Buck

TedFlicks Rating:

$2.00 ticket on a scale of $0 to $13.50

SUNDANCE MILKS THE SEQUEL THING

“Buck,” a documentary about Buck Brannaman, the man whose life inspired Robert Redford’s 1998, 170 minute trifecta, “The Horse Whisperer,” is an unnecessary film.  The first and thus far only directorial effort by Cindy Meehl, was picked up by Redford’s Sundance Selects for US theatrical distribution, and Redford, himself, was interviewed for the pic.  Meehl, whose background is in fashion design, not cinema, shot a nearly 90 minute, semi-verité feature that would have been better as an hour on PBS or better still, half an hour on the Discovery Channel.  And in case anyone forgot, there was also a 1998 TV special, “Visions of Grace: Robert Redford and ‘The Horse Whisperer’,” on Lifetime, in which Redford and Brannaman both appeared.

Brannaman is a horse trainer by profession and self-taught psychologist by avocation.  Horse owners, most of whom by definition do not have the same problems as the average working stiff (anyone reading this who knows what it costs to own a horse will understand), bring their troubled horses to Brannaman for training.  Brannaman’s approach is simple:  A horse’s problem can usually be traced to its owner.  His clinics treat both the horse and the owner.

Pic uses Brannaman’s voice over to move things along as he and daughter — sometimes with wife in tow — travel the country setting up horse clinics.  Pic is a tad heavy on the backstory — the traveling, the day-to-day routine. It may have a future on late night TV as a cure for insomnia.  All the key players get a chance to talk — wife, daughter, stepmother.  Not all of them need it.  It’s as if Meehl sacrificed brevity in order to tip the hat to all concerned.

Most interesting part of backstory comes via 1969 TV footage of seven-year-old Buck and his brother performing rope tricks in studio.  It’s a setup for the tale of his abusive dad and how he came to be adopted by stepmom and her husband.  It may be intended to lead auds to believe that it is also how Buck Brannaman learned to be sensitive to horses.

Pic’s climactic scene comes a tad too soon.  A female rancher whose actions seem to defy logic brings buck a violent young stallion who was brain damaged by a lack of oxygen at birth.  The horse is a danger to people.  He tramples one of Buck’s crew and cuts his head open.  The guy needs stitches.  It is here, in case one missed it earlier, that Buck repeats his mantra that one’s horse, like one’s child, is the mirror to one’s soul.  The rancher is humbled.  The horse will likely be put down.  Time to cut and print.

Unfortunately, pic goes on for yet another reel.  It’s not all bad, except for some amateurish silliness under the credits.  There is a fabulous sequence of Buck’s daughter performing dressage, one of the most difficult feats of horsemanship.  It’s more or less making a horse dance as an extension of the rider’s body.

Tech credits are good.  Shots are well framed.  Audio is adequate.  But PG-rated “Buck” is less than the sum of its parts.

—30—

Buck on Netflix