Parents' Guide to The Dead Don't Hurt

Mortensen's Western has a slightly unwieldy structure, but it also has elegance and a sense of patience, and its cast gives strong, touching performances. Mortensen—who not only wrote and directed The Dead Don't Hurt, but also stars in it and even composed the music—gives the film an unusual timeline. Sometimes it works great, such as in the opening sequence, a violent killing spree that creeps over the rest of the movie like a shadow. But other times, viewers flash to Vivienne's childhood, which can be disorienting, as well as distracting from the main story thread.

On the other hand, there's a kind of dignity here, in that the characters all seem to know who they are. Olsen's little ranch is humble, but it suits him and Vivienne perfectly. Even the villains—except for loose-cannon Weston, who's a little too generic—behave with an air of quiet confidence. Best of all is Vivienne, an uncharacteristically strong female character in a genre that's usually dominated by men. Her inner strength puts her on equal footing with everyone she encounters; she won't be intimidated or invalidated. In an early scene, she dines with a blabbermouth bore; fed up, she just gets up and walks out. Moments like that help ensure that when The Dead Don't Hurt turns, inevitably, to vengeance, it feels somehow earned; it's not the only thing this movie is actually about.