It’s time to head West—cinematically speaking, at least. Next month’s Cannes Film Festival lineup includes a surprising number of Westerns, including The Homesman, starring Meryl Streep, Tommy Lee Jones, and Hilary Swank (and co-written and directed by Jones), and Deux Jours, Une Nuit, a “Belgian Western” starring Marion Cotillard. We won’t attempt to explain how or why the world’s top filmmakers became collectively inspired by Western stories, but we will say this: From a stylistic standpoint, it makes perfect sense. Consider the recent obsession with all things Americana, a subject our editor in chief detailed in our latest issue of Style.com/Print. And of course, there was the Chanel Metiers d’Arts show in Dallas last December, in which models stomped down a hay-strewn runway in leather fringe, big gallon hats, and Native American motifs. It was the show that sparked a thousand Instagrams and had even the most discerning editors rethinking cowboy boots. As usual, Chanel was ahead of something huge. We’re curious to see if these new films at Cannes encourage a similar surge of interest in old-school American culture.
