There is a shot early on in Andrew Dominik’s 2007 film The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford which must be on the short list for the greatest shots ever filmed. If, like me, you are just now getting around to seeing this film, I’d wager you already know the shot to which I’m referring.
Jesse James (Brad Pitt) stands amid the smoky fog of an oncoming train – its light blasting across his dark silhouette. It is the work of the great Roger Deakins, the legendary cinematographer who holds this film as one of his personal best. That alone makes the film worth watching, but it has even more in store.
The film hinges on another shot – the one that killed James. I don’t think that can really be called a spoiler when the film’s own title gives it away. But the very fact that we know what will happen is something the film handles with great deft. While some of the early scenes felt a little light, I soon found out that it was only the film’s way of slowly building tension. This is a film that teaches you how to watch it, and there is surely some patience required from the viewer. But if that patience is given, there are great rewards waiting.
The other main members of the cast are Casey Affleck as Robert Ford, Sam Rockwell as his brother, Charley Ford, Jeremy Renner as Wood Hite, and Paul Schneider as Dick Liddil. Sam Shepard, Mary-Louise Parker, and Garret Dillahunt also play minor roles.
“It is the work of the great Roger Deakins, the legendary cinematographer who holds this film as one of his personal best.”
The entire cast is fantastic, but I must specifically mention Pitt as the famous Jesse James. It would be easy to turn the performance into caricature, but Pitt goes for something more subtle. He plays the confidence mixed with quickening levels of doubt so well. This must surely be one of the best performances of his career.
This film has a similar vibe to Martin Scorsese’s The Departed, though that film uses tension in a different way. There, the story spirals so much until the tension is thick in the very air we breathe. Here, it is more subtle. But you still get the “heavy lies the crown” feeling from the relationship between the outlaws that you do in the relationship between the criminals in The Departed.
I must also praise the film’s music, which is moving throughout. The theme has a melancholy foreboding to it, and various other cues take small moments and give them an added resonance.
I wonder what might have come of this film had it not been released in the same year as No Country for Old Men and There Will Be Blood. Even with those gargantuan competitors, you could definitely argue that this film has the best cinematography (Robert Elswit won the Oscar that year for There Will Be Blood). As it stands, it is impossible for the film not to be compared to them.
“The power of the film is in the skepticism between its characters.”
I’ve already discussed my love for No Country, so I’m not going to get into the comparison game. In any case, I don’t think it’s necessary anyways. Jesse James is an astounding film in its own right.
The power of the film is in the skepticism between its characters. At the beginning, you don’t really know enough about any of them for this to take its full effect. But as the film continues, you begin to understand the inner workings of this group and the ways that Robert Ford has infiltrated the system.
There is a great scene at the dinner table part-way through the film where this skepticism comes to a head. We feel Robert’s worry and his doubt, and the veneer of flamboyant confidence that Jesse James has always worn is beginning to show some cracks. Here, Dominik rightfully begins to crank the tension a little harder and a little faster than he had up to that point. The tension in this film builds slowly at first, but once it’s there it is *really* there. This is when the film hits its stride.
Aside from the many astounding shots in the film, I was also wowed by a technique Deakins uses in the film where he creates a blurred effect in transitional shots. This was accomplished by putting old wide-angle lenses on modern cameras to mimic photos from the time period in which the film takes place. It’s a seemingly small touch, but it becomes a key feature in the film. It makes everything feel of a piece, and it places us even deeper into the setting. It’s emblematic of the entire film’s acute attention to detail.
“The visuals are stunning throughout, and the attention to detail in the film’s visual style is astounding.”
At first, I was very frustrated with this film. I wasn’t sure I liked it until about halfway through. Then, by the end, I was enthralled. The visuals are stunning throughout, and the attention to detail in the film’s visual style is astounding. The performances and the music add their own elements into the film’s effect, but then there is another wholly unique quality about the film that I just simply cannot place. Maybe it’s enough to say that this is a film wholly at home. You feel that each component is supposed to be here, that nothing is out of place.
By the time the fatal shot comes, we are already