‘Gunfighter Paradise’ is Nirvana for Film Nerds But Struggles To Hit Satirical Mark

Incongruity of form is an artist’s imperative. Few filmmakers in recent memory have flaunted that option like Jethro Waters does in his debut feature “Gunfighter Paradise.” In the opening minutes, we are treated to a quote from Mark Twain, two dazed-and-confused Confederate soldiers, a protagonist adorned in camouflage make-up à la Martin Sheen in “Apocalypse Now” (1979), and, on the soundtrack, an infectious song by Iggy Pop, “Tell Me a Story.”Did I mention the hallucinogenic montages peppered with naughty bits that punctuate the proceedings? Mr. Waters, who also wrote this “dark comedy centered around Christian Fundamentalism,” doesn’t stop there, though his juxtapositions of tone and character become less flagrant as the story progresses. This is a director intent on continually pulling the rug out from us. “Gunfighter Paradise” wears its mannerisms on its sleeve.Sounds annoying, I know, but Mr. Waters’ cinematic know-how is more sure, or rather less received, than his moral compass. His idiosyncrasies of plot and character are set firmly within the logic of the narrative. With its purpose and vitality, “Gunfighter Paradise,” though not for all tastes, hits the mark.It’s also a punning turn of phrase for a film whose lead character, Stoner (a taciturn Braz Cubas), is a marksman and hunter. He’s also emotionally damaged, though we’re not given a specific reason why he wears green-and-purple striping on his face. His mother’s recent passing may figure into it, as could a running conversation Stoner has been having with the Almighty. Mr. Cubas converses with us as well, his character’s voiceover recalling any number of Westerns in its grit and cadence.Stoner has returned to the family home in North Carolina, a move that doesn’t do much good for his state of mind. The decor is dated, dusty and littered with slips of paper left by mom that serve as codes and clues for an indeterminate purpose. Puzzles being a family pastime, Stoner finds his interest piqued, as does an old acquaintance who has stopped by the homestead. Joel (Joel Loftin) lets his duties as a cable repairman fall by the wayside: he’s more intrigued by the freak show that is Stoner.The two men settle into a dour hail-fellow well-met rhythm, exchanging conversational oddments. Among the oddest has to do with a suitcase bequeathed to Stoner by a distant uncle. When Joel learns that it contains 7-million dollars, he can barely brook his wonder; when he learns that there is an assassin on Stoner’s trail, he promptly exits the proceedings. A responsibility to his wife and children outweighs Joel’s fascination with the increasingly cryptic Stoner.Heady stuff, this, and then there’s a mummified cat, a sage neighbor or an omnipresent father-and-son who embody “the cultural Frankenstein of irreconcilable American ideologies.” Mr. Waters is out to make a big statement of one sort or another, but he’s less effective as a satirist than he is as a film nerd. As such, Mr. Waters wades through myriad filmic checkpoints with a knack for pithy dialogue, a good eye for blocking, and a better eye for cinematography. “Gunfighter Paradise” will strike many as nettlesome, but others will find in it promise to be seen and pleasures to be gleaned.

‘Gunfighter Paradise’ is Nirvana for Film Nerds But Struggles To Hit Satirical Mark

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