‘Quantum Cowboys’ Review — Lily Gladstone Leads Another Must-See Western

If you are looking for the year of Lily Gladstone to continue after she was already one of the best parts of the recent Killers of the Flower Moon and to hold you over her until her upcoming film Fancy Dance finally comes out, then you’ll want to saddle up with the animated Western Quantum Cowboys. Alongside Kiowa Gordon of the stellar series Dark Winds, she gives yet another great performance in the most delightfully absurd work in her filmography to date.

Though hard to fully pin down as it is a great many things, it is a film that takes us through time and space with a variety of styles all flashing before you as it draws you in closer to its vibrant vision. Specifically, it makes use of 16 mm film, hand-drawn animation, oil paintings, digital collages, and more that all come together into one work of art all its own. There are live-action interludes scattered throughout as well, but its best elements come when it plays around with a whole host of animated styles that grow increasingly chaotic in the best way. Just when you think you’ve got a handle on what it’s getting at, it will drop you into another boldly beautiful style that continually unfurls before you like an ever-shifting tapestry.

What Is ‘Quantum Cowboys’ About?

Originally premiering back at last year’s Annecy Film Festival, Quantum Cowboys is a multiverse story unlike any other. While this type of narrative device has grown a bit overutilized of late, writer-director Geoff Marslett’s Quantum Cowboys puts its own spin on the idea in every scene. The film follows the trio Frank (Gordon), Linde (Gladstone), and Bruno (John Way) who are traveling through 1870s southern Arizona as well as time itself in search of a musician who may have died. At one point, when they ask where he may be, they’re told that he’s here and there. In essence, this sums up the film itself as the narrative that it hangs itself on is less important than the manner in which it tells it. Just as they are going on their search, there is a man in a room overseeing what is going on in a way that almost recalls aspects of last year’s brilliant Mad God or The Matrix movies. If that wasn’t enough, there are two other ne’er-do-wells in Colfax (David Arquette) and Depew (Frank Mosley) who seem to have come from another time. Oh, and there is also a film crew capturing the events, one of whom is played by Gary Farmer of the spectacular series Reservation Dogs. In other words, there is quite a lot going on that is best experienced by letting yourself get swept up in it.

There are moments that feel like they’re playing around with the classic elements of the Western, but it would be incorrect to refer to it as some sort of spoof. There is a sincerity to what is happening and everyone takes it seriously no matter how silly it gets. Even the most overtly comedic scene surrounding a nighttime confrontation and some hallucinations takes a bloody turn involving a severed limb. Even as this is the longest section of live action, the film remains light on its feet and proves to be more darkly whimsical the longer it goes on.

When it throws in a mysterious masked man, whose identity is quite apparent to everyone except the characters, you go along with it because it is all about the verve with which this then plays out. Even when the ending starts to get a little meandering, setting up for what seems to be more potential films to come, the journey and the characters on it are just joyous to get lost in. If you were to pick a single frame at random and put it alongside a different one from another random point, they would almost seem to be from two entirely separate works. This is what gives the film its charm as it feels like you’re in a fever dream of sorts for which there is no cure. Though why would you want one with a film as layered and colorful as this?

Lily Gladstone Is Delightful in ‘Quantum Cowboys’

It is the vibrancy to the presentation that remains the standout though the performances are also good fun. In particular, Gladstone once again shows she can inhabit any character and make them feel like someone you’ve known for a lifetime. From the moment you first hear her voice in the central scene that the film will keep revisiting, she brings both a sly wit and an emotional gravitas to the experience. Though her past films have seen her give stunning performances, there is something special to seeing her get to let loose and show off her comedic chops as well. When we come to know more about her character with what she is hoping to achieve in all this, it makes all of the preceding events both more enjoyable and emotional. Whether she and the rest of this eccentric cast of characters set out on the trail again in this world, one can only be glad we got to see them in all their various incarnations.

Rating: B+

Quantum Cowboys is available to stream on Fandor.

WATCH ON FANDOR