Dead Man's Burden

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Dead Man's Burden
Dead Man's Burden Poster.jpg
Theatrical release poster
Directed by Jared Moshe
Written byJared Moshe
Produced byVeronica Nickel
Starring
CinematographyRobert Hauer
Edited byJeff Israel
Music by H. Scott Salinas
Production
companies
Illuminaria Productions
Stick! Pictures
Distributed byCinedigm Entertainment Group
Release date
  • June 16, 2012 (2012-06-16)(Los Angeles Film Festival)
Running time
93 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Dead Man's Burden is a 2012 Western film directed by Jared Moshe. The film premiered on June 16, 2012, at the Los Angeles Film Festival and stars Barlow Jacobs and Clare Bowen as two siblings that reunite over the death of their father and a potential sale of their land.

Contents

Plot

Martha and her husband Heck are two hardy settlers trying to survive in New Mexico after the end of the Civil War and the death of Martha's father. They're given hope for a better life when a mining company shows interest in purchasing their homestead, but things become tense when Martha's brother Wade, who defected to the Union Army returns home after hearing of their father's death – unaware that Martha herself was the one who brought about his demise.

Cast

Production

When writing the script for Dead Man's Burden, Moshe wrote with the intent to cast the film with lesser known actors, as he didn't want "to bring in a big-name actor who didn’t look like they belong in that period." [1] Moshe did not use storyboards, as the film had a tight budget and couldn't afford a storyboard artist, instead watching other Western films for inspiration and working closely with cinematographer Robert Hauer. [1] Filming took place in New Mexico over an 18-day period, where the cast experienced freak storms that forced the cast to walk to the set but did not delay filming. [1]

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 74% based on reviews from 19 critics. [2] On Metacritic the film has a score of 76% based on 12 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews". [3]

Common elements praised in the film was Moshé's choice in cast, which Variety lauded as a highlight. [4] In their mostly positive review IndieWire remarked that the lack of major stars and the choice to film a Western (which they saw as a "mostly defunct genre") could jeopardize commercial prospects. [5] The New York Daily News's review was more mixed, as they felt that the "verbose period film has the complicated plot and tight pacing of a cable TV drama, which is then squashed into an indie-film paradigm." [6]

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References

  1. 1 2 3 "Jared Moshe on Dead Man's Burden". FM. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  2. "Dead Man's Burden". Rotten Tomatoes . Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  3. "Dead Man's Burden". Metacritic . Retrieved January 10, 2020.
  4. "Review: 'Dead Man's Burden'". Variety. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  5. "LAFF REVIEW: Jared Moshé's 'Dead Man's Burden' Does Justice To Its Western Roots". IndieWire. Retrieved January 4, 2014.
  6. "'Dead Man's Burden,' 'Post Tenebras Lux': Movie reviews". NYDN. Retrieved January 4, 2014.