Metacritic-Rezensionen

Moshe’s approach turns the Western genre on its head by having the sidekick rise up as the hero.

Writer-director Jared Moshé’s solidly entertaining period drama...can be enjoyed as both a straight-shooting homage to crotchety sidekicks and shoot-’em-up conventions, and a well-crafted movie about loyalty, betrayal, and redemption.

Having already given us a shootout or two, the film grows more involving as Lefty fights for both his life and his good name. Pullman has no trouble making the character sympathetic, even as he maintains the near-ineptitude Lefty's known for.

This is a satisfying indie western, a dark and brooding film made with both a modern touch and real love for the genre.

By giving the spotlight to an archetype usually relegated to the background, writer-director Jared Moshé puts a revisionist spin on the familiar oater, but everything else about The Ballad of Lefty Brown is by the book.

Pullman is always great to watch, the Montana landscapes are gorgeously captured by cinematographer David McFarland, and there are a couple of action set pieces that spark.

While Mr. Moshé’s ambitions can be frustratingly modest, he does know that — however fraudulent the genre’s myths — the image of a man riding a horse into the sunset is in our cinematic DNA.

The Ballad Of Lefty Brown’s lack of flash keeps it from sinking comfortably into pastiche, but it doesn’t make for thrilling viewing.

For what it's worth, Jared Moshe seems genuinely interested in the role of unflagging decency in a sullied world.

The Ballad of Lefty Brown, the sophomore effort from director-producer Jared Moshe, invests blind faith in the classic western format and shows just how hollow genre films can prove when they strive too earnestly towards imitation.