A genre as old as cinema itself, the western—and its classic tension between social order and the immense wilderness—has gone through countless cycles of fascinating reinvention. Celebrating the release of Pedro Almodóvar’s Strange Way of Life (2023), which imbues the crimson desert with sizzling queer passions, our collection of neo-westerns gallops toward a new cinematic frontier.

Examining the legacy of the Oregon Trail during 19th-century America, Kelly Reichardt’s First Cow (2019) tempers the racial violence of the time with a poignant tale of friendship between a Jewish cook and a Chinese migrant, two tender souls who strive for survival amid a vast and unforgiving landscape. Moving beyond the borders of the United States, the transnational neo-westerns in this collection filter familiar conventions through a distinctively local lens. While Valeska Grisebach’s volatile Western (2017) conjures a fractured vision of Europeanness, Kim Jee-woon’s smash hit The Good, the Bad, the Weird (2008) transports the gun-toting thrills of the spaghetti western—right down to the guitar twangs—to 1940s Manchuria. Set in South Africa and Brazil respectively, Kleber Mendonça Filho and Juliano Dornelles’s Bacurau (2019) and Jenna Cato Bass’s Flatland (2019) powerfully resist the common perception of the western as a conservative, male-dominated genre. Here, the domain of the outlaw is charged with feminist and revolutionary possibility. Grappling with ongoing sociopolitical issues, these exciting revivals of the western reaffirm the evergreen potency of a beloved genre as they look toward new challenges on the horizon. Saddle up, partner, and enjoy the ride.