2008 was a strange, strange year for the Academy Awards. Among the standout films of the year lay three westerns: No Country For Old Men, There Will Be Blood & The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford. Each of these movies would have been a worthy winner of the Best Picture award but sadly Andrew Dominik’s wonderful slow burning epic did not even make the list and the Coen Brother’s ended up with the baldy statue. Now if the omission from the list was due to the Academy feeling uneasy about three westerns in the final five or simply because the length of the films title would add at least two minutes extra onto the show is unknown but one thing is definite; this will go down as one of the best films not to even be nominated for Best Picture (joining great films like Psycho & Some Like It Hot).
The film centres around Robert Ford (Casey Affleck), who gets to live out his lifelong dream to be a part of the James gang led by Jesse James (Brad Pitt) when his brother Charlie (Sam Rockwell) gets recruited. As he gets deeper in with the gang and closer to his boyhood hero Robert soon learns that the outlaw’s life is not as glamorous and exciting as the Newspaper articles he had read (and stored) of them. After a series of double crossings tears the gang apart, James spirals into a world of mistrust, paranoia and brutal score settling. Fearing the worst for the own lives the Ford brothers set up a chain of events that leads to the titular event.
The plot itself has been done endless times before but the screenplay is sharp and it is executed some simply stunning performances. Sam Rockwell, Paul Schneider and Jeremy Renner are all great but it is a the title stars that steal the limelight. Brad Pitt gives the performance of a career as James, displaying charm, cool and menace without needing to even raise his voice. To give a performance this immense is the measure of how impressive he has become as an actor, with nary a critic even mentioning his pretty boy days. Having said that Affleck is even more impressive, giving a towering performance that is the leading role in all but title. It’s all in his eyes, that go from doe eyed and eager in the beginning to dark, hate-filled and suspicious as his dream life gets flipped on its side. The highlight of the performance comes when James pays the Fords a visit out of the blue. Caught by surprise Robert re-acts so suspiciously that James forces him to tell a story. Ford’s story about how he and James are similar causes a retort that Ford reminds James of a man he once killed for betraying him which makes Ford miserable, acting out like a child and leaving the room. It is brilliant how Pitt coolly takes apart Affleck’s thin wall of control and fantastic just to watch Affleck struggle to look even slightly at ease.
On top of fantastic performances Andrew Dominik directs wonderfully in only his second feature film. He came under scrutiny by the studio due to the slow pace of the direction but it perfectly encapsulates the tension running through the film and when during the action scenes the ante is upped admirably with some great framing during the more violent moments. The last shout out however shall go out to the film’s cinematographer Roger Deakins who gives the film it’s backbone with astoundingly beautiful photography from start to finish. The landscapes are made to look like paintings and the use of bleached negatives in the train robbery scene emphasises the basic lantern light from the robbers and brings a phenomenal effect to the darkness surrounding them. He was one of the only two recipient’s of an Oscar nomination (the other went to Affleck) but he should be extremely proud of the finished product, as should every other person attached to this magnificent film.
Verdict: 5/5
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