Kevin Klawitter
Location: MN
“The Last Plantation”
Directed by: James Mangold
Written by: Derek Haas, based on “The Hidden Fortress” by Akira Kurosawa
Executive Producer: Scott Rudin
Produced by: Cathy Konrad
Music by: Carter Burwell
Director of Photography: Phedon Papamichael
Editor: Michael McCusker
Production Designer: Andrew Menzies
Cast:
Bradley Cooper - Arnold Higgins
Jeremy Renner - Earl Roberts
Matthew McConaughey - Ryan
Michael Fassbender - Fred
Derek Jacobi - George Cunningham
James Spader - Redding Friday
Bill Oberst, Jr. - Daniel Slate
David Gyasi - Eli
Emayatzy Corinealdi - Sarah
David Morse - Handel Traub.
Tagline: “Discover Who You Really Are”
Plot Summary:
Arnold Higgins (Bradley Cooper) and Earl Roberts (Jeremy Renner) are a pair of Confederate deserters, now on the run following the surrender at Appomattox and the loss of the farms where they previously worked as day laborers in Sherman’s March. Earl suggests they try to head North and get jobs in the industrialized Union, but Arnold says he has a better idea… just before they left their platoon, he heard some other soldiers talking about one last Confederate stronghold where the owner, a wealthy cotton baron, continuously refuses to acknowledge the authority of the Union and wishes to amass the men and provisions necessary to launch another offensive. If he is as well-fortified as the story says, Arnold suggests, they can join the troops and continue their loyal service to the Confederacy. And if they aren’t, well, then they can simply steal all they can hold and make a run for it.
As they make their way to the plantation, they see a lone figure (Matthew McConaughey) on the road ahead of them. He’s dressed in what seem to be modified Union garments, but as Earl points out, it is unusual to see any Union soldiers this far West, and even more unusual for anybody to be facing the harsh landscape by themselves (the reason Earl and Arnold, who don’t really like each other, continue to stick together). As they try taking a long path to sneak around him, he calls out: he had known they were there the entire time. When the lone soldier asks where they were heading, the stupidly honest Earl says they’re seeking the Last Plantation. But just as it seems Arnold is about to smack Earl for talking, the soldier surprises them both by saying he’s on his way there, too. After his platoon disbanded, he said, his Colonel, a wealthy man who once lived in Virginia, hired him try and rescue from the Plantation a former slave who he had tried to free, but lost when his family was run out of Virginia by Confederate loyalists.
Upon hearing this, Arnold spins a rather lame but still acknowledgeable lie about him and Earl trying to find proof of the location of the Plantation so they could reveal it to the Union, because they never supported slavery and were only in the Confederate Army because they had nowhere else to go for money (that last part is mostly true, but since Arnold is obviously saying it in an attempt to save his own skin, it doesn’t come across that way). Skeptical, but sensing his new friends’ desperation, he asks if they’d be willing to join him, and introduces himself as Ryan Broadchurch.
As they approach, Ryan tells Arnold and Earl that he has connections with the workers at the Plantation via his brother, so they can probably enter without suspicion. Given a description of Sarah, they all enter the area where Ryan is greeted by the owner’s right-hand man Fred (Michael Fassbender) with unusual affection, particularly for someone in Union Blues. As they are all invited into the house for drinks, they notice Sarah (Emayatzy Corinealdi) is working inside. Fred introduces them to the owner, the elderly George Cunningham (Derek Jacobi) who gives them a warm greeting when they express interest in joining his effort. As it becomes readily apparent, though, the mythic army held by Cunningham is bunk… he talks about wanting the Confederacy to rise again, and seems to believe it is possible, but he also only has a total of about 10 people in his stead (not counting slaves).
At one point, Sarah accidentally spills wine all over Arnold’s pants, and George Cunningham angrily orders her to be whipped. But a different slave, Eli (David Gyasi) insists it was his fault for distracting her and offers to be whipped instead. George accepts, and sends him to be whipped by the overseer, Redding Friday (James Spader). As Eli is led away, Fred chuckles at what he sees as Eli’s odd “quirk”... he always seems to want to volunteer to take Sarah’s work and punishment (“It’s not that big of a deal… Redding thinks it more fun to whip the males, anyhow”) At this point Ryan (under the guise of “teaching her a lesson”) takes Sarah to the side and reveals why they are really there; they plan to take her away that night.
