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

 

(Five out of Five Stars)

 

 

A friend and fellow film enthusiast credits this movie with rejuvenating her inspired fondness for film after a period of disenchantment with the art form she had always so greatly venerated. I can understand why a lover of film would feel quenched after seeing The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. It is a feast of picturesque subtleties and a smorgasbord of hearty talent with a tangy finish of stylish flair which leaves the palette quivering with fulfillment. All in all, this movie is quite a meal for the senses for the film devotee which I wish that I would have seen on the big screen. However, with a few exceptions, I rarely find much enjoyment in westerns and even more rarely find it in biographical dramas. Nevertheless, I liked The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford quite a bit. A lot more than I thought that I would given my aforementioned tastes. Granted, it moves at its own pace and is in no way an intense and riveting action-packed shoot ‘em up type of gunslinger flick, so don’t go into it with that mindset. It is, nevertheless, an unyielding exemplar of fine direction, cinematography and, most noticeably, acting. Brad Pitt, Mary-Louise Parker and Sam Shepard display their paramount abilities quite well (which was not a shocker given their recognized abilities). The big surprise for me, was Casey Affleck, who was able to, with the most restrained moments of non-verbal communication, make the attentive viewers’ skin crawl by his deranged, yet entirely plausible performance. I enjoyed this movie and although it wasn’t my type of film in genre per se, and one I will likely see only once or twice in my life, it is difficult to locate many apparent blemishes within its complexion. Most great art, after all, transcends genre. And this is, without question, a work of art. Furthermore, there is a psychology to this film which surfaces within the study of its characters that is, to sum up in two words, must see.