{"id":508,"date":"2008-06-21T12:56:47","date_gmt":"2008-06-21T19:56:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=508"},"modified":"2010-03-20T17:13:00","modified_gmt":"2010-03-21T01:13:00","slug":"the-assaination-of-jesse-james-by-the-coward-robert-ford-andrew-dominik-2007-usa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/?p=508","title":{"rendered":"The Assaination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (Andrew Dominik, 2007): USA"},"content":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Byron Potau. Viewed on DVD.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

There is much to appreciate in director Andrew Dominik\u2019s revisionist western.\u00a0 Even when a film is as well praised as The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford<\/em><\/a> is it can still not have received its due.\u00a0 This is the case with this film which is one of the most lyrical and beautiful films in recent years.<\/p>\n

The film follows the later part of Jesse James life from the last train robbery by the James Gang to Jesse\u2019s eventual assassination and its aftermath.\u00a0 However, the film is more about Robert Ford, his hero worship of Jesse James, the distrust that follows,\u00a0 the betrayal,\u00a0 the assassination, the fame that comes from that and the moniker of \u201cCoward\u201d that history has given him.\u00a0 Ford attaches himself to Jesse in the hopes of becoming famous like him.\u00a0 He seems to know that somehow or other his being famous will be tied to Jesse James, and he is convinced that he will one day do great things.<\/p>\n

The film is long and slow paced, but extremely lyrical and moving.\u00a0 The dreamlike music and gentle narration that opens the film seems indebted to Terrence Malick\u2019s 1973 film, Badlands<\/em>, and is a welcome and calming intrusion in the film every ten minutes or so to steady the slow, but fluid pace of the film.\u00a0 The entire film has a very mellow seductive quality, very soothing.\u00a0 Director Andrew Dominik never lets the film get too high nor too low.\u00a0 Indeed, these qualities give it much in common with Malick\u2019s film.<\/p>\n

There is a misconception that Casey Affleck, who plays Robert Ford, is the supporting actor, but the fact is that Affleck\u2019s second billing is due only to his name being smaller, in terms of marketability, than that of Brad Pitt\u2019s.\u00a0 With that said, Pitt is solid as Jesse James relying on his star power, and Affleck\u2019s warm, sometimes creepy, broken voiced performance gives Robert Ford the depth and humanity the film was seeking to understand a very misunderstood man.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

Writer\/director Andrew Dominik\u2019s screenplay is excellent with the narration given a pitch perfect reading by Hugh Ross.\u00a0 The music of Nick Cave and Warren Ellis lends itself brilliantly to the film\u2019s pace and the visuals it accompanies.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

The film\u2019s true supporting actor candidates, since Affleck really deserved to be among the best actor nominees, are Sam Rockwell as Robert\u2019s brother Charlie, and veteran actor Sam Shephard as Frank James.\u00a0 Rockwell\u2019s delivery and mannerisms are in perfect harmony with Affleck\u2019s performance resulting in a very great and underrated performance.\u00a0 Shephard\u2019s subtle, yet forceful performance as Frank is intriguing and we are left wanting a bit more of him on screen as his mere presence seems to imbue the film with class.\u00a0 As it stands, it is a brief, but masterful performance.\u00a0 <\/p>\n

However, the real star of the film is Roger Deakins\u2019s gorgeous cinematography, the best of his career.\u00a0 Landscapes, snow, even water look so incredible it is as if we have never seen them before.\u00a0 Daytime, nighttime, whatever setting we are put in Deakins\u2019s camera seems capture it at its most seductive.\u00a0 Visually speaking, this film is quite possibly the most beautiful ever filmed and easily deserved every cinematography award conceived.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Reviewed by Byron Potau. Viewed on DVD. There is much to appreciate in director Andrew Dominik\u2019s revisionist western.\u00a0 Even when a film is as well praised as The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is it can still not have received its due.\u00a0 This is the case with this film which is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":29,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-508","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-films"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/29"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=508"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/508\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=508"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=508"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/studentfilmreviews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=508"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}