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Critics Consensus: No consensus yet.
Critic Consensus: No consensus yet.
All Critics (102) | Top Critics (29) | Fresh (91) | Rotten (11)
There's a whole heap of Americana to wallow in here, but it's testimony to the director and subject that Buck still trots along at such a lick.
If you have even a passing interest in horses, you may find yourself smitten with this meditative doc.
Cynics beware: Darned tootin', we're home on the range here, where seldom is heard a discouraging word and don't nobody be yappin' that Buck is too good to be true.
Interviews with horse people, Brannaman's very funny, elderly stepmother and director Robert Redford help round out the doc, but all we really need is time with Brannaman, and Meehl doesn't disappoint.
The result is a portrait that expertly mirrors its subject: Buck is shaped with the same economy, restraint, and unfussiness as the man, to unexpectedly inspiring effect.
It's well and good to hear Buck and others tell his story, but the film wouldn't come to much if you didn't feel the connection between his present and past in every frame.
No, a young Scarlett Johansson doesn't make an appearance in Buck, as she did in The Horse Whisperer. But Buck, the man and the movie, are that rare thing, the real deal.
This insightful documentary is really quite special, and at times more than a little tear-inducing.
The most satisfying 90 minutes of cinema I've experienced in a long time.
Powerful profile on horse whisperer has mature themes.
This isn't just a love letter, at times it feels like full-on fellatio.
Meehl roots this redemption tale in carefully observed demonstrations at his clinics, even as the gorgeously shot landscape reminds us why stories like this are Hollywood's very lifeblood
While not exactly the most substantial of documentaries, "Buck" still has plenty to say about the human condition, through horses, no less. As Buck Brannaman says in the clinics he conducts all over the country nine months out of the year, it is not the humans with a horse problem he is trying to help but horses with a human problem. Growing up, he and his brother were severely phyiscally abused by their father. With luck and the help of caring foster parents, Buck turned out okay and sensitive to the concerns of others and the odd episode of Oprah.(I had to check out the deleted scenes on the DVD to find out how Buck's brother turned out.) As a parent, Buck feels it is okay to discipline one's children but only in an encouraging, not discouraging way. As alone as he is a lot on the road, he looks forward to returning home to his family, with his eldest daughter, Reata, now joining him for the summer.
Super Reviewer
Sometimes people's stories are just leaps and bounds better than anything Hollywood could produce. This doc is a mesmerizing and heart-warming look at a good and gentle man who took the pain of his childhood and turned it into grace. It may sound cliche and boring, but I'll be damned it you can watch it and not be moved.
This documentary reveals the power of firm tenderness and trust -- not just with horses, but with people too.
Documentary glibly but accurately described as profiling "a real-life horse whisperer." The story here is how a gifted young cowboy overcame childhood abuse and applied the lessons he learned to training horses. It's an inspirational movie, with all the lack of conflict or subtlety that word implies, but it holds your interest and is definitely worth a watch if you're interested in either horse training or child abuse.
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