Strange Way of Life: Here’s what critics are saying about Pedro Pascal’s LGBTQ+ Western
The verdict is in for Pedro Pascal and Ethan Hawke’s LGBTQ+ Western Strange Way of Life. Over the last few months, LGBTQ+ movie enthusiasts have anxiously awaited the release of director Pedro Almodóvar’s “answer to Brokeback Mountain.” The upcoming short Western stars The Mandalorian and The Last of Us alum Pascal as a gunslinger named Silva, with Hawke stepping into the role of a sheriff named Jake.
The official synopsis reads: “A man rides a horse across the desert that separates him from Bitter Creek. He comes to visit Sheriff Jake.
Twenty-five years earlier, both the sheriff and Silva, the rancher who rides out to meet him, worked together as hired gunmen. “Silva visits him with the excuse of reuniting with his friend from his youth, and they do indeed celebrate their meeting, but the next morning Sheriff Jake tells him that the reason for his trip is not to go down the memory lane of their old friendship…” On 17 May, the 31-minute project finally debuted at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival.
Fortunately, the months-long hype was well deserved, with many attending critics praising the film on social media. USA Today Reporter Ema Sasic described the film as the “melodramatic, quarrelling lovers western you always wanted.” “Ethan Hawke and Pedro Pascal are great together as their characters find each other after several years and go through a turbulent few hours.
