Sorry for posting twice, my mistake.
This was one of my favorite films from 2007. I had always been a fan of the novel by Ron Hansen and the film does it justice. Interested parties should also check out Hansen’s Desperadoes also.
This was way underrated. Everyone I know that saw it thought it was boring but i loved it.
Agreed, it’s an amazing and completely underrated film.
Also, I reaaally wish Nick Cave would make more movie scores, this and The Proposition were phenomenal.
I haven’t seen this yet. I’ll get around to it eventually. The subject matter couldn’t be less interesting to me, but I know I should see this because I loved the novel.
Beautiful cinematography, the colors of this film are out of this world. Casey Affleck is 10 times the actor that is brother is and Brad Pitt is equal to himself. Loved it…
I hated it.
There Will be Blood is better than this in every way, even cinematography.
Very boring, and I don’t call films boring very often…
it’s a fantastic film, poetic and brooding….. and not to mention an Australian director!
“Poetry doesn’t work on whores.”
Lyrical cinematography. Slow but sweet. This was a great film. It is quiet, measured, and assured. Casey Affleck outdoes himself as the initially weak, fame-seeking Robert Ford. 9/10.
@Nate
I would never compare this film to There Will Be Blood. They deal with their subjects in very different manners. Personally I like PTA’s film more, but I also love Dominik’s film.
I think that Jesse James would have been far better had they trimmed it down an hour and a half.
But, I’m just a guy…
Beautiful.
Beautiful film that only leaves us wishing that we saw Jesse in all his infamous glory. We are only left with a film that is anchored by a fine performance by Case Affleck. Brad Pitt defintely brings it and if he wouldve made that film he would’ve deserved a nomination. A miss but like i said sad and beautiful. Also Nick Cave’s haunting and melancholic score is one for the ages. I’d like to end by saying that the opening is brilliant.
I totally agree on almost everything that was said on this topic already. Incredibly beautiful, amazing performance by Casey Affleck and even Pitt, not to mention the subtleties of Sam Rockwell. But it was slow and boring. I don’t necessarily say “boring” with negative connotations… but the pacing was pretty grueling. As a whole I thought it was quite an amazing and unique film that warrants another viewing, but I don’t know when I’ll ever have the patience to sit down and watch it again.
A hauntingly beautiful film. Not one unnecessary shot in the entire move each one adding to the story in some way. Not one unnecessary line of dialogue, not one unnecessary movement. A perfect film.
100% agree great film. This was a great Pitt role. Casey Affleck was outstanding.
I also loved this film and think it was overlooked because so many great films were released in 2007. I didn’t think Brad Pitt was capable of such subtlety, and Sam Rockwell and Mary Louise Parker were also great. The lead role, coupled with “Gone Baby Gone” also put Casey Affleck on my radar as a serious actor with real potential. I think it’s also Roger Deakin’s most interesting, adventurous work as DP (yes, more so than “No Country,” I think).
Really breathtaking movie. Although it took a while to get into the pacing and the first half was quite slow, the second half really picked up the slack in my opinion – very interesting and haunting.
It was actually shot in Fort Edmonton, which is in Edmonton AB where I live, so it is very interesting to watch and to actually have been to so many of the buildings. I have lots of memories of riding that train, which Im sure only added to my interest in this movie.
the high points were Casey Affleck and Mary Louise Parker and Deakins helming the camera on the flipside I found the movie way too long.
You people are all nuts! This was the boringest movie I have seen in awhile. I bought into all that hype about what a great film it was, and rented it. After an hour and a half, I finally had to turn it off. If I want something literary, I’ll read the Goddamn book. You want to see a real movie on this subject, just Netflix Samuel Fuller’s “I Shot Jesse James,” which is far superior to this pretentious piece of crap, and Fuller manages to tell the same story in 90 minutes, and doesn’t make you sit through an additional hour of purposeless dialogue. You all have been fooled, once again, just like those Children of Men folks!
Forgot to end on a quote by the late great Fuller: “If it doesn’t grab you by the balls in the first 10 minutes, throw the thing out the goddamn window!”
We actually discussed this film for my school’s Film Club. Everyone enjoyed it (I actually thought it was brilliant aesthetically and character development-ly) but we all agreed a worthwhile discussion of the film was not possible. It is what it is, which is great.
@Devendra – I couldn’t agree more.
I don’t understand how this film is boring? The imagery alone is captivating, let alone the amazing acting, the haunting silence, and the sad damned souls’ stories. Every single scene in the movie not only grabbed my balls, but kicked them up and exploded my brain. There was semen and brains all over my room. My girlfriend was pissed when she got home. She thought that I cheated on her, and I said, “Yes, with the baddest ass fucking movie ever!”
Andrew Dominik’s The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, is a deliberately paced, stunningly visualized, and emotionally charged exploration of the early development of mass media celebrity in America. The film riveted my attention for two hours and 40 minutes, and has remained on my mind for several days after my viewing. Although centered on one of the iconic legends of the Old West, it is far beyond an updated reincarnation of the Western. It is an epic allegory about the development of the American cult of celebrity and the effects of this obsession on the individuals caught in its web.
Visually, the film soars beyond anything that has hit the screen since Conrad Hall’s final masterpiece with Road to Perdition. Roger Deakins, the cinematography genius behind The Shawshank Redemption, Kundun, and all the Cohen brothers" films since The Hudsucker Proxy, surpasses his best work. He pulls out all the stops here—intricately orchestrated changes in focus, richly textured colors, dazzling use of light sources, careful manipulations of time, powerfully significant fade-ins and fade-outs, and shots through rain, snow, and rippled old glass—to communicate the story. Deakins’ contribution stands out in the railroad train robbery sequence at the beginning of the film. Clearly defined, flickering light sources and deep black shadows create a dazzling, nightmarish vision that haunts the rest of the film. This sequence alone is worth the price of admission.
The richly textured, historically precise visual aspects of the film bring to mind Terrence Malick’s Days of Heaven and Robert Altman’s McCabe and Mrs. Miller. However, instead of the understated, “realistic” performances featured in those films, The Assassination of Jesse James…showcases powerful, yet still realistic performances by an outstanding ensemble cast.
Sam Rockwell, as the not-too-bright but well-meaning Charley Ford, and Mary-Louise Parker, as Jesse’s loving wife, stand out. Yet the film belongs to the two titular leads, both of whom deliver the performances of their careers and create characters filled with disturbing contradictions. Brad Pitt’s Jesse James is alternately pitiable and terrifying—an affectionate, loving father, an old-before-his-time sage, an adventurous daredevil, an unrepentant bad boy, and a vicious sociopath. Casey Affleck’s Robin Ford is a complex, repellent, and tragic character who challenges the audience’s complicity in the undercurrents of the film.
All in all, this is a great film—not for those seeking the simple pleasures of instant gratification. But definitely worth the attention of those who still believe that movies are an art form.
stewart SFA Adams
Beautiful film. One of my favorites of all time. I love it’s Literary quality. They should add it to the Auteurs. And they need to release the original 4 hour cut on DVD!!!!!!