[DVD REVIEW (R2)] THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD
Andrew Dominik is a director most certainly deserved of the label “single-minded”. Not one to throw away his talents within the studio mill, putting himself forward for The Mummy 3 or Van Hesling 2, Dominik used the immense cult favour and international critical acclaim from his stunning debut, Chopper, to… well… wait. Actually, to be perfectly accurate he waited and he researched and eight years later (having shot the movie six years ago only to quagmire himself in “editing purgatory”) he finally delivers his “difficult second movie” in the form of The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford (hereby known – due to my refusal to lose the will to live retyping it – as AoJJbtCRF).
If you’re the sort of person who felt the lengthy James Cameron flick Titanic had no appeal to you because the title kind of told you everything you needed to know about the film (i.e. it’s about a boat that sinks) then this film is probably going to be about as big a turn-off as going to bed with a woman whose ‘front-bum’ dribbles lumpy snot. After all, The Assassination of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford has a title that also doubles up as its synopsis – Jesse James gets assassinated, by a dude called Robert Ford, who could well be a bit of a coward!
Nearly every single review of AoJJbtCRF seems to be incapable of going without mentioning the works of Terence Malick. They’re also talking about AoJJbtCRF as if it is a ready made classic too. Whilst I can understand the Malick comparisons, if only for the ethereal visual qualities contained within the film’s copious running time, I think it’s about time someone had the courage to stand up and call AoJJbtCRF what it is; brave, original, near perfect in a lot of ways but considerably flawed in a lot of other ways too.
AoJJbtCRF is a gorgeous film to look at. In terms of recent cinematic works of art only There Will Be Blood surpasses it. In particular, the night raid on a hijacked train has moments of real spiritual exquisiteness about it. The script is also very subtle in its intelligence, making quietly pointed remarks about the nature of celebrity and the danger of living one’s life through an obsession with it. Dominik is an unarguable talent and his work here marks him out as someone who will one day provide us with a body of work to equal the likes of Malick, Kubrick and Paul Thomas Anderson.
The performances are also of an extremely high standard. Casey Affleck is every bit deserving of his best actor nomination at this year’s Academy Awards. What a triple whammy he provided with this, his movie-stealing supporting turn in Ocean’s Thirteen and his sublime lead in Gone Baby Gone. Only Josh Brolin outshines him when it comes to a twelve month “talent onslaughter” by giving us a smorgasbord of great performances in 2007’s Planet Terror, American Gangster, In The Valley of Elah and No Country For Old Men.
Brad Pitt is fantastic. He recently quipped “George Clooney stole my Oscar slot!” and, deep down, he wasn’t joking I don’t think. The guy deserved at least a nomination, if only to make up for not picking up that golden statue for his work in Se7en. Watching him reminded me of Bruce Willis in Twelve Monkeys, whereby the actor was stripped of all his comfortable support crutches and usual tics as a performer resulting in one of the most unique and interesting performances he’d given in a long time. Here in AoJJbtCRF, Pitt does away with relying on his smoldering good looks, his stilted and original form of line delivery, pursing his mouth and widening his eyes to show he is upset (an image indelibly burnt into our psyches thanks to the finale of Se7en) and every other characteristic we’ve come to expect of him regardless of what genre he’s working within. Here Dominik forces him to become the very essence of Jesse James, flaws and all, and – whilst his role in David Fincher’s Se7en will never be bettered for me personally – delivers quite possibly the performance of his career as a result.
However, here’s where the love affair stops and I’m going to throw myself open to be completely eviscerated by the masses of AoJJbtCRF adorers out there.
I’m not adverse to films with epic running times as long as they’re so epic in scope that they require such a length; There Will Be Blood worked perfectly well for me at two hours and twenty odd minutes. Once Upon A Time In America should only ever be watched in it’s original four hour form and never in that horrific 120 minute version! And Tarantino’s Kill Bill would probably be an unarguable masterpiece if it was one chronological four and a half hour assault to both its intended genres and our senses (although I’m still skeptical as to whether it was ever meant as such a piece). But for AoJJbtCRF the length just doesn’t work for me. One has to wonder whether Dominik didn’t enter into discussions with the studio heads for this film by saying “Look, it’s going to take the average cinema-goer about two hours to pronounce the title of my movie so we may as make the movie three hours!”
The rumour-mill indicates that a nigh-on five hour cut of the film (with a hugely extended storyline following Affleck’s Ford after his shooting of the infamous James!) originally existed and I’d love to sit down with Andrew Dominik and just ask two questions: “How?” and “Why?” I’ve watched AoJJbtCRF twice now and I just don’t see what it possesses to justify its running time; the storyline, the character development, the topics it wants to address and the points it wants to make could have all been done with a good hour sliced away, without losing any of the quality it possesses.
Dare I say it, but the greatest flaw on show here is one of self indulgence. Had Dominik brought his first cut in at this length then I’m willing to bet he would have found the much needed clarity to see where he could have removed some of the excess fat, ready for the final cut. Instead, having reined it in from five to three hours he thinks he’s refined his epic when really all he’s done is hand in a markedly padded out version of a majestic piece of work.
AoJJbtCRF, even within its overly excessive run time, is still a film you just have to experience. It’s a beautiful and enthralling encounter, working to reveal Dominik as a directorial talent that has matured enormously in just two movies. Give yourself over to it completely and as unwieldy as that running time is, it won’t really hit home how indulgent it has been until the film’s over and you realise how stretched the whole assassination of Jesse James by that coward Robert Ford has turned out to be.
****
(That’s Four ‘Popcorns’ By The Way!)
4 Responses to “[DVD REVIEW (R2)] THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD”
Casey Affleck completely stole this film.
Coulda been shorter though and I’d much preferred to have seen some screen time given to Affleck post-assassination! Still a great movie though! Without Javier Bardem this year, Affleck would’ve/should’ve been a shoe-in!
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