Plot As his gang and legend begin to fragment, train-robber and outlaw Jesse James (Pitt) is a haunted man. He can feel his death approaching, but can he foresee that fringe gang-member Robert Ford (Affleck) will
be the man to pull the trigger?
Review
Long of gestation, long of length, and throat-dryingly long of title (word of mouth will require a deep breath), Brad Pitt’s new Western has likely left perplexed studio execs somewhat long in the face. They were surely banking on a sassy gunslinger, with Mr. Jolie whirling his Colt like a majorette. What the Australian director of Chopper, Andrew Dominik - in only his second movie - has delivered is a slow, meditative poem that harkens to the verdant sprawl of Terrence Malick’s Days Of Heaven. Thrill-seekers may want to apply elsewhere.
Dominik is cultivating a not-unfamiliar revisionist evocation of America’s formative days. Even if it doesn’t resonate across an entire career like Unforgiven, it shares that film’s contemplative power and unmaking of myth. Even if it isn’t as thrusting as McCabe & Mrs. Miller, it shares its sepia-hued authenticity and indistinct morality. Even if it isn’t as ironic and outrageous as the Spaghettis, it too is something to do with death. And even if it isn’t as squib-splattering as Peckinpah, it answers to his elegiac heart. This is the Western as psychological landscape, where unheroic souls drift toward divided destinies.
The source is Ron Hansen’s fictional recreation of the chaotic events that brought James-gang-hopeful Robert Ford (Affleck) to shoot his iconic leader in the back as he dusted the frame of a picture. Dominik faithfully matches the book’s shapelessness: like the messy throes of history it is made up of shards and slivers, strands of plot that loosely knot together. But beneath this rambling, talkative style - nudged onward by a lyrical narration from an uncredited storyteller - can be felt the inexorable drift towards the assassination, towards death.
To fulfil his mordant vision, Dominik hired Coens regular Roger Deakins to paint a melancholic beauty of weather-swept horizons and desolate farmhouses in post-Civil War Kansas and Missouri. Apart from the crystalline blue of Pitt’s eyes, the film appears drained of true colour, to be left bronze and faded like those haunting daguerrotypes of frock-coated gents beneath whose glazed expressions hid murder. The sensation is one of a spell or dream. It never gathers momentum like a thriller, yet the menace is inescapable as scenes travel disturbing and unpredictable paths. Any gunfire is scarce and unpleasantly vindictive, while the only outlawry we witness is a brutal night-time train robbery that frames the gang as no more than wanton thieves. Dominik is seeking the point at which history, populated by tearaways and psychopaths, translates into folklore. What creates mythology out of dastardly killers?
As an actor, Pitt is most effective stalking the fringes of sanity - see how the jangling nerves of Twelve Monkeys and Fight Club made him luminous - so he is fittingly cast as Jesse James. Both are men unable to calculate the full meaning of their celebrity, another of the film’s preoccupations. James parses his notoriety in newspapers and observes the edgy devotion of his gang, especially Ford, but keeps a distance from reality as if he has one eye on the hell to come. When Pitt loosens the hinges a fraction, out spills a gurgling, terrifying laugh like a death knell. It is arguably the most nervy and effective thing he has ever done.
Yet the honour of lead falls to Affleck as the strangely juvenile, certainly unstable sap Robert Ford. In the murky folds of his prickly 19 year-old mind, hero-worship (there is just a tease of homoeroticism) of James has become garbled with an idea of establishing his own fame. Affleck brilliantly gives life to this oddball weakling born for humiliation yet desperate for significance - the echoes of Lee Harvey Oswald and Mark Chapman must be intentional. “You know what I expected?” recalls Ford, long after the titular event has left him reviled and desolate. “Applause.” It isn’t morality that divides the likes of James and Ford; it is PR.
Verdict An extraordinary and visionary study of a legendary murderer’s famous fate, within touching distance of Oscars.
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Average user rating for The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford
Could a film be so visually appealing yet so dull
You would expect a film with Brad Pitt to be partially interesting (couple of gripping scenes, maybe some action) but this wasnt. Individually the actors were superb and the cinematography was very appealing, but the plot took 2 stars off this film. Perfect example that the plot is everything. ... Read More
The assasination of jesse james by the coward robert ford
A very good film. The beggining is superb; the ending is superb. Just the bits in the middle are slow. The cinematography is beutiful and the acting certainly cannot be critisised ... Read More
i thought this film was absolutely amazing. The leading performances from Brad Pitt and Cassey Affleck were amazing and without a doubt oscar worthy and so much of the films brilliance is down to those 2 performances but even when they arent dominating the screen there is a fantastic supporting cast. it also directed and shot beautifully by andrew dominik and roger deakins as well as having a killer story and a brilliant script which kept me engaged throughout the whole story-line. This isn't an... Read More
L: Vitamin F
I said there were 'too many'...I was trying to imply that 'some' are ok, but 'too many' are, well, too many. Feels a bit like 'let's linger a while longer becuase it makes this look more profound' just for the sake of it. Just my opinion.
Thanks for pointing out the art fact btw ote]
hehe, don;'t worry i'm known round ere for my total and complete love for Jesse James ... Read More
watched it at the cinema and have just watched it again on dvd, i really liked it before but it gets so much better with the second veiwing, details thhat were missed before came up and it was easier to follow certain parts of the story, Affleck and Pitt are superb but i do think that Sam Rockwell ( very underrated actor) plays an exceptional part in the film as the worried older brother who has to come to turns with his actions and the actions of the ones he loves dear.
Im sure its been said... Read More
I said there were 'too many'...I was trying to imply that 'some' are ok, but 'too many' are, well, too many. Feels a bit like 'let's linger a while longer becuase it makes this look more profound' just for the sake of it. Just my opinion.
Thanks for pointing out the art fact btw ... Read More
L: Vitamin F
ul cinematography,antly acted but...I hated the intrusion of the narration, which I felt ruined the flow of an already stilted narrative (if that makes sense). At times this felt quite a bit longer than its 2.5 hour running time, and as well-crafted as it is, it's not something that I feel I would ever wish to revisit in its entirety again.
y lingering 'artsy' shotsdid nothing for me but pad out that damn running time, and I genuinely thought that if several of the s... Read More
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