A meditative take on one of the legends of the Old West

Rating: 8/10 (25 January 2009)

Andrew Dominik's film "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" meditates on the hero cult, and the complicity between the obsessive and its object of obsession. Yes, the right word to describe this odd Western is *meditative*, for it ruminates on its subject, in slow takes that settles on minute gestures, in lyrical narration that seems to pause than to advance the narrative, in dirge-like music with the rhythm of slowly melting snow, and the impeccable photography of landscapes of desaturated palettes like an Andrew Wyeth canvas.
Critics were split over this movie. Some found its pace (at 152 min) too much of an ordeal, faulting the writer/director for the waste of time on this meandering and self-indulgent 'doily' of a Western (The Hollywood Reporter, Salon). What else can be added to the story of Jesse James and Robert Ford that hasn't been told, that would merit such long-winded treatment? The answer: the protracted anguish of both characters, deftly portrayed by Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck. Pitt is back in form since "A River Runs Through It", infusing the screen with both menace and sympathy with his Jesse James. In contrast Affleck's Ford squeaks in a feeble voice, gazes like a pained animal, and is both pitiful and creepy. Contrary to complaints, both characters are obsessively watchable, and the movie does hook you in its lilting rhythm; the small details do build up and accrue, and resolve into a final clarity. And here, I agree with Variety:
"But any sense of viewer impatience is soon overtaken by the film's accumulation of detail on every front--narrative, historical, folkloric, behavioral and psychological. Pitching the dialogue in a way that neatly injects prairie twang with a literary lyricism, Dominik settles into an expansive narrative strategy of the sort often found in novels and longform series, wherein the story skips and meanders among events whose relevance and meaning may be initially unclear, but which are all there for good reasons." (Variety, 31 Aug 2007)
You need the stamina from reading 19th century novels, or watching a Kurosawa take with the camera planted on the tripod whilst actors play out the scene, to earn the rewards of this film. And it is finally rewarding.
(A long version of this review appears in: stickslip.wordpress.com as "That Dirty Little Coward That Shot Mr. Howard")