The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, directed by Andrew Dominik, USA, 2007. Review by Sean on 2/16/08.
Just about every year, a western comes out, immediately followed by a thousand reviews claiming it to be the resurrection and/or final death of the genre. I’ll just sort of skip past this issue; let’s just file it over in “Dramas w/Cowboy Hats” and leave it at that. The Assassination has fallen off the radar rather quickly, with the exception of Casey Affleck’s excellent performance (nominated in the wrong category though it may be; more on that in a later post.) It’s the filmmakers’ bad luck that it came out in the fall of 2007, just in time to be railroaded out of memory by those other Dramas w/Cowboy Hats, No Country and There Will Be Blood; for those few who will seek it out, The Assassination is a surprisingly intense offering.
As with everything pertaining to the life of Jesse James, the story of his death is half-true and half-legend in its best form; Dominik’s film takes certain liberties with the chain of events and the who-did-what of it all, but is still close enough to score that oft-abused “true story” label. We find the James brothers engaged in their final train robbery and being pestered by Robert Ford, a wide-eyed youth with a James Gang fetish. After the robbery, Ford delights at brief moments of conversation with Jesse; within days, Robert is a trusted member of Jesse’s entourage. However, Jesse begins to grow more and more paranoid, suspecting and shooting most of those around him; the bulk of the film’s struggle concerns whether or not Ford will remain close long enough to kill Jesse. Any suspense on the topic should be directed to the title of the film.
Really, though, the story is about Robert Ford, and the shaky middle ground between hero worship and dangerous obsession. Key moments see James questioning whether Robert wants to be like Jesse or to actually be Jesse; around the Ford family dinner table, Robert’s brother goads him into admitting that he’s developed a laundry list of similarities between himself and the outlaw. Affleck’s performance is spot on; Ford is a permanently flawed and hopelessly complex character, but Affleck still can imbue a bizarrely dynamic quality in him; even if Ford never truly changes, he’s always about to.
The acting throughout the film is equally admirable; Brad Pitt’s James is affable and charming even with increasing paranoia and anger, and strong support is spread throughout by the likes of Sam Rockwell, Mary-Louise Parker, and the highly underrated Jeremy Renner. The direction is eerie and atmospheric, and the script compliments the feel of the film nicely; this is all especially notable considering The Assassination is only the second film written and directed by Andrew Dominik. Much like its title, the film is notably too long, and a few of the subplots fail to go anywhere; your enjoyment will also be tempered by how much you like voice-over. Nevertheless, there’s plenty to like here; remember to give this one a chance before it gets too buried in your Netflix queue to ever emerge.
Rating: 3.5 Screens (Out of 5)
A bit of Blog Business: over the next week, I’ll be breakin’ down those crazy Oscar races, and offering my picks and predictions. A little closer to Oscar night, the assembled Cinema Five troops will offer their long-awaited 2007 Top 10 lists, and we’ll see if we can’t finally find a There Will Be Blood review lying around here somewhere. Later today: I CIRCLE THE GLOBE, in the form of capsule reviews.
