Montana Story Review: A Nuanced, Captivating Drama That Goes Slow & Steady

Montana Story is a character-driven movie and it’s vital and nuanced in the way writer-directors Scott McGehee and David Siegel handle the emotional heaviness of the equipment. Bolstered by a talented cast, Montana Story allows its drama and characters to sit in the stillness of their emotions and the simmering tension, exploring the difficult dynamics of family and finding closure.

Cal (Owen Teague) is back at his family’s plantation in Montana to care for his ailing father, who is now in a trance after a stroke, his time on Earth quickly breaking out. Refereeing by the way Cal barely interacts with him, however, it’s easy to see they had a strained relationship. Cal is shocked but pleased when older sister Erin (Haley Lu Richardson) returns home. She hated their father for justifications later revealed, but she wanted to see him one last time before he died. Erin can’t stand to be in a similar room with her dad and hasn’t spoken to Cal in years after leaving the ranch behind at 18. Their alienation is palpable, but there are moments of compassion between them that remember how close they must have been before. Finally reunited, Cal aims to rebuild their relationship.

There isn’t all that much phenomenon in Montana Story, but that isn’t reason enough for audiences not to see it. The film takes its time unfolding its central story, that of the fraught relationship between its protagonists. While some may be caused aversion by its slow pacing, it proves to be perfect, giving time for the novel to unfold, layering the characters’ backstory and journeys ahead. It’s a simple tale, but one that is buffered by the deep feelings at its core, ones that ache and yearn, hurt and love. The sibling dynamic that gives Montana Story its loss of heart is quite lovely, meaningful and complicated. For the first half of the film, it’s a bit difficult to verify exactly why Erin and Cal are alienated, though it’s obvious their abusive father had a role to play in creating this distance between two people who were once quite tight.

The exploration of their relationship — its highs and its lows — is potent, laced with an enormous amount of grief and longing for the return of the way things used to be between them. The film isn’t so quick to clarify the nature of their layered dynamic so much as it allows their intercourses to play out organically before dropping the source of conflict. To that end, every discussion is crucial, painting a picture of what is happening while allowing the actors to convey the beautifully profound feelings their characters are experiencing. Montana Story is poignant in that way, taking its time to unpack all that there is between Cal and Erin without ever feeling contrived.

The film’s central premise is enabled by the gorgeous shots of the Montana landscape, thanks to cinematographer Giles Nuttgens. The vastness of the rolling hills and the empty land makes the characters appear relatively small in comparison, but it also isolates them in their grief and pain, giving focus to their relationship and all of its difficulties. Montana Story is genuinely deep and made all the better by Richardson and Teague’s outstanding performances, their manners, delivery, and body language showcasing the anguish, the unhealed wounds, and the basic love their characters have for each other so well. Watching them is captivating. All told, McGehee and Siegel have crafted a dynamic, achingly beautiful story that is driven by its characters and is not one to miss.