Quantum Cowboys
Seen at the 2023 Atlanta Film Festival.
“Quantum Cowboys” is a sci-fi Western made using animation, and if that’s a combination that interests you, it’s worth your time to check this film out. Part of what I love about animation as a medium is how it can seemingly tell any type of story, and make the visual landscape feel tactile and real, sometimes more so that CG animated visual effects in a live-action film. Watching Geoff Marslett’s film, I was reminded of watching a Ralph Bakshi film or one of Richard Linklater’s animated films; using the medium in conjunction with live performances gave those filmmakers an opportunity to create something uniquely beautiful, with weight to it in terms of the performances they had to work with. Marslett’s film is a hybrid of animation and live-action, as well, but even more so than those filmmakers, the way he utilizes the combination of mediums is exciting, and allows us to see the action from a multitude of perspectives, which is the point of the film in general.
The film’s themes involve how art, music, and even cinema can be used to understand history and memories, and a key figure in “Quantum Cowboys” is Blacky (the film’s co-writer, Howe Gleb), a singer in 1870s Arizona whose fate is linked to those of Frank (Kiowa Gordon) and Bruno (John Way). Early on in the film, Frank and Bruno are in Yuma, Arizona as Blacky is performing, but when Frank decides he needs to get them some money so they don’t have to do menial labor, Blacky’s destiny as a possible chronicler of the American West is in doubt. After a stint in prison, Frank gets out, and he and Bruno wander the west, searching for Blacky. When they meet Linde (Lily Gladstone), they start to realize there’s more to their purpose in the universe than just Blacky.
One of the smartest things Marslett does in this film is that he doesn’t emphasize the sci-fi elements, the metaphysical nature of the world, in the primary story of Frank and Bruno. Yes, by the end things play out in that manner, as they become more aware of their part in the story, but for the most part the genres do not intersect, and the larger sense of the world is seeing the story unfold as Frank, Bruno and Linde travel together. Their lives are also fated to intersect with Colfax (David Arquette) and Depew (Frank Mosley), a pair involved in the shooting of Blacky at the beginning. This is a film that leans more in to western tropes than sci-fi, but captures what makes each one special to watch. I love how we have the filmmakers (with Marslett playing the director himself) who are observers to the action, documenting things, as well as Patrick Page as the Memory, who understands the world, as well as sees the choices made by the characters from every perspective. This is an engaging, immersive cinematic vision, and one that gets to the underlying connectivity of humanity in the process. On the surface, this film feels like an interesting left turn for the Atlanta Film Festival; when you dig deeper, you realize it makes perfect sense with what this festival is about.
Quantum Cowboys trailer from Geoff Marslett on Vimeo.
