Lyzsi SinclairThe Endless Assassination of Jesse James by the Guy Who Made Chopper
Andrew Dominik is a really good filmmaker. Chopper, made all the way back in 2000, was a great little film with a fantastic performance from Eric Bana at its centre. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is also a great little film about the nature of people who covet celebrity and about how they can be really creepy. It even boasts two fantastic performances, one from Brad Pitt (who just keeps getting better now that he is no longer the most beautiful man in the cosmos) and the other from Casey Affleck, who manages to inhabit the skin of a 19-year-old weirdo despite being, rather obviously, almost 30 at the time of filming.
The only problem with Assassination then, is the determination of Dominik to stretch out a small story into A Grand Sweeping Epic That Will Be Hailed As The Greatest Western Ever Made. Nooooooo! That brings us firmly into boring long take territory. And it keeps us there. Along the way, we get extraordinary scenes of stark, desolate beauty and some extremely detailed and nuanced acting, not only from Pitt and Affleck, but many of the other players (and there's a host of them), but for a film in which we know the ending - the title does kind of give it away - it seems a whole lot of not much happens over two and half hours.
Which is a right bummer, because Dominik's script (from the novel by Ron Hansen) is as poetic as the cinematography by Roger Deakins. The passages of narration that open and close the film are some of the finest book-ends to a film in living memory. But the plot diversions and overly long scenes make this one a chore to sit through. So close, and yet so far.
The only problem with Assassination then, is the determination of Dominik to stretch out a small story into A Grand Sweeping Epic That Will Be Hailed As The Greatest Western Ever Made. Nooooooo! That brings us firmly into boring long take territory. And it keeps us there. Along the way, we get extraordinary scenes of stark, desolate beauty and some extremely detailed and nuanced acting, not only from Pitt and Affleck, but many of the other players (and there's a host of them), but for a film in which we know the ending - the title does kind of give it away - it seems a whole lot of not much happens over two and half hours.
Which is a right bummer, because Dominik's script (from the novel by Ron Hansen) is as poetic as the cinematography by Roger Deakins. The passages of narration that open and close the film are some of the finest book-ends to a film in living memory. But the plot diversions and overly long scenes make this one a chore to sit through. So close, and yet so far.
