Rancho Texas

"A man of mystery, a soft-spoken man of action." It is night-time on a Texas ranch. Inside, a movie is airing on TV starring Charles Bronson. And who is sitting there watching but… Charles Bronson himself. The following morning, Bronson starts the day by feeding the horses. The real Charles Bronson, the viewer may recall, died in 2003 at the age of 81. This is his doppelganger, a replica lacking the aura of authenticity, to paraphrase Walter Benjamin. The fact that Bronson is dead is widely known, so few will be under the impression that they are watching the real actor. So just what is the viewer watching? We see a man who works on the ranch by day and moonlights as a Bronson lookalike in a local dance club. We see a man whose reality is partially overshadowed by fiction. Returning home exhausted from an evening of being Bronson, he lies down on the couch once more to watch yet another of Bronson's films. Viewers who enter into the spirit of the film will experience a kind of ping-pong match between fact and fiction. Whether the Bronson lookalike's performance is ultimately anything more than a gimmick is for you to decide.