By Josh Bate
Werner Herzog has never been a filmmaker particularly interested in doing things the conventional way. Throughout a career spanning more than five decades, the German auteur has built a reputation for making movies that are as unpredictable as the man himself, often placing unusual characters in even more unusual circumstances. His latest feature, Bucking Fastard, continues that tradition with one of his most peculiar premises yet: real-life sisters Kate Mara and Rooney Mara play two women who are almost inseparable, speak almost entirely in perfect unison, and share a kinetic sexual relationship with the same man. It is a strange concept, even by Herzog’s standards, but one that gives Bucking Fastard an immediate sense of intrigue and befits the on-screen dedication to David Lynch at the film’s start. The film, which makes its Canadian premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, may not always know what to do with its unusual setup, yet there is something undeniably captivating about watching the Mara sisters commit themselves so completely to Herzog’s eccentric vision.
Kate Mara and Rooney Mara play Jean and Joan Holbrooke, sisters whose relationship is so intertwined that they frequently appear less like two individuals and more like a single person split into two bodies. They dress alike, move together, speak at the same time, and become romantically involved with Gareth (Orlando Bloom). When their relationship with Gareth goes awry, Jean and Joan find themselves facing a legal battle that sets off a chain of events as they seek out new meaning in life.
The setup sounds like it could easily become a gimmick, but the Mara sisters make it work far better than expected. Their performances are the movie’s biggest attraction, and the level of coordination required to maintain such precise synchronization for nearly two hours is genuinely impressive. Their voices rise and fall together, their physical movements frequently mirror one another, and even their facial expressions seem carefully calibrated.
That commitment gives Bucking Fastard a genuinely unusual identity. There are plenty of films about complicated siblings, doomed romances, or people trying to rebuild their lives after heartbreak, but very few would approach those ideas through a pair of protagonists who seem to operate almost as a single consciousness.
The film initially finds a surprisingly effective framework for that eccentricity. Much of the early story unfolds around Jean and Joan’s legal troubles, with their courtroom proceedings and intermittent flashbacks providing an opportunity to gradually uncover what happened between the sisters and Gareth.
It is all quintessentially Herzog. The filmmaker has always had an affinity for characters who exist just outside the boundaries of conventional behavior, and Bucking Fastard is at its best when it simply allows these people to be strange. The humor often comes from the almost childlike romanticism of the sisters’ worldviews rather than traditional jokes, while Herzog’s willingness to embrace the bizarre gives the film an unpredictability that is difficult to replicate.
Unfortunately, the movie eventually struggles to maintain the momentum established by its opening. Once the courtroom proceedings fade into the background, Bucking Fastard becomes considerably looser in its construction. A lack of direction isn’t necessarily surprising from Herzog as his films have rarely been driven by conventional storytelling mechanics, However, the film’s increasingly episodic structure makes Herzog’s exploration of hopeless romanticism feel too vague for its own good.
A proclivity to take detour after detour becomes more noticeable as the film approaches its final act. What initially feels like an intentionally unconventional narrative gradually begins to feel underdeveloped, and the movie’s willingness to wander starts working against it. By the time Bucking Fastard reaches its conclusion, some of the fascination generated by the Mara sisters’ performances has been replaced by the feeling that the movie has run out of ideas for where to take them.
VERDICT: 4/10
Making its Canadian premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival, Bucking Fastard is an undeniably strange and ambitious film that showcases Werner Herzog’s willingness to follow his most eccentric instincts. Real-life sisters Kate and Rooney Mara are the clear highlight, delivering remarkably precise and committed performances as two unusually synchronized siblings. Unfortunately, Herzog’s latest struggles to give those performances a story worthy of them, with its increasingly loose structure and underdeveloped ideas about love, heartbreak, and infatuation leaving the film feeling uneven by the time it reaches its conclusion. Bucking Fastard may not rank among Herzog’s strongest films, but its eccentricity, ambition, and remarkable central performances make it difficult to dismiss entirely.
Bucking Fastard made its Canadian premiere at this year’s Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF). The film does not currently have a scheduled wide release in the U.S.