On the surface, The Bygone looks made for me. A sparse, gritty neo-western about clashing cultures, a disappearing way of life, hard-scrabble folk scraping to get by in a desolate land, all capped off with the potential for violence lurking just out of sight. The problem with the debut feature from brother co-director and co-writers Graham and Parker Phillips (Graham also stars) is that generally all it offers are surface elements, with little waiting below. In many ways, it’s a strong debut, in others, not so much.
