You don’t expect a Western to feel like a whispered story or a half-remembered dream. But that’s exactly what Heads or Tails turns out to be.
Co-directed by Alessio Rigo de Righi and Matteo Zoppis, this 2025 film is less a genre movie and more an act of myth-making. It starts like a familiar tale—bandits on the run, dusty towns, corrupt men in power. But give it time, and it shape-shifts into something far stranger: part political parable, part wandering fable, part hallucination. And somehow, it works.
Lovers, Legends, and the Long Road Out
The story follows Elia (played by Alessandro Borghi) and Rosa (Nadia Tereszkiewicz), two lovers turned outlaws, fleeing a crooked frontier. Their escape isn’t just physical—it’s philosophical. They move through villages like ghosts, challenging systems they don’t fully understand but refuse to accept.
You keep thinking you know where it’s going. You don’t. The film isn’t interested in clean arcs or satisfying resolutions. It prefers questions over answers, silence over speech. It’s the kind of film where a single glance might carry more weight than a shootout.
John C. Reilly’s Trickster Turn
And then there’s Buffalo Bill, played by a scene-stealing John C. Reilly. He’s not the hero, not quite the villain, maybe not even real. He narrates parts of the film like a circus barker, spinning tales that may or may not be true. You never really know.
But his voice, his presence, adds a crooked backbone to the story. He’s unreliable in the most compelling way—sometimes funny, sometimes sad, always just off-centre enough to make you lean in.
Sunburnt and Surreal
Visually, this film is gorgeous in a way that doesn’t scream about it. Simone D’Arcangelo’s cinematography makes the landscape feel both vast and intimate. Think wide shots of crumbling hills, quiet moments of dusk, long silences where time stretches thin.
It recalls classic spaghetti Westerns, sure—but with a painter’s eye and a poet’s timing. You feel the sun on your neck, the dust in your throat.
A Quiet Rebellion Beneath the Surface
What sneaks up on you is how political this film is, without ever being preachy. It’s not just about escape. It’s about systems that chew people up, and the stories we tell to survive them. Rosa’s journey, especially, lingers. She’s not a revolutionary. She’s just tired of being stepped on. That’s enough.
There’s also a sly awareness that this is a Western made outside the “West.” It knows the tropes and toys with them, but it doesn’t mock them. It reclaims them.
Also Read….
Alappuzha Gymkhana OTT Release; Recent Malayalam Movie Creating Buzz Everywhere
So, Should You Watch It?
Only if you’re not in a hurry. Heads or Tails isn’t paced for modern attention spans. It’s slow, strange, sometimes deliberately confusing. But if you give it space, it rewards you. Not with clarity, but with mood, texture, and feeling. Like hearing an old folk tale in a language you halfway understand.
The Last Word
In a year full of safe bets and sequels, this one feels like a gamble. But a beautiful one. It’s not tidy. It’s not fast. It’s not even always clear. But it’s alive. And that matters more.
Writer- Subham Choudhary