It is a fantastic film, a little bit lengthy for its context and the story it is depicting. Other than that I have no qualms in saying its close to perfect film, high points – Roger Deakins photography and Casey Affleck (was he smashing or what)
I also love this film, and pretty much agree verbatim with what Filmy Andy has already said. I also think the film would make a great companion piece to Scorsese’s King of Comedy, as both films are making the same point in different ways.
loved it. LOVED IT! l-u-v-d it. beautiful, near-perfect film. great story, BRILLIANT acting (except for Pitt, who was good but had some moments whre, well—you could tell he was Brad Pitt really trying…) photographically (is that a word? it is? doesn’t sound like it…i don’t like that word. oh well…) it was fucking gorgeous. very haunting. very hallucinagetic (oh boy…). don’t know about historical accuracy, but as far as new Westerns go, and new films period, it was fantastic.
I could see it for its cinematography, but it was way too slow-moving for my tastes. I did, however, love Samuel Fuller’s “I Shot Jesse James,” essentially the same story, just an hour shorter.
PErfect Film it really is amazing but this is already A thread:
http://www.theauteurs.com/topics/1207/comments
The only thing “I Shot Jesse James” and “Assassination” have in common is that they both have a character named Robert Ford.
One of my favorite films from last year. I don’t find it slow at all. Infinitely better than Sam Fuller’s film. Also great soundtrack from Nick Cave,
The director of this film, Andrew Dominik, will next be doing Cormac McCarthy’s “Cities of the Plains”? Damn it, I’ll be excited to see that!
I thought The Assassination… was a beautiful film, with every bit of the style in service of the story. This guy is one to watch.
I absolutely loved this film too. Such a sad film that it isn’t the sort of film one wants to watch too readily, because it can be draining. If anyone has a spare hour I recommend an essay I wrote on the film, “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford: A Study in Melancholia” on Offscreen: http://www.offscreen.com/biblio/pages/essays/jesse_james/
I love how Nick Cave has a cameo.
Cities of the Plains too? damn pretty soon all of his works will be in production…..
>I love how Nick Cave has a cameo.
I know – it’s the equivalent of, say, Leonard Cohen singing in a scene in McCabe & Mrs. Miller…
Loved the film, but I’m dying to see that directors cut – I could have sat for another hour easy. You can sense that Zoey Deschanel’s character suffered most. It works beautifully as is, but there’s a whole other part to the story that has been cut. Bring it on I say. Please.
Yes, Neil, I have been waiting and hoping for the dir’s cut. I hoped that they would release it on dvd, then blu-ray, but two strikes, oh well. I am also waiting for Julie Taymor’s original cut of “Across the Universe”, another film that was hindered by being shortened. Has there already been a thread of this: What director’s cuts have yet to see the light of day that you’d love to see? I’ll look and repost if I don’t see.
I just watched this film for the second time against my better judgement as the first time I found it incredibly tedious with a plot that meandered far too much, with the only respite being the fantastic coda that stood miles apart from the first two hours. However, on second viewing I completely fell in love with it and believe it to be one of the best American films of the new millennium, a genuine masterpiece superior to other revered Westerns like McCabe and Mrs Miller and Unforgiven. The cinematography is breathtaking (noted on first viewing but not to the same extent) and when the plot is viewed as the disintegration of the band of bandits due to Jesse’s paranoia (justified or not?) rather than simply the Jesse-Robert relationship I think it feels much more complete and would have even merited the longer running time that was rumoured. At the heart though, I don’t know how well it would have worked without Casey Affleck’s superb performance on which the whole film relies. How Javier Bardem was singled out by so many awards bodies above him for what was a very one dimensional role I will never understand.
I enjoyed it, altough, some things seemed over explained and rather obvious. I prefer the Sam Fuller version…
Thought it was a beautifully shot film, expertly paced and such a tense ending! Loved it, have it on HD and my jaw drops every time I watch it.
I hope all of you have been sending emails to suggestions@criterion.com, so we can maybe one day get the DC of this beautifully amazing movie.
Amazing vignette shots. Beautiful cinematography, but it was a pretty slow movie. The acting and stories were displayed pretty intriguingly though…
I’m glad the film told it from Robert Ford’s view and not Jesse James. This only has to do with the actors because I find it hard to believe that Brad Pitt could’ve carried this film on his own.
I do have two words though:
Beautifully excecuted
I hate to be the lone voice of dissent, but this movie was a massive disappointment to me. Casey Affleck was great, but Brad Pitt just can’t act and certainly had no place being Jesse James.
Both myself and my partner (a documentary film director) thought it was poorly edited, and as much as I love Nick Cave (he was nearly perfect in “Wings of Desire”), his cameo at the end with the guitar was jarring, anachronistic, and completely out of place with the tone of the rest of the film. It was a conceit that the director should have chopped out.
I was really excited to see it when we began it, especially as we’d heard it was the sleeper hit in a year when “No Country” and “There Will Be Blood” got all of the accolades – and I agree that the score was fantastic and both Casey Affleck and Sam Rockwell were great. But I don’t think it was anything close to perfect. I’d rather see “McCabe & Mrs. Miller” any day of the week — but then again at least it was time better spent than the two hours I spent watching “He’s Just Not That Into You”… There’s a hunk of my life I’ll never get back.
ps. Has anyone seen 1986’s “The Last Days of Frank and Jesse James” with Johnny Cash as Frank James…? I’m dying to see that!
I do agree with you on one point Wildfire.
It could have benefited from a little tighter editing. But maybe the DC was better edited and it got a bit weird when AD was forced to cut it shorter. Who knows.
I’m sure Cities of the Plain will be better edited. He can only get better. I hope.
Best Western since Unforgiven
Posted on this movie before.
Watched it ten or so times since I first saw it.
I freaking love this movie.
DJ
I think this is an almost perfect film and i’d like to see what everybody has to say about it