Out West

ABOVE: MICHAEL SHANNON IN YOUNG ONES. PHOTO COURTESY OF SCREEN MEDIA FILMS.

Following a global drought, the Holm family (played by Michael Shannon, Kodi Smit-McPhee, and Elle Fanning) lives in a desolate dustbowl. The U.S. is divided into those who have—water, cars, greenery—and those who scrape by. Writer-director Jake Paltrow explains that he originally conceived Young Ones, which debuted at Sundance in January, as a “love story between a father and son,” influenced by the novels of S.E. Hinton. At its core, however, Young Ones is a modern Western about revenge and a pernicious sense of family honor. “The movie just natural moved towards being a Western,” Paltrow says. “As opposed to fighting that, I embraced it.”

YOUNG ONES IS OUT NOW IN LIMITED RELEASE.