Diractors is an ongoing series in which Hassle writer Jack Draper examines films, new and old, whose directors are better known for their work in front of the camera.

I think we’ve reached a really interesting point in movie star mythologizing and business power here, through the eyes of someone who is grasping onto an onscreen identity. From a story perspective, Horizon is clearly a TV series, and Chapter 1 serves as our introduction to its world and characters. The film juggles four or five storylines that haven’t intersected much yet. For instance, an entire community of main characters played by actors like Luke Wilson, Isabelle Fuhrman, and Will Patton isn’t introduced until two hours in. For as much as it’s “paced like a TV show,” I trust Costner that this is purposeful. By then it becomes something of a mood piece (helped by the Twin Peaks: The Return comps) where we are meant to soak in the sprawling characters as much as we are the vistas. 

Costner, candidly, isn’t a great director, but consistently has great ambitions even though you get exactly what was promised. I think this is my favorite of his directed movies, despite how weird it is artistically and how it rejects being the cinematic equivalent to eating your vegetables (looking at you, The Postman). Using a cinematic scale, Costner, deeply appreciative of the Western genre, crafts grand themes on American exceptionalism, the corruption seeded by white men, and the capitalistic drive behind everything (the depiction of scalping as commerce is particularly fascinating and uncommon).

Isolated, I would have loved more time with every character—especially the Native ones, whom I hope we see more of in future chapters. Stand-offs are intense, violence is methodical, and dad cinema is alive and well with the amount of integrity brought out within every character’s performance. Horizon has a grander scope, with disparate characters heading towards the mythic destination of Horizon, New Mexico. Our first encounters with them were riveting.

Horizon is a love letter to what came before, and builds a rich tapestry of its own to pave its way for one last story of American dilemmas. Simultaneously, Costner deconstructs the myths of the American. Even so, the trend of part-one entries in Hollywood has been endlessly discussed. Sometimes it’s about creating franchises or saving money by fitting multiple movies under one production budget. Often, it’s influenced by television’s need to serialize everything. Many films don’t need a “part one” label; they either work on their own or are so glacially paced that all parts should be edited into one feature.

Horizon is a movie like no other; albeit not in any way like form. Its stately pace never feels boring, but it runs at a leisurely speed that is seen now in television rather than cinema. It gears us up for something that never comes, setting up characters we don’t fully know– although I think that’s okay? It could be a TV series, but it looks so great on the big screen that it shouldn’t be (even though I wish it was shot on film, which would’ve lent a tactility to further bridge the film to its inspirations like How The West Was Won). Can a reaction of “I’m happy this exists and a blank check was crystallized” feel like enough of a win for Horizon? I think so! Really just another great example of an end of an era in a genre about end of eras. 

Horizon: An American Saga – Chapter 1
2024
dir. Kevin Costner
181 min.

Now playing int theaters everywhere