THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD. Dir Andrew Dominik. 2007

Image result for movie images assassination of jesse james

Immeasurable gloomy, the length of the title and the running time of 2 hrs 39 mins give pretty strong indications - it’s too long and too slow. However easy on the eye Brad Pitt may be, close ups of his face and that of Casey Affleck as Ford fail to illuminate a tedious and near incomprehensible movie. Strong on atmosphere and weak on story, interminable shots of snow, winter landscape and bleak interiors are overlaid with voiceover historical narrative which make the heart sink. We could go and read this stuff for ourselves.

What could have been an interesting psychological profiling of the lead characters is instead dreary. Contradictory behaviour gives clues to James’ psychotic state - he talks about suicide and feeling depressed, is coldly violent then almost maniacal. There are also demonstrations that he is a ruthless killer - but he’s quite nice really because he plays with his children and is affectionate towards his wife. Following the savage beating of a teenage boy he leans against his saddle and cries, at which point I’d have happily shot him myself, and it’s not clear whether we are meant to sympathize with him or understand him. His psychological torment seems to lift as Spring approaches and the passing of the winter is a reminder that we have only spent a few months with these characters but it feels like years.

As a biographical drama, Jesse James remains enigmatic and unreal. A mythical character, about whom some things are known, while much is legendary and false, this film has nothing to add. Pitt deploys occasional charm and a roguish smile but this is a loathsome role for him to play - James is repellent. Although Ford’s obsession with James is creepy, and his small, broken and wheedling voice drives me almost crazy, his treatment as a runt, and the butt of all jokes makes him pitiful. He is overlooked, underestimated and resentful but that doesn’t make him any more likeable. Killing Jesse James is his one chance to be effective.

The highlight of the film is the intensely atmospheric train robbery, night scene camerawork and lighting. Despite the brevity of his appearance and dialogue, Sam Shepard (as brother Frank James) provides dignity and gravitas, and the promiscuous Dick Liddil brings the only warmth to a comfortless few hours.

Editing could tighten things up but, without audience identification, a good story, visual delights or a compelling soundtrack, there’s not much to keep you in your seat.

Comments

ACCATONE! Dir Piers Paulo Pasolini. 1961

Accatone! (1961) is the first film by director Piers Paulo Pasolini and re-relased as part of a box set of his work. Accatone! features a pitiless, self-serving, manipulative young pimp living in the slums and rubble of Rome, whose lassitude is infectious. Images of his death recur throughout the film and he seems barely living. The exclamation mark in the title may be there to try and wake him up. Pasolini shot the film on the streets, using the people he found there rather than professional actors. The effect is a slow moving realism which casts the viewer as reluctant voyeur; it is impossible to gain any distance from the unrelenting sadism of hollow machismo. Seeing this film fifty years after it was made, the misogyny in this film is deeply disturbing; women are either Madonna, virgin or whore. Accatone says prostitution is ‘a mother’s situation’ which provides the mixed message that it’s selfless and necessary for survival, yet he and his friends view whores as trash; to...

HAPPY-GO-LUCKY. Dir Mike Leigh. 2008

Simple, retarded asthmatic gasps and giggles her way through this nonsensical film from Mike Leigh. 30 year old Poppy’s arrested development is masked by her carer who provides meals and stability. This form of care in the community works well so that Poppy is able to extend her adolescence in this flat-sharing arrangement by climbing into bed with her carer and exhibiting teenage tactile behaviour. Her flatmate is tolerant, even when getting no answers as to where Poppy has been and whether or not she’s ok. To Poppy’s credit she holds down a job. Inconceivably a primary school teacher, she is left in a position of responsibility with young children for long periods without supervision. However, classroom activities are restricted to making masks out of brown paper bags in case anyone thought primary school teaching involved real work. Leigh raises the possibility of serious subject matter when a boy begins to bully others. Without parental involvement, a Socia...

GLORIOUS 39. Dir Stephen Poliakoff. 2009

Glorious 39 strips away illusions. Poliakoff presents the apparent idyll of an English aristocratic family headed by genteel patriarch Lord Keyes (Bill Nighy). He presides over a country estate in Norfolk and his elegant townhouse in London – a world of golden light, romantic ruins, servants, house parties and happy children. But this is 1939, a mere 21 years since the Great War, the war to end all wars, in which millions died, Britain was crippled with war debt, and the English country house system which he so values was almost annihilated. There are many references to the ancientness of his family and tradition, but now, few male servants remained alive or unmaimed to work the English landscape or to be in service to the old families. Fearing domestic and political upheaval, appeasers such as Keyes sought to prevent Churchill leading the country and taking Britan to war, and to buy off Hitler to preserve British cultural and national identity. Nighty is excellent, contro...

Just For Lookin' Thru

Search This Blog