Film Review : The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford

Caught this today and it's certainly going to be a contender come Oscar time. Brad Pitt gives an awesome performance and the sheer menace he portrays onscreen is terrific, whilst Casey Affleck gives a career defining performance as the young man who fawns after James reputation and celebrity (although it would have had a different word for it in those days) but who finds that there is a twist in the tail for him after the fateful deed. And also a mention for Sam Rockwell (who's been away from our screens recently) who is excellent as the older Ford brother.

I was so sure that this film was what the word "elegiac" was designed for that I checked out a dictionary definition which suggested that it meant lamenting, and suggested other alternatives like melancholy, sorrowful and mournful. Absolutely spot on.

As the story unwinds at a slow pace (which doesn't labour in a long two hours plus film) you begin to feel that James somehow selected Ford as his nemesis given his state of mind at the time the story is unfolding, notwithstanding Ford's collaboration with the law to seek to deliver James and thus ensure his own fame and fortune.

I fully expect to see this film and its' principal actors amongst the Oscar nominations once the new year rolls around. I think both performances and film were better than American Gangster, and I now await with keen interest the release of Charlie Wilson's War which does appear to be the early runner for the statuettes.