An old-fashioned western with new-fashioned performances from Mortensen and Krieps.
“The Dead Don’t Hurt” is a western set in San Francisco during the American Civil War, and features a romance between Vicky Krieps as a Franco-Canadian named Vivianne Le Coudy and Viggo Mortsensen (who also directs, writes, and composes) as a Danish immigrant named Holger Olson. Is it as epic as “Gone with the Wind?” Not that epic, but it does have an old-fashioned style with memorable performances and the right ambiance.
We see them living in a quiet shack in Nevada, where they both dream of building a barn. She starts off as a florist, while he is a carpenter. She gets a job at the local saloon-Kendall’s Saloon- run by Alan Kendall (W. Earl Brown), while he decides to enlist in the war. She thinks he’s stupid and selfish for trying because he isn’t American and he’s too old. But he still needs to see for himself, considering how he fought in his home country.
The story also features the powerful businessman named Alfred Jeffries (Garrett Dillahunt) and his violent son Weston (Solly McLeod, looking almost like Jack Reynor or a young Chris Pratt). The young man wears a black outfit and would beat up a piano player (Rafel Plana) for playing a Union song he hates, while the old man would pay Kendall for the trouble. He’s also the kind of monster who would attack and rape Vivianne.
And while Holger is fighting, Vivianne is raising their son Vincent (Atlas Green), whom she teaches French to. The old man returns in surprise, wondering why she didn’t write to him about their child. She wanted to tell him in person. I think we know what the plot twist is if we pay close attention.
“The Dead Don’t Hurt” is the second film Mortsensen has made after “Falling.” I had some mixed feelings about that in terms of its underdeveloped screenplay, but I still liked it for Mortensen’s direction and for Lance Hendriksen’s performance. And even though the screenplay has its dry areas, Mortensen’s next directing job is better with how he adapts to the accent (especially since the actor’s father was Danish), how he guides Krieps with a 1950s attitude, and how he presents this western with patience and emotions. His previous western credits include “Hildago” and “Appaloosa,” so it would make sense that he would go on to direct himself in this genre.
But that doesn’t mean he has to be self-congratulatory about it, because Krieps gets equal credit with how she expresses her emotions through words and dispositions. In fact, she’s an actress who can express a wide range of moods and tones, as demonstrated in “Phantom Thread” and “Bergman’s Island,” among others.
McLeod is more convincing in the past sequences than in the present sequences, because of how he looks the same age. And there should have been more character development in him, instead of just relying on his evils to threaten us. But he doesn’t taint the movie. Mortsensen and Krieps both carry “the movie “The Dead Don’t Die” for all the reasons I’ve mentioned.
I know I’m talking about different genres here, but I would like to make a distinction between actors who have directed recent independent movies. Chris Pine directed and starred in the film noir comedy “Poolman,” which I thought was an embarrassment, and now Mortsensen directs and stars in “The Dead Don’t Die,” which delivers the goods. Now that’s how you direct a small movie with an old-fashioned style.