Dead Man's Burden

The camera work is good. The storyline is not bad but the acting is pretty bland. The movie just goes along and you don't really have any interest in who lives or who dies because none of the actors really are much of anything but just there.

Something different here. Story flows along not always in an expected direction. Directing and acting above average.

I, personally, love slow burners like this one - with beautiful western scenery, long single- take shots, and interesting and attractive characters. I agree with nearly everything already mentioned in the previous reviews so won't repeat all that here. Save to say I felt the dialog, and this the film, was spoiled by Martha's mumbling! I had to turn on the sub-titles to understand what Clare Bowen was saying as she truly is one of the world's greatest mumblers. (Even in Nashville I have difficulty understanding her.) And even the sub-title writer must have had problems, because quite often in Martha's speech it would just say "inaudible". That said it is a beautiful western! And we don't see too many of them around these days.

It's technically very well done, the scenery is wonderful and it's a pretty good story. The acting is pretty good, too. So, why did I give it only five out of ten stars? There's just something about it, pacing maybe, that put me off. Or the ''look'' of it. It looks like it was shot with HD digital cams, and looks like the old TV Soaps used to look when they were shot on Video Tape, and everything looks a bit too 'real.'..Or something. Hard to describe.

Director Jared Mosche makes a fine feature film debut with "Dead Mans Burden" This film made its east cost premier at the 20th Hamptons International Film Festival. Mosche brilliantly captures the lawlessness of the mid to late nineteenth century American west. The film centers around the death of a family member, and the mine that wants to purchase the family ranch. Richard Riehle (from the comedy "Office Space") does a fine job playing the best and only friend of the deceased. His performance captures the loneliness and disconnection of a person living in the middle of nowhere, coping with the death of his friend. Hopefully this film finds a distributor.