Damsel                                 3 stars

I went looking for movies that premiered at Sundance Film Festival again and found Damsel, a comedy western made by the Zellner brothers (David and Nathan).  Previously, they brought us Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter, a very quirky comedy.  Here we follow Samuel Alabaster (Robert Pattinson), a pioneer who has come out west to marry his sweetheart, Penelope (Mia Wasikowska) and is accompanied by Butterscotch, a miniature horse as a wedding gift.  Samuel has enlisted the service of Parson Henry (David Zellner, also the writer and director), a drunkard and a preacher, so that he can immediately marry Penelope.  The surprise is that this is not only a romantic journey, but is also a rescue mission as it seems that Penelope has been kidnapped and is being held captive in a cabin deep in the woods.  To give you an idea of the comedy of the movie, the opening scene of a pair of travelers waiting for a stage coach at an isolated station, where one of them loses his mind seems unrelated to the rest of the movie.  The characters play their roles seriously and very well, especially Pattinson and Wasikowska, so the comedy comes with the absurdity of the situations the characters find themselves in.  Just as you think what you just saw was strange, something even more peculiar will follow.  Besides the miniature horse, there is a perpetually bent rifle barrel still in use, an abundance of dynamite and the bizarre reactions of Pastor Henry who is always lost in his life journey.  The pace of the movie is rather slow and it has a type of comedy that may not be for everyone.  Robert Pattinson previously has starred in The Lighthouse and High Life showing he is equally comfortable in drama, horror and comedy.  And I am looking forward to seeing him in the upcoming sci-fi thriller Tenet!