Damsel

A film by the eclectic Zellner Brothers, "Damsel" is one of those works that may leave viewers scratching their heads. It tells the story of a man named Samuel (Robert Pattinson) who teams up with the drunken Parson Henry (David Zellner) in order to rescue and marry the love of his life, Penelope (Mia Wasikowska).

It's a fairly simple tale of Man Rescues Woman as old as the Western genre itself, which "Damsel" looks to twist and reinvent at every turn. As the film navigates its way through new Western territory, it both succeeds and falls flat in even doses.

For starters, its playful absurdities may not always hit the nail on the head (but when they deliver, the laughs are authentically gut-busting). "Damsel" is filled with eccentricities such as a conversation in a bar that ends with three men inexplicably feeling each other's Adam's apples or a miniature horse named Butterscotch who ends up stealing the show as one of the main characters of the film.

There are slapstick-style injuries and awkward goofiness, as well as visual gags like a horse wearing a cowboy hat for one blink-and-you-missed-it shot. Why? I'm sure because the Zellner clan found it hilarious.

And, to be fair, much of "Damsel" is quite funny, but when its humor misses the mark it often screeches the film to a halt. The narrative picks up and further stabs a knife into genre convention once Mia Wasikowska enters the picture as the inimitable and indomitable Penelope. If the ultimate goal of this film was to transform the conventions associated with its title term, then "Damsel" succeeds in generous doses.