Among the more critical was David Fontana of Film Inquiry, who suggested that "Though based on an empowering story, and containing two fine performances by both Michael Greyeyes and Jessica Chastain, its choppy pacing, unimposing cinematography, and underdeveloped characters make it an unfortunately forgettable endeavor." Similarly, Alan Scherstuhl of Village Voice noted: "The good intentions it carries out to the plains don't make up for the tentative falseness at its center, a hero who could herself benefit from a portraitist's clear vision." Jeannette Catsoulis of New York Times was one of the few defenders when she said that "It's all ridiculously romanticized and self-serving. But the performances are so good and Michael Eley's vistas, shimmeringly shot in New Mexico, are so stunning, it feels churlish to resist."
Woman Walks Ahead may have not been a runaway smash compared to other A24 films, but with its heart, in the right place, it showed the studio trying to make important cinema. In a sense, it helped to give Indian actors major roles and help present an alternate side of American history. For all of its faults, it managed to tell a story that may have been riddled with inaccuracies, but full of deeper emotion. The next film wasn't nearly as maligned, in part because it was about a girl in a situation that was too real to be fictionalized. Even if Eighth Grade failed to get Oscar glory, it was one of the few films to warrant awards contention throughout the year and presented a shining promise to Bo Burnham's directorial career. It was an example of how the right subject can meet the right audience and produce the results that A24 always strives for. It may have not been their most prestigious film, but it was arguably their most relatable film of 2018.
Up Next: Eighth Grade (2018)
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