The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford: Amazing

This isn't really a review; consider it a breathless, extemporaneous appreciation. I saw The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford a few hours ago and it doesn't feel like something to sit down and matter-of-factly dissect. God, it's a majestic accomplishment. Hard to remember the last time a film had me so deeply in its reality. Park Chan-wook's Oldboy did it; so did Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia and, to a lesser extent, Darren Aronofsky's Requiem for a Dream and Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men. (All great films, all very different from Assassination; I'm only comparing the effect.) I saw each of those three or four times in the theater and the same will probably end up being true of Andrew Dominik's film.

I experienced Assassination in my skin and my blood and my bones. It's such a powerful piece of art... spooky, absolutely beautiful, and so richly put together. From the trailer and early reviews I expected a tone poem, something lovely to look at but not necessarily affecting in any profound sense--like Terrence Malick's The New World, with its mumbling and utterly inscrutable characters framed by gorgeous forest--so what initially startled me was the genuine humor and deftness of Dominik's script (and of Ron Hansen's dialogue--Hansen wrote the novel). Every character is achingly human and distinguished with care, given dignity and pettiness and strange quirks and spotlit moments.

There are so many perfect things in this film, large and small: The train robbery at the beginning... the sight of Jesse James toying with serpents in his back yard... the glimpse of fish beneath the ice... Dick Liddell seducing his friend's stepmother... the horrific forced laughter after Jesse pretends he's going to slit Bob Ford's throat... the moment of Jesse's murder, which is just as much a suicide...

And everyone involved has done an astonishing job. No slack. Every actor (including Sam Shepherd as Frank James, Paul Schneider as Dick Liddell, Sam Rockwell as Charley Ford, and Ted Levine--Buffalo Bill from Silence of the Lambs, amusingly enough--as a lawman) has got it exactly. Even James Carville. Dominik must be a directing genius to have gotten performances this uniformly excellent out of his cast. And Roger Deakins' cinematography is otherworldly; I've never seen another movie that looked like this. And Warren Ellis and Nick Cave's score got into me like heroin. And--

Enough, I'll stop already. Suffice to say I loved this movie more than any I've seen in a very long time. Will you? Maybe. Maybe not. It doesn't seem to have been universally appreciated. But there have certainly been others--this guy, for example--who felt as strongly as I did. Devin Faraci, maybe the best movie critic on the internet, apparently also loved it so much he's having trouble writing a "review". So did one or two others. Like Magnolia and Oldboy and 2001 and Days of Heaven--it's an idiosyncratic taste. It meanders (perfectly, mesmerizingly) and digresses and draws moments out, and some people will just be bored (fair enough) and others will call it pretentious (many of these people will be ignorant) and that's that. So it's definitely not a movie I'll be recommending to every person I know. Only to select ones.

On the other hand, it appears I won't be able to stop myself from telling everyone about it.

Comments

[cinemaven]

I'm looking forward to this one but you've got me scared by comparing it to Magnolia. I found that to be unbearable even after my 3rd viewing (I gave it 2 more chances because my son kept telling me how profound it was). One person's deep profundity is anothers crap.

[sallyrover]

Beautiful review of a beautiful, spooky movie. I appreciated that it told its story on its own terms and at its own pace, like they used to in the 1970s, when filmmakers still respected resilience and attention span of their audience and not every movie was done by corporate committee. It found suspense in the simplest places, and was loaded with psychological tactics of all sorts. Heartbreaking and harrowing. Great work by all of the terrific character actors--especially Affleck, Rockwell and Dillahunt, who often out-do Pitt. Terrific score by Warren Ellis and Nick Cave--who even saunters in himself. Not for everyone, but it set right by me! Thanks Nick!

[meandmagoo]

I think you must have been rollin' on the ol' X there buddy,because this is absolutely the worst piece of overhyped crap from a man whose career consists of overhyped crap.

I would rather spend 24 hours watching that bile of squid vomit"Meet Joe Black"whilst simultaneously getting multiple root canals than I would ever having to see this vapid,self absorbed,histrionic excuse of a film.

Mr.Pitt is not an actor of any great talent,
and his interpretation of Jesse James might just get his ass beat down the next time he returns to Missouri.

[NickAntosca]

I encourage you to go see 3:10 to Yuma. It has strong characters with dynamic motivations, easy to understand cinematic grammar, and a cool gunfight at the end. Russell Crowe gives a commanding, charismatic performance, and Ben Foster is chilling as the villain.

[Lane]

meandmagoo

you're kidding right? You're wasting valuable life energy on putting down a movie you haven't even seen?? You need to get a life!

[Jain]

Great actor and activist. Movies fund his activism. Fantastic! Of course, I would pay to watch him sleep....

[SOOKOOYAH GURL]

That movie was amazing.. I just saw it at Lincoln Square @ 68th Street..
And yesterday I saw INTO THE WILD... Another wonderful movie!

Casey Affleck may get Best Supporting Actor and Brad will definitely be nominated for Best Actor... Sam Rockwell was also awesome!!

[NickAntosca]

And I saw it a second time last night. We were probably in the same screening.

[Citizen54]

Interesting that Nick Cave did the score. He wrote the screenplay for that fantastic Australian western, The Proposition. Talk about a movie that pulls you deeply into its reality.

[NoContest]

Nice Nick.

I'm proud of a review that goes absolutely positive. That is courage. Why, I suppose because the reviews I read are almost universally negative and eventually have no bearing on my feelings towards the movie. I was going to skip Jessie James because (again) I read some reviews dismissing Brad Pit. However, today we are going to see it. I have the feeling already that I owe you one.

[dryfactoidobotanoid]

James Carvile? what?