Tony Tea

My god, Hell or High Water (🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟) is a beautiful film. There are truly a dozen reasons why this film will always have a special place in my heart. Maybe it’s because I’m just a sucker for films about adult male friendship. Maybe it’s because I think Jeff Bridges is one of the finest actors I’ve ever seen in my fucking life. Maybe it’s because Taylor Sheridan really knows what he’s doing with a pen & paper. Maybe it’s because Chris Pine & Ben Foster give career-defining performances. In reality, it’s most definitely a combination of all of the above. Hell or High Water is but one example of why I love Cinema. Hell or High Water is the story of two down-on-their luck brothers played by Ben Foster & Chris Pine who decide to make their own luck together. The brothers begin robbing banks & paying bills only to draw the attention of two officers, played by Bridges & the enormously talented Gil Birmingham. On the surface, this is your typical cops & robbers movie. Go a little deeper & you realize this is a classic rope-a-dope from screenwriter Taylor Sheridan. No, this isn’t just a movie about guns & money (even though this movie does have that). This is a movie about masculinity & adult male trauma. It’s a film about overcoming generations of pain & learning the hard way how to navigate this fucked up life. Taylor Sheridan somehow gives the audiences the excitement any viewer would expect from a film like this while also cutting enormously deep on the emotional side. Not only that, this film is wildly unpredictable. Credit to Sheridan top to bottom for his excellent writing here. I wrote last week about Sheridan’s work on Wind River. Between films like Wind River & Hell or High Water, Sheridan’s proven just how talented he really is when it comes to screenwriting. At this stage in his career and based on all he’s done, if Taylor Sheridan has something to say, I’m going to listen. Lastly, a word about Jeff Bridges. Bridges is 74 years old & despite his Oscar, all his nominations, and his countless iconic performances, he is talent purely as an actor is still under appreciated. God can this man act. Jeff Bridges was born to be on camera. Bridges had a difficult 2022- he was diagnosed with cancer & caught COVID at the same time, nearly killing him. It pains me to say this, but I don’t know how many more Jeff Bridges performances we’ll get. That’s why I have to hold on tight to films like this. Jeff Bridges in Hell or High Water is acting at its finest. What a film.