TIFF 2022 Review - 'Butcher's Crossing' (2022)

Film festivals are a funny beast, because you go through the entirety of the films that you’re most excited about seeing, and it’s such a happy moment getting to see one of your most anticipated films. For me, that was “Butcher’s Crossing,” adapted from a novel by John Williams, about an Ivy League dropout named Will Andrews (Fred Hechinger) who goes to the town of Butcher’s Crossing, Kansas.

There, he meets Miller (Nicolas Cage), an obsessive buffalo hunter who — on one of the first nights of meeting young Andrews — tells a tale of a buffalo herd he saw 10 years ago, deep in the Colorado Rockies. He still wants to hunt it. It would take them on a months-long trek into the Colorado Rockies — but they’ll be rich men on the other side. Enamored by the story, Andrews agrees to cough up $600 (probably about $20,000 in today’s currency) to fund the expedition.

Familiarity with its Source Material Would Help Viewing this Film

Film festivals are funny, because this turned out to be my least favourite from the fest. I knew it had Nicolas Cage, was a Western, and its pace would be slow. All of those things are true. It would be helpful to most to be more familiar with the book before seeing the film. I understand it’s a cautionary tale of the dwindling population of the American bison in the 1970s, but within this film itself, that plot is more of an in-reflection realization.

One of the most surprising elements of “Butcher’s Crossing” is also just how quickly they’re able to find the herd in The Rockies. The story that Miller spins, one that sounds like Ishmael describing his holy grail and how he’ll find it one day, it’s surprisingly easy to find. He talks about how dangerous the find will be, but then they find it by the end of the first act. I think that’s one thing that robs of enjoyment in “Butcher’s Crossing,” — part of the journey seems like it would be the glory, but here, it’s all about after they find the buffalo.

This is when the character dynamics start to flesh out, and where we start to learn that Miller has an obsession laying the claim on this land and these buffalo because he was the first to find them. The troupe’s skinner, Fred (Jeremy Bobb), knows they should turn back before the weather turns because they have enough, but he says it so aggressively, no one listens to him. Fred Hechinger’s Will Andrews finds himself mostly in the middle, because he’s a guest in this world.

‘Butcher’s Crossing’ Exhibits Some Character Arc and Pacing Problems

I wonder if that’s why Hechinger (known for his roles in the “Fear Street” trilogy) was cast in the role of Andrews. He does look convincingly out of place on a buffalo hunting trip in 1870s Colorado, nearly dying once or twice on the initial trek. The disappointing part of the character of Will, however, is seeing him start the film as a naïve Ivy League dropout searching for the meaning of life. He completes this arc as a naïve Ivy League dropout searching for the meaning of life, but one who knows how to skin buffalo. It’s a bleak arc that is the point of Gabe Polsky’s “Butcher’s Crossing,” but one that does not reward its viewers. It’s bleak and shows there’s no meaning to all this, so it admittedly feels aimless.

Nicholas Cage in “Butcher’s Crossing,” now playing at TIFF. (Photo: David Gallego/TIFF).

We can say the same for the pacing in the film. “What else are we supposed to talk about here, killing buffalo?” asks Fred, as some days we only see them wake up, only to go back to bed 10 seconds later. The conflict within the film is also mostly man vs. man as certain characters turn on each other, but the main conflict is inclement weather and the natural elements.

Impressively the picture was shot over 19 days, so perhaps that’s why in pacing they find the buffalo so quickly. Unfortunately, it feels like they could have used a lot more footage to lend to believability, especially as the seasons change. And my last point here, and the disappointing aspect, is how each character lacks emotion, and that’s a big disconnect.

Struggling to Connect with ‘Butcher’s Crossing’s’ Characters

Nicolas Cage is consistently great and does his usual thing as Miller, usually calm and obsessive, but leaning into the belly of his Cage Rage when the film starts to get frantic and feels like it’s going towards Donner Party territory. There’s just no connection to these characters and what happens to them; and unfortunately Xander Berkley’s character feels like a cartoon character, the camp hand who’s there to just read his Bible and mind his business.

The character calls for overacting, and that’s also the case for Paul Raci’s fur trade business owner. The character is the money bags for the town of Butcher’s Crossing. While Raci is so strong in “Sound of Metal” as the calmness in that film, his character is purposely obnoxious here, shouting almost every line. That aspect of his character takes away every opportunity Raci has to make an impression.