CRITIQUE – Billy Bob Thornton is the hero of the new series from the creator of Yellowstone Taylor Sheridan, who recounts the hell of the oil industry in Texas.
Oil and gas exploitation? 3 billion dollars per day in profit, announcement Landman. Behind these numbers, lives. Those of the workers, many from Latin American immigration in Texan companies. Those of the billionaires who reap the benefits. And, a link between these two worlds, those of « hands down », profession which gives its name to this series which starts Monday on Paramount+. These men negotiate land rights and leases with the owners, manage the teams, ensure their security, for the benefit, therefore, of financial giants (represented here by a couple played by Jon Hamm and Demi Moore, prestigious guests).
Landman, that's Tommy's job. A dangerous, all-consuming job, requiring investment 24 hours a day. The explosion of a well. Families of victims to be notified. The collision between a company plane and a tanker truck during drug trafficking. A kidnapping to negotiate the rental of land… This is his daily life. « I wouldn't want to do your job this week »says a cop he knows. « There's no week you'd want to do it »he replies.
The weight of the world on his shoulders
The awesome Billy Bob Thornton (The Barber, Un plan simple, season 1 of Fargo ) endorses his energy mixed with weariness, his solitude in the face of the immensity of the task, his dark humor, his humanity above all. « We can talk about greed, but for me, this job is more about obsessionconfides the actor to Figaro. Not that my character, Monty, likes it, he just has no other option. The fiction has no political dimension, it simply shows how the landman carries the weight of the world on his shoulders. He has to be everywhere at once, he gets kicked around like a pinball ball, it's exhausting. It also shows how this hell works. I haven't seen such an approach since Giant (1956 film by George Stevens with James Dean and Elizabeth Taylor, Editor's note). Dallas was more of a soap. Finally, it's really a series about people. And, whatever their job, how it can affect their existence. »
Taylor Sheridan, creator of Yellowstone ( as well as its derivatives 1883 et 1923or Tulsa King ), brilliantly continues its exploration of the American West, of the feeling of belonging to a territory, to a family. Tommy's is not easy. His son (Jacob Lofland), new to the company, wipes the casts in a perilous manner. While his ex-wife (Ali Larter) and his teenage daughter (Michelle Randolph), two atomic bombs, move in with him and panic his roommates. The first, which he is still crazy about, has a happy flashback. The second consoles herself for a romantic disappointment. « How do you always be right? ? »she asks her father. « I spent my life being wrong and I never forget the lessons »he recognizes with great lucidity. No Shakespearean drama at the Yellowstonerather a tone of comedy offering a welcome lightness as a counterpoint to a sometimes asphyxiating tension.
Because, despite the large spaces shrouded in light, rendered by an image with rough grain which allows dust to filter through, the derricks with their imposing and threatening silhouettes seem like the guards of an open-air prison, exacerbating a certain violence. « In the middle of nowhere, in such desolate places, people are found to be more sensitive to senses like hearing or sight, poursuit Billy Bob Thornton. They become more alive. Relationships are more intense. Desires, dreams too… »
