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"He is just a human being"
12. The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominik, 2007)
I know, I know. Dodge title and everything. The title tells you the what, which may seem spoilerish at first glance. But it doesn't tell you the why or the how. Those are two questions that do not go unexplored in Andrew Dominik's epic, moving and beautiful modern western. It's a film that isn't exactly to everybody's taste. It's incredibly slow, poetic and meandering. Even Dominik admitted that his own film has no actual plot. But in the hands Dominik, none of that really matters because of the substantial amount of themes he manages to incorporate into the narrative, and with a strict undertones, too.
For most of the film's near 3 hour duration, this slow burning portrait of betrayal and self hatred plausibly unfolds as an ongoing struggle for prestige and celebrity, the latter of which most critics say Jesse James is actually all about. I think it's a theme, but I can't help but feel it runs a little deeper than that. I think it's more to do with the depiction of using fame as a means to gain a sense of power, respect and self-worth. Dominik so much concerned with a celebrity's rise to power as with one's abuse of it and the lengths of which they will go to gain it.
The joy in seeing this masterpiece of cinema multiple times is the growing appreciation of it's leisury pace. Like I said before, the film is very slow and doesn't bother with any short cuts and refuses to throw in the obligatory action scene to 'shock' it's audience. There is just the one tense actiony sequence in the beginning of the film, but that's it. Dominik is too stubborn and far too trusting to add such scenes for the sake of it (though the studio did bust their bollocks in trying to get him to make the film more 'audience friendly' before the film was released).
Dominik spent 2 years of his life getting the film made the way he wanted it to and all that tenacity paid off because in the end we have an arthouse film, devoid of pretentiousness yet rich with authorship and a filmmakers pride. This isn't a remake of 3:10 to Yuma (although I enjoyed that film too for entirely different reasons), but more a film about life and it's uncomfortable truths. We are watching real people here rather than stereotypes of male bravado. In that sense it's a western that's not unlike the one just behind it on my list. The characters in these films respond to believable situations rather than excitingly contrived set ups.
Roger Deakin's photography is, in a word (or two) spellbindingly gorgeous, recalling the elegant works of Mallick and Leone. This is a film that relishes in it's picturesque cinematography and super fixed poetic images. It's not just a case of cutting between shots. No shot feels random, and you get the sense that extrodanairy care went into storyboard key scenes.
ALL of the acting in Jesse James is abnormally exceptional. There is such a broad spectrem of talent and acting style at work here. I know a lot of people don't like Brad Pitt's acting and may feel that he may seem a little too glamorous for a role in what is pretty much an arthouse film, but HIS celebrity and the ease at which he is able to slip into passive aggressive mode makes him a good fit for the notorious Jesse James and his unpredictable side. The much praised Casey Affleck as Robert Ford deserved his Oscar nom in a portrayal that consists of him being scarily convincing in being weak, creepy, deceptive, lonely and just downright pathetic. It's a hell of a performance and one that's somewhat unexpected of the younger and less commercial looking Affleck. However, the performance that really got to me more than anybody elses was Sam Rockwell as the elder and more simple of the Ford brothers, a fascinating actor who shifts between states of unbearable tension and goofy statements, occasionally diving into remorse and self loathing. It's an incredibly underrated performance.
Like I said, this film is a matter of meticulousness and extroadanairy care. Dominik is fiercely determined to get every character and relationship right and to give them depth. And watching it for the first time can seem like a bit of a chore. But you are rewarded handsomely for it and I can almost guarantee that the more time people see this, the more they'll like it.
All in all, Dominik should be more than praised for making some tough choices and not taking any easy way out. All in all he did it HIS way. And his way ended up being the perfect way. Not sure about the ten word title though. That's a bitch to type.
12. The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominik, 2007)
I know, I know. Dodge title and everything. The title tells you the what, which may seem spoilerish at first glance. But it doesn't tell you the why or the how. Those are two questions that do not go unexplored in Andrew Dominik's epic, moving and beautiful modern western. It's a film that isn't exactly to everybody's taste. It's incredibly slow, poetic and meandering. Even Dominik admitted that his own film has no actual plot. But in the hands Dominik, none of that really matters because of the substantial amount of themes he manages to incorporate into the narrative, and with a strict undertones, too.
For most of the film's near 3 hour duration, this slow burning portrait of betrayal and self hatred plausibly unfolds as an ongoing struggle for prestige and celebrity, the latter of which most critics say Jesse James is actually all about. I think it's a theme, but I can't help but feel it runs a little deeper than that. I think it's more to do with the depiction of using fame as a means to gain a sense of power, respect and self-worth. Dominik so much concerned with a celebrity's rise to power as with one's abuse of it and the lengths of which they will go to gain it.
The joy in seeing this masterpiece of cinema multiple times is the growing appreciation of it's leisury pace. Like I said before, the film is very slow and doesn't bother with any short cuts and refuses to throw in the obligatory action scene to 'shock' it's audience. There is just the one tense actiony sequence in the beginning of the film, but that's it. Dominik is too stubborn and far too trusting to add such scenes for the sake of it (though the studio did bust their bollocks in trying to get him to make the film more 'audience friendly' before the film was released).
Dominik spent 2 years of his life getting the film made the way he wanted it to and all that tenacity paid off because in the end we have an arthouse film, devoid of pretentiousness yet rich with authorship and a filmmakers pride. This isn't a remake of 3:10 to Yuma (although I enjoyed that film too for entirely different reasons), but more a film about life and it's uncomfortable truths. We are watching real people here rather than stereotypes of male bravado. In that sense it's a western that's not unlike the one just behind it on my list. The characters in these films respond to believable situations rather than excitingly contrived set ups.
Roger Deakin's photography is, in a word (or two) spellbindingly gorgeous, recalling the elegant works of Mallick and Leone. This is a film that relishes in it's picturesque cinematography and super fixed poetic images. It's not just a case of cutting between shots. No shot feels random, and you get the sense that extrodanairy care went into storyboard key scenes.
ALL of the acting in Jesse James is abnormally exceptional. There is such a broad spectrem of talent and acting style at work here. I know a lot of people don't like Brad Pitt's acting and may feel that he may seem a little too glamorous for a role in what is pretty much an arthouse film, but HIS celebrity and the ease at which he is able to slip into passive aggressive mode makes him a good fit for the notorious Jesse James and his unpredictable side. The much praised Casey Affleck as Robert Ford deserved his Oscar nom in a portrayal that consists of him being scarily convincing in being weak, creepy, deceptive, lonely and just downright pathetic. It's a hell of a performance and one that's somewhat unexpected of the younger and less commercial looking Affleck. However, the performance that really got to me more than anybody elses was Sam Rockwell as the elder and more simple of the Ford brothers, a fascinating actor who shifts between states of unbearable tension and goofy statements, occasionally diving into remorse and self loathing. It's an incredibly underrated performance.
Like I said, this film is a matter of meticulousness and extroadanairy care. Dominik is fiercely determined to get every character and relationship right and to give them depth. And watching it for the first time can seem like a bit of a chore. But you are rewarded handsomely for it and I can almost guarantee that the more time people see this, the more they'll like it.
All in all, Dominik should be more than praised for making some tough choices and not taking any easy way out. All in all he did it HIS way. And his way ended up being the perfect way. Not sure about the ten word title though. That's a bitch to type.