When Wade (Rob Story), the patriarch of a Montana ranching family falls terminally ill, his two children Cal (Owen Teague) and Erin (Haley Lu Richardson) return home to begin preparing their father’s affairs in the days before his death.  With two opposing views on what to do with the remaining estate, the brother and sister pair get off to a rocky start until the recollection of some painful memories forces the siblings to come together after years apart and come to a new understanding for one another. 

Montana Story is a family drama written and directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel with story assistance by Mike Spreter and released by Bleecker Street Media.  At 114 minutes, the film takes a little time before finding its footing and giving the audience enough details to get their own bearings straight.  Keeping the details close to the chest is not a bad thing, especially in these dramas where unreckoned family secrets bubble to the surface, but the writing team here is a little too precious so they struggle to really land the hook with their audience.  Those who do stay with the narrative are eventually rewarded with an interesting story even if the film as a whole work has a few unavoidable obstacles to overcome. 

To highlight the strengths first, Montana Story looks incredible with cinematography provided by Giles Nuttgens.  He captures the endless horizons of the northwest mountains and manages to take our breath away with the stunning vistas.  It is not just the showcasing of the natural beauty of the region, but the color palette employed by Nuttgens also instills a melancholic feeling to the film.  The dusty roads mixed with the deep blues of the sky fill the frame constantly and thankfully the filmmakers allow us to savor those scenes with Cal and Erin as they struggle to figure out what to do next. 

The performances here, though, are not as immersive. Much of this is attributed to some incredibly awkward and disjointed line readings so the onus here is more than likely placed on the directing team as the manner of talking is uniform across the cast. It is as if much of the dialogue was corrected in post so there is that disembodied quality to the track, but if one can overlook that and focus on the story, they will find that the scene work in Montana Story is quite impressive. It is a slow and contemplative story, unfolding very carefully, and often time presenting long sequences that are punctuated by cuts to black not dissimilar to chapter breaks in a novella. It should be noted that this film is working off of an original script, but the longer sequences allow for plenty of development to the point where they become almost like short episodes with their own beginning, middle, and end while still fitting into an overall structure.     

While Montana Story is not breaking new ground in the genre, it does well to avoid some of the tropes and pitfalls that it seems to be building towards. For much of the film, it appears that Erin is well on her way to completing her Hallmark Holiday Heroine arc of a big city girl falling back in love with the charms of her small hometown. That is not the case here, at least not so much in the way that it is typically employed. The metaphors in this simple on the surface story can be more deeply explored if so desired or left at face value it is still an enjoyable drama with a dark secret at its core that needs no further examination. Its methodical and deliberate pacing can be difficult to fall in step with, especially in the first act, but once the groundwork has been laid, the film is unflinching as it addresses the topics of guilt and grief, family and forgiveness.