That evening, while most of the house is asleep, the three make their way to the slaves’ quarters and try to get the attention of Sarah, who is tending Eli’s wounds. She really would love to go with them, but she won’t do it unless they free the other slaves as well. Arnold and Earl think this is a silly idea, but Ryan threatens to wake up the whole Plantation if they don’t go along. Luckily, they earlier found a perfect distraction… while George Cunningham’s army might be woefully understaffed, the arms cache is very much real. Ryan sends Arnold and Earl to light the munitions shed afire, while he and Sarah undo the slaves’ chains. Once the shed is ablaze, they all try to run off, with most of the slaves running in different directions, but Sarah and Eli stay with Ryan, Arnold, and Earl, and Ryan tells Arnold and Earl to take them away as he tries to distract Fred with gunfire.
The next morning, the escapees decide to make camp and wait for Ryan at the spot where they first met. Arnold and Earl are obviously uncomfortable being so close to a couple of slaves, but Earl can’t help but be curious why Eli was always so keen to help Sarah. Sarah and Eli say that they have always looked out for each other, because Sarah lost her husband when the war began and Eli’s wife was killed by Fred some years before. Ryan rides up on his horse, warning them that Fred and his goons are in hot pursuit. They all try to escape, and put up a good fight, but are cornered by Fred, Redding, and Daniel (Bill Oberst, Jr.). Fred tells Ryan he should have never believed he’d turn against the union… they may be brothers, but they were always opposites. Just as Fred is about to shoot Ryan, Eli lunges at him, getting shot but causing enough of a distraction for Ryan, Arnold, and Eli to take down the other goons. Fred is shot by Ryan in the struggle, but Redding and Daniel are simply incapacitated and relieved of their weapons. Sarah comforts Eli as he dies, reassuring him that he’ll be with his wife in the great beyond.
After a long ride to Pennsylvania, Ryan, Arnold, Earl, and Sarah finally find themselves at the old home of Ryan’s old colonel, Handel Traub (David Morse) who, to everyone’s shock, kisses her full on the mouth. Sarah was never Traub’s slave… she was his wife. Traub thanks them all, and offers to reward them all. Ryan turns down the offer (he really only wanted to see if it was possible to reconcile with his brother), but Arnold and Earl are more than willing to take him up on his offer of a reward.
Fast-forward a year, and Arnold and Earl are working as manservants at Traub’s estate home, waiting on him, Sarah, and their recently-born children.
Awards Campaign:
There has always been a healthy relationship between the Western and the Samurai movie. The two genres have fed off of each other nearly since the beginning of the international film industry, and James Mangold brings yet another Samurai classic to the Old West (or, more accurately, the post-Civil War south) in The Last Plantation, a loose remake of Akira Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress.
Even though it takes from the Kurosawa film the basic plotline of two former soldiers who team up with a warrior (gunslinger) to protect a woman, many viewers might instead see Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained as their primary reference point. Nonetheless, Mangold’s film works entirely on its own merits, with strong performances, a couple of terrific action sequences, and a colorful cast of characters.
Like the Westerns of old, Mangold doesn’t go straight for the action… he allows his heroes to develop characters and try to work out plans… if they had their choice, most of them wouldn’t even use their guns in the first place. This is given another twist of the screw because the two leads, Arnold and Earl, really have no idea what they have gotten themselves into. Bradley Cooper and Jeremy Renner make a terrific pairing, with good chemistry (initially vitriolic, but eventually becoming closer friends), and also are sure to make their individual characters distinctive. Cooper’s Arnold is more confident and conniving, thinking he can talk his way out of anything, while Renner’s Earl is very uncomfortable deceiving people, but also has a great deal more common sense than Arnold. Their contrasts serve to enhance the “odd couple” comedy between them.
Matthew McConaughey plays the gunslinger Ryan Broadchurch as a classic Western Hero, with humor, a steady hand, and the charm he is famous for. But there’s also a good deal of buried sadness to his character, particularly between him and Michael Fassbender’s Fred, who is as cruel as Ryan is moral. Derek Jacobi makes the most of his limited screen time, embodying the sort of Medieval thinking that made Southerners support slavery in the first place, and James Spader and Bill Oberst, Jr. offer solid support as two more of George Cunningham’s fanatical soldiers.
As the two key slaves, David Gyasi and Emayatzy Corinealdi give fully realized performances despite a comparatively short amount of screen time compared to the other characters. Both are seen as human, caring figures, helping each other out and supporting one another because of shared tragedies in their past.
A classically-styled western with modernist touches, The Last Plantation is a fantastic example of mass-market moviemaking that allows character, humor, and morals alongside full-blooded adventure and entertainment.
FYC:
Best Picture
Best Director - James Mangold
Best Actor - Bradley Cooper
Best Actor - Jeremy Renner
Best Supporting Actor - Michael Fassbender
Best Supporting Actor - David Gyasi
Best Supporting Actress - Emayatzy Corinealdi
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Crew
Location: MN
“The Last Plantation”
Directed by: James Mangold
Written by: Derek Haas, based on “The Hidden Fortress” by Akira Kurosawa
Executive Producer: Scott Rudin
Produced by: Cathy Konrad
Music by: Carter Burwell
Director of Photography: Phedon Papamichael
Editor: Michael McCusker
Production Designer: Andrew Menzies
Cast:
Bradley Cooper - Arnold Higgins
Jeremy Renner - Earl Roberts
Matthew McConaughey - Ryan
Michael Fassbender - Fred
Derek Jacobi - George Cunningham
James Spader - Redding Friday
Bill Oberst, Jr. - Daniel Slate
David Gyasi - Eli
Emayatzy Corinealdi - Sarah
David Morse - Handel Traub.
Tagline: “Discover Who You Really Are”
Plot Summary:
Arnold Higgins (Bradley Cooper) and Earl Roberts (Jeremy Renner) are a pair of Confederate deserters, now on the run following the surrender at Appomattox and the loss of the farms where they previously worked as day laborers in Sherman’s March. Earl suggests they try to head North and get jobs in the industrialized Union, but Arnold says he has a better idea… just before they left their platoon, he heard some other soldiers talking about one last Confederate stronghold where the owner, a wealthy cotton baron, continuously refuses to acknowledge the authority of the Union and wishes to amass the men and provisions necessary to launch another offensive. If he is as well-fortified as the story says, Arnold suggests, they can join the troops and continue their loyal service to the Confederacy. And if they aren’t, well, then they can simply steal all they can hold and make a run for it.
As they make their way to the plantation, they see a lone figure (Matthew McConaughey) on the road ahead of them. He’s dressed in what seem to be modified Union garments, but as Earl points out, it is unusual to see any Union soldiers this far West, and even more unusual for anybody to be facing the harsh landscape by themselves (the reason Earl and Arnold, who don’t really like each other, continue to stick together). As they try taking a long path to sneak around him, he calls out: he had known they were there the entire time. When the lone soldier asks where they were heading, the stupidly honest Earl says they’re seeking the Last Plantation. But just as it seems Arnold is about to smack Earl for talking, the soldier surprises them both by saying he’s on his way there, too. After his platoon disbanded, he said, his Colonel, a wealthy man who once lived in Virginia, hired him try and rescue from the Plantation a former slave who he had tried to free, but lost when his family was run out of Virginia by Confederate loyalists.
Upon hearing this, Arnold spins a rather lame but still acknowledgeable lie about him and Earl trying to find proof of the location of the Plantation so they could reveal it to the Union, because they never supported slavery and were only in the Confederate Army because they had nowhere else to go for money (that last part is mostly true, but since Arnold is obviously saying it in an attempt to save his own skin, it doesn’t come across that way). Skeptical, but sensing his new friends’ desperation, he asks if they’d be willing to join him, and introduces himself as Ryan Broadchurch.
As they approach, Ryan tells Arnold and Earl that he has connections with the workers at the Plantation via his brother, so they can probably enter without suspicion. Given a description of Sarah, they all enter the area where Ryan is greeted by the owner’s right-hand man Fred (Michael Fassbender) with unusual affection, particularly for someone in Union Blues. As they are all invited into the house for drinks, they notice Sarah (Emayatzy Corinealdi) is working inside. Fred introduces them to the owner, the elderly George Cunningham (Derek Jacobi) who gives them a warm greeting when they express interest in joining his effort. As it becomes readily apparent, though, the mythic army held by Cunningham is bunk… he talks about wanting the Confederacy to rise again, and seems to believe it is possible, but he also only has a total of about 10 people in his stead (not counting slaves).
At one point, Sarah accidentally spills wine all over Arnold’s pants, and George Cunningham angrily orders her to be whipped. But a different slave, Eli (David Gyasi) insists it was his fault for distracting her and offers to be whipped instead. George accepts, and sends him to be whipped by the overseer, Redding Friday (James Spader). As Eli is led away, Fred chuckles at what he sees as Eli’s odd “quirk”... he always seems to want to volunteer to take Sarah’s work and punishment (“It’s not that big of a deal… Redding thinks it more fun to whip the males, anyhow”) At this point Ryan (under the guise of “teaching her a lesson”) takes Sarah to the side and reveals why they are really there; they plan to take her away that night.
That evening, while most of the house is asleep, the three make their way to the slaves’ quarters and try to get the attention of Sarah, who is tending Eli’s wounds. She really would love to go with them, but she won’t do it unless they free the other slaves as well. Arnold and Earl think this is a silly idea, but Ryan threatens to wake up the whole Plantation if they don’t go along. Luckily, they earlier found a perfect distraction… while George Cunningham’s army might be woefully understaffed, the arms cache is very much real. Ryan sends Arnold and Earl to light the munitions shed afire, while he and Sarah undo the slaves’ chains. Once the shed is ablaze, they all try to run off, with most of the slaves running in different directions, but Sarah and Eli stay with Ryan, Arnold, and Earl, and Ryan tells Arnold and Earl to take them away as he tries to distract Fred with gunfire.
The next morning, the escapees decide to make camp and wait for Ryan at the spot where they first met. Arnold and Earl are obviously uncomfortable being so close to a couple of slaves, but Earl can’t help but be curious why Eli was always so keen to help Sarah. Sarah and Eli say that they have always looked out for each other, because Sarah lost her husband when the war began and Eli’s wife was killed by Fred some years before. Ryan rides up on his horse, warning them that Fred and his goons are in hot pursuit. They all try to escape, and put up a good fight, but are cornered by Fred, Redding, and Daniel (Bill Oberst, Jr.). Fred tells Ryan he should have never believed he’d turn against the union… they may be brothers, but they were always opposites. Just as Fred is about to shoot Ryan, Eli lunges at him, getting shot but causing enough of a distraction for Ryan, Arnold, and Eli to take down the other goons. Fred is shot by Ryan in the struggle, but Redding and Daniel are simply incapacitated and relieved of their weapons. Sarah comforts Eli as he dies, reassuring him that he’ll be with his wife in the great beyond.
After a long ride to Pennsylvania, Ryan, Arnold, Earl, and Sarah finally find themselves at the old home of Ryan’s old colonel, Handel Traub (David Morse) who, to everyone’s shock, kisses her full on the mouth. Sarah was never Traub’s slave… she was his wife. Traub thanks them all, and offers to reward them all. Ryan turns down the offer (he really only wanted to see if it was possible to reconcile with his brother), but Arnold and Earl are more than willing to take him up on his offer of a reward.
Fast-forward a year, and Arnold and Earl are working as manservants at Traub’s estate home, waiting on him, Sarah, and their recently-born children.
Awards Campaign:
There has always been a healthy relationship between the Western and the Samurai movie. The two genres have fed off of each other nearly since the beginning of the international film industry, and James Mangold brings yet another Samurai classic to the Old West (or, more accurately, the post-Civil War south) in The Last Plantation, a loose remake of Akira Kurosawa’s The Hidden Fortress.
Even though it takes from the Kurosawa film the basic plotline of two former soldiers who team up with a warrior (gunslinger) to protect a woman, many viewers might instead see Quentin Tarantino’s Django Unchained as their primary reference point. Nonetheless, Mangold’s film works entirely on its own merits, with strong performances, a couple of terrific action sequences, and a colorful cast of characters.
Like the Westerns of old, Mangold doesn’t go straight for the action… he allows his heroes to develop characters and try to work out plans… if they had their choice, most of them wouldn’t even use their guns in the first place. This is given another twist of the screw because the two leads, Arnold and Earl, really have no idea what they have gotten themselves into. Bradley Cooper and Jeremy Renner make a terrific pairing, with good chemistry (initially vitriolic, but eventually becoming closer friends), and also are sure to make their individual characters distinctive. Cooper’s Arnold is more confident and conniving, thinking he can talk his way out of anything, while Renner’s Earl is very uncomfortable deceiving people, but also has a great deal more common sense than Arnold. Their contrasts serve to enhance the “odd couple” comedy between them.
Matthew McConaughey plays the gunslinger Ryan Broadchurch as a classic Western Hero, with humor, a steady hand, and the charm he is famous for. But there’s also a good deal of buried sadness to his character, particularly between him and Michael Fassbender’s Fred, who is as cruel as Ryan is moral. Derek Jacobi makes the most of his limited screen time, embodying the sort of Medieval thinking that made Southerners support slavery in the first place, and James Spader and Bill Oberst, Jr. offer solid support as two more of George Cunningham’s fanatical soldiers.
As the two key slaves, David Gyasi and Emayatzy Corinealdi give fully realized performances despite a comparatively short amount of screen time compared to the other characters. Both are seen as human, caring figures, helping each other out and supporting one another because of shared tragedies in their past.
A classically-styled western with modernist touches, The Last Plantation is a fantastic example of mass-market moviemaking that allows character, humor, and morals alongside full-blooded adventure and entertainment.
FYC:
Best Picture
Best Director - James Mangold
Best Actor - Bradley Cooper
Best Actor - Jeremy Renner
Best Supporting Actor - Michael Fassbender
Best Supporting Actor - David Gyasi
Best Supporting Actress - Emayatzy Corinealdi
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Crew