***1/2 – Although it takes place in what many would consider the ‘Old West’, this 2007 film is certainly not what one would consider a traditional Western. It is probably the lack of gunplay and rather deliberate pace that makes this movie that is set in 1880’s Missouri more of a period drama than then an old style Western Shoot ‘em up. The plot revolves around the last few months in the life of famed outlaw Jesse James and his bizarre relationship with wormy wannabe Robert Ford. Casey Affleck plays Ford and does a tremendous job conveying a combination of admiration for James and flat-out creepiness that is akin to any modern day stalker that you may read about in the paper. Whether or not this depiction is strictly factual I can’t say, but I would certainly lean toward a mixture of fact and fiction like most movies that center on undocumented and unknowable facets of people’s lives from 130 years ago. Brad Pitt also does a pretty nice job as James, who in this is shown as a sickly, mentally disturbed and sadistic bandit with what appears to be a mild case of schizophrenia. Again, I can’t vouch for truth here, but it is probably more realistic than the silly Robin Hood-esque reputation he had in his day. Besides the excellent acting and beautiful cinematography, this film also has an extensive amount of narration which works surprisingly well in this context. It’s not a perfect film, though; it has a number of dull spots in its two hour and forty minute run time, and seems to try to pack a few too many endings in at the last minute.
No comments:
Post a Comment