Director: Graham Phillips, Parker Phillips
Writer: Graham Phillips, Parker Phillips (Screenplay)
Starring: Ritchie Coster, Irene Bedart, Shawn Hatosy, Jacqueline Toboni, Jamie McShane, Graham Phillips, Tokala Black Elk, Sydney Schafer
Plot: When a young rancher crosses paths with a Lakota girl from a nearby reservation, her mysterious disappearance sparks a search that uncovers a harrowing past and hints at a dire future.
Runtime: 1 Hour 55 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: The Bygone starts when quiet cowboy Kip (Phillips) meets a woman Waniya (Schafer) being beaten in a brothel, offering her shelter, being a nice guy towards her. It looks like Kip could offer Waniya a chance away from this horrible life, but her boss Paris (Hatosy) refuses to let her leave.
Kip decides to go in search for Waniya, which will take him into the illegal world a human trafficking, against the people who will not hold back to keep their business running.
Thoughts on The Bygone
Thoughts – The Bygone is movie about a cowboy trying to do the right for a woman in trouble, against human traffickers who don’t want to give up what they see as property. This film is trying to highlight the abuse native American women have suffered through for generations and how the rich will take advantage of them. We get to see the divide between hard working poor people, next to the criminally rich, which again are the important messages trying to come out of this film. The film does however struggle to get the strongest performances, with most of the characters being very bland and uninspiring to watch through the film. This is a very slow movie that doesn’t get going on any level to make it the entertaining ride it wants to be.
Final Thoughts – The Bygone brings the big messages, only fails to give us the intensity to enjoy watching them.
