Buck (Meehl, 2011)
One of the unexpected pleasures of putting this newsletter out every day is rediscovering films that I greatly enjoyed at the time but had completely forgotten about.
One of those is Cindy Meehl’s documentary Buck from 2011.
I was looking up previous reviews that I’d posted in late January for an “on this day” feature and found quite a few contenders, but this one struck me as a bit different to recent recommendations here:
After the success of Bill Cunningham New York last year, there seems to be a welcome new trend in documentary – good films about nice men. This year’s entry is Buck, an observant little film about ace horse trainer Buck Brannaman. He spends most of his life travelling the world helping people with horse problems – or as he puts it “helping horses with people problems”. He grew up in an terrifyingly abusive household and – like a lot of abused children – he learned to be extremely sensitive to the world around him. That sensitivity is now less about self-preservation and more about consideration – listening to horses rather than whispering to them.
A brilliantly wise individual who carefully rations out his terrific smile, Buck is a great subject who has an enormous reservoir of understanding to share with the world. You won’t regret spending 90 minutes in his company.
Also featured in this review from the Capital Times from 25 January 2012 are pacifica comedy Sione’s 2: Unfinished Business which inexplicably appears to be unavailable online in Aotearoa, Thomas Alfredson’s adaptation of Le Carré’s Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy (digital rental), another “2” – Journey 2: the Mysterious Island, and Latin American drama El Violín from 2005, which I have no memory of but said, “Worth a look if you can seek it out.” Good luck with that.
Where to watch Buck
Aotearoa & Australia: Streaming on DocPlay
USA: Streaming on AMC+ and DirectTV
UK: Digital rental from Apple, Amazon, etc.
