NEVER GROW OLD
Directed by: Ivan Kavanagh
Starring: Emile Hersch, John Cusack, Déborah François, Tim Ahern, Donny Webb
Patrick Tate is a carpenter and undertaker in a small frontier town whose prosperity is on the decline since the local reverend succeeded in closing down the town's only saloon. One night he is approached by a rich and amoral bounty hunter called Dutch Albert, and coerced into helping him locate a supposed criminal.
Albert sees opportunity in the town and forces the reopening of the saloon, bringing sin and death back with it. Patrick's skill as an undertaker is put to good use and he finds himself getting rich but at what cost to his family and the town itself?
Never Grow Old is a film that aims for realism rather than escapism but still delivers a fantastic story about the struggle to save or corrupt a town's soul, a film which contains one of the bleakest, most heartbreaking scenes of the year.
The township that Patrick, his wife Audrey and children Thomas and Emma, live in is on the decline. It was once a thriving place but the local temperance movement led by the Reverend Pike's wife has managed to ban alcohol and close down the only saloon/brothel in town.
When Dutch Albert comes to town searching for a criminal with a price on his head, he is dismayed by the lack of hospitality on offer and decides to buy the saloon and reopen it. Its not long before the saloon is bustling, but equally not long before people wind up dead. Patrick is summoned along wih the sheriff to find a dead body, who apparently "fell down the stairs".
Dutch Albert, played by John Cusack, is evil incarnate. He has no qualms about forcing a woman - and her teenage daughter - into prostitution ( a tragic situation which becomes worse and worse for the pair). He also likes to trap people in arguments they can't get out of (e.g. "my mate says you called me ugly" "No I didn't!" "You calling my mate a liar??!!").
The film has a very striking look, thanks to cinematographer Piers McGrail, who shoots the night scenes with only what light is available. This sometimes produces a very claustrophobic effect, forcing the viewer to concentrate on the characters we can see, while others might flit in and out of the darkness surrounding them. Equally the day scenes are full of mud and grime.
Never Grow Old deals with dread and terror, rather than action. The hanging scene is steeped in tragedy and you would have to have a heart of steel not to be disturbed by it. The film's most tense scene comes towards the end when DumDum, one of Dutch Albert's henchmen, stalks through Patrick's house aiming to rape Audrey, who is outside playing with the children and oblivious to his presence. The scene is excruciating to watch because what he plans to do seems like an inevitability, like he's a force of nature.
THE VERDICT
Never Grow Old is perhaps one of the more realistic westerns to come along in recent years and is likely to frustrate anyone looking for lots of showdowns and gunfights. However anyone who has patience will be rewarded with a bleak metaphysical struggle for the very soul of a community, and a young man discovering what he is willing to fight for.