The Zen of Celebrity

Rating: 6/10 (7 October 2007)

Greetings again from the darkness. The star of this film is Super-Cinematographer Roger Deakins. This guy is a true artist with a camera and thanks to the excruciatingly slow pace here, we get plenty of opportunities to admire his craft. I am not just talking about the stunning snow scenery, but pay attention to the way Mr. Deakins photographs faces and the movements of the actors. It is truly a technical marvel of film-making.
As you might guess, when the best thing about the film is the cinematography, it may not deliver the goods from a dramatic standpoint. I won't call this a snoozer, but if the pace were any slower it could have been just as effective as an old fashioned slide show.
The film is really not about Jesse James and it really isn't too much about the coward Bob Ford. It really is about one desperate attempt to get famous ... to reach celebrity status. As the old saying goes, be careful what you ask for. Brad Pitt does a nice job capturing the existential side of the famed bank robber, but the film really belongs to Casey Affleck, in his first true lead role. I must admit, Affleck's mumbling and fake naivety wear thin very quickly. Sure he may be the best actor among the Affleck brothers, but is that really saying much? New Zealand director Andrew Dominik put together quite a supporting cast but really doesn't now what to do with it. There is so much wasted talent ... in particular, Sam Shepard and Zooey Deschanel, whose roles appeared to be thrown in at the last minute. Faring better are James Carville in a surprisingly effective role as the Governor, Paul Schneider as a creepy Wood, Nick Cave in a weird scene as a saloon singer, Sam Rockwell as Ford's older brother and the always effective and interesting Michael Parks, who is to "GD" what Samuel L. Jackson is to "MF".
As a work of art, this is definitely one to see. From a dramatic standpoint, it is quite a let down.