Coming to theatres across the US for a special one-night only screening tonight, Thursday, September 24 and coming to iTunes tomorrow, Friday, September 25: UNBRANDED
Phillip Baribeau’s tale of men and mustangs made its bow at Hot Docs, where it picked up an audience award. Screenings have followed at Mountainfilm at Telluride, Sedona, and Rhode Island. Following tonight’s special screening event, the film will open for limited theatrical runs in several cities this weekend and over the next few weeks.
Baribeau’s well-shot scenic exploration of the American West ostensibly seeks to draw attention to the plight of our nation’s wild horses and the controversial policies in place to manage their population. That’s all well and good, but the method by which this issue is addressed in his feature debut is hopelessly contrived: Four recent college grads adopt several mustangs and set out to ride them from the Mexican border all the way up through America to Canada, all to somehow prove the horses’ worth. Instead, this arbitrary, manufactured premise simply serves as an excuse for a random, reality TV-styled “adventure” shared by a group of privileged white men, with occasional awkward insertions of wild horse factoids. While pretty to look at, and offering a pro-horse message that is resonating with audiences, its mash-up of road trip and issue doc is ultimately inelegant and, one suspects, less successful than had the filmmaker simply picked one genre to explore.
what (not) to doc 