The Dead Don’t Hurt

Grade: A-

Considering how many creative hats Viggo Mortensen wore in making The Dead Don’t Hurt, it’s easy for a movie like this to have that Vanity Project smell. I can imagine someone being cynical and thinking that Mortensen put himself in the film so he can get jiggy with a lovely actress who is 25 years his junior. That feeling, if you have it, will wash away quickly, as you let this under-spoken-about gem wash over you.

Mortensen served as The Dead Don’t Hurt’s director, sole writer, star, co-producer, and (I don’t want this to be overlooked) composer. He singlehandedly wrote all the music you hear. It’s simplistic, and seems to only live in the major keys of C, D, or G, but it works very well. It’s driven by violin and acoustic guitar, and makes me think fall, mountainy thoughts – where you might have some apple cider. I’m choosing the route of not telling you much about the plot. You could call it a Western. Horses clippity-clop along the dusty roads, people walk through the swinging doors of the saloon to be greeted by a bartender who is always wiping the inside of a glass, and dialogue includes lines like “I will anoint you right here and now, so help me!” (“Anoint” meaning “shoot to death with my pistol.”) There is a touching love story in the midst of this, between Mortensen and the always wonderful Vicky Krieps (Old, Phantom Thread). In the twists and turns of their journey, they find ways to adapt and make the best of what’s around. The Western pastiche is just a foundation, or a jumping off point to go in rich directions.

If you think it takes a little while to get cooking, beginning with some generic Western filler before the real plot kicks in, just keep watching. Everything shown to us is necessary. The story isn’t completely linear. I counted three instances where I assumed I finally had a handle on the timeline, only to be wrong. I think the screenplay is having some fun with the audience, with lines here and there that seem to be put in to mislead us. There are no “two years later” type title cards. We just need to stay present and pay a little attention. Not to worry – you’ll get it. Everything will make sense, and have an answer by the end.

Mortensen is smart enough to know not to spoon feed us; we’re on our own. We never see the same scene twice. So many movies that play around with sequencing often circle back to something we already saw, like “Remember this? Here it is again, now that you know the order and context.” As the story progresses and we get more information, we’re able to go “ok, so this is where that thing from ‘earlier’ takes place.” There’s no need to see it a second time. We know it happened, and now we know when.

There is a character that we all hope will get his just deserts. I figured he was being saved for a bombastic shootout at the end. The inevitable revenge scene plays out in a less predictable way. Let’s just say that the title is significant here. Mortensen wants somebody to hurt. The Dead Don’t Hurt is an involving, uniquely eclectic film. It didn’t make much noise in theaters, but I hope people find their way to it in the streaming world. I’m very glad I saw it.

Grade: A-