When walking into a new Martin McDonagh film, one can fairly expect to see some of the same hallmarks that have stuck with him throughout his celebrated filmography. Wild Horse Nine sees McDonagh staying within his lane, but it quickly becomes his most melancholic film to date, a poignant treatise on mortality and legacy, featuring the best performance of John Malkovich’s long career. How McDonagh can weave so many complex themes and disparate tones into a dark comedy about Americans meddling in foreign affairs goes to show why he’s one of the most celebrated auteurs working today.

The film is set during a pivotal time in South America, just before the fall of the Chilean democracy in 1973. It’s here where we first meet Chris (Malkovich) and Lee (Sam Rockwell), two CIA operatives and reluctant friends who are stationed in Chile before a trip to Easter Island. To Lee’s dismay, Chris makes no secret of their real purpose in Chile, essentially letting anyone they meet know who they are and what they do. But it’s not long before we learn that Chris’s loose lips are at least partially due to a number of factors, including his impending death from cancer, his dementia, his regular intake of morphine, or his old age. Although perhaps he’s always been this way, unafraid of the repercussions of his actions – it’s part of the magic of Malkovich’s layered performance that it could be all of these.

Wild Horse Nine is McDonagh’s take on the Western, with several explicit visual homages to The Searchers especially. Like John Ford’s epic, McDonagh’s film deals with the end of an era – in this case, the end of one man’s life, the end of a partnership, the end of the Chilean Marxist experiment. But Wild Horse Nine is more self-reflective, as Chris wonders if he’s still worthy of entry into heaven after a lifetime of misdeeds. One of those misdeeds may or may not include the fact that Chris himself had gone rogue and was responsible for the JFK assassination, which brings CIA Chief, and the duo’s boss, MJ (Steve Buscemi) into the mix. But Charlie’s internal plight brings up questions which anyone facing their own mortality might ask, regardless of whether they’ve served as a glorified hitman responsible for toppling world governments.

Similar to The Banshees of Inisherin, McDonagh’s latest masterfully blends a mix of comedy and sadness. Consider the scene where Lee speaks on the phone with his wife Marge (Parker Posey), which begins with a back-and-forth about her extramarital affairs, and ends with him shedding a tear over the likelihood that Chris won’t survive their trip. But Wild Horse Nine feels more plot-forward than Banshees, with a clear end point set out before the end of the first act. This isn’t a detriment, necessarily, as the film often marinates in mundane, hilarious dialogue that perfectly fits the characters’ worldviews.

McDonagh’s setting of the film on Easter Island is no accident. Here is a place littered with statues, hundreds of years old, which brings tourists from around the world. Though it’s never stated out loud, surely Chris wonders if he’ll be remembered in a similar way. But does he even deserve to be remembered after he’s gone? His Catholic guilt over his heinous crimes, and the institution’s belief that anyone is worthy of redemption, probably has something to do with his struggle to believe it. Though it may not be widely accepted to be McDonagh’s best film so far, Wild Horse Nine leaves much to think about long after it’s over. It’s the kind of film typically reserved for a filmmaker’s swan song, a way of looking back and wondering if your life’s work made any kind of impact. One can only hope that this won’t be the case, and McDonagh has many more sad, funny stories to tell.

Wild Horse Nine premiered as a Centerpieces Screening at the 35th Heartland International Film Festival. Searchlight Pictures will release in theaters on November 6th.

OSCAR POTENTIAL:

• To some extent, it still feels like McDonagh is riding high from the success of Banshees, so I expect a number of nominations for Wild Horse Nine, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay, where it could easily win.
• Malkovich is the de factor front-runner for Best Actor, and Rockwell (who won his Oscar for a McDonagh film) feels safe for a nomination as well. If any other actors receive nominations, like Buscemi or Mariana di Girolamo, look out for the film to be a top contender for Best Picture.
• Carter Burwell’s score is much more understated here, so I don’t expect him to land this year. Similarly, Mikkel E.G. Nielsen’s editing gets the job done, but isn’t the kind of flashy style that the branch tends to reward.
• Given the acting presence within the film, I expect a Best Casting nomination as well.