There’s a marvellous gentleness and warmth to this Montana-set drama from writer-director Anna Kerrigan. Its star, Steve Zahn, has been a mainstay of Hollywood-indie character acting these 30 years, and he brings his A-game to playing Troy, a roguish, big-hearted guy with a drinking problem, a bipolar disorder and a prison record.
He was once married to Sally, played by Jillian Bell, and on the weekends, despite the lack of any court order enforcing it, Sally still lets him see their 10-year-old who absolutely adores him and hates the girly dresses and dolls that Sally keeps supplying and loves instead the Stetsons, denims and huge belt buckles that Troy has. Troy chuckles indulgently at these “tomboy” mannerisms, which triggers this outburst: “Tomboys are just another type of girl – and I’m not a girl.”
Their child is not their daughter but rather their transgender son – whose name should be Joe, not the “Josie” they’ve been using. Troy grasps this but Sally can’t, and it’s an outstanding performance from child actor Sasha Knight.
This family dynamic comes to a crisis as the fragile relationship between Troy and Sally further disintegrates and, in an increasingly emotional state, Troy effectively kidnaps Joe for a camping trip that, in his muddled, feverish mind, will be their escape up north to Canada, just two cowboys together.
For all his problems and inadequacies, Troy – the outsider, the transgressor – is the one who understands Joe, but Bell shows how Sally is understandably angry at how Troy gets to swagger around as the freewheeling male hero and role model while she is gender-stereotyped as the woman landed with the unglamorous job of caregiving. “Look who gets to suck,” she says, asking angrily: “Who would choose to be a girl?” And there is the further issue of how cowboys idolise and fetishise their phallic guns, which are going to get Troy and Joe into deep trouble.
Cowboys is a film that relaxes into its ideas and themes, and the performances from Knight, Zahn and Bell – with Ann Dowd as the cop on Troy’s trail – are all tremendous.
• Cowboys is released on 7 May on digital platforms.
