THE HORSE WHISPERER (58)

Directed by: Robert Redford

Starring: Robert Redford, Kristin Scott Thomas, Sam Neill, Scarlet Johansson (the love-child of Lukas Haas and Juliette Lewis?)

The Pitch: A Montana rancher with a gift for communicating with horses heals the soul of a little girl traumatised in a riding accident.

Theo Sez: A spurious new genre - call it American Pastoral-Spiritual - for the irrevocably urbanised times, pitting good solid God-fearing country folk, close to the land and happy with what they've got (knowing what's out there, oh yes, but rejecting it) versus cynical city types who want everything but haven't had a good night's sleep (or, it's implied, a taste of true happiness) in years. The result, incredibly, is more than watchable, partly because the images have a humbling loveliness and Redford's style, however stately, has gradually evolved into a thing of beauty (few directors appreciate the power of a close-up more, or use them so deliberately) - but mostly because of its patent sincerity : it's like a fascinated anthropologist's study of some hidden sub-culture, a mountain tribe whose customs include saying little, sitting still and doing everything re-e-eal slow. That said, it's not above using super-crude indicators (in the red corner, the folks who say grace at table ; in the blue, the folks who watch "Beverly Hills 90210"), and there's a lot of New Age bilge - not to mention Mythical Old West bilge - to wade through (plus of course all the horsey stuff, though that seems to become less important as the film goes on : the nominal climax is closer to an afterthought). Delicate artistry in the service of a bird-brained agenda ; still, it must be possible to admire it without converting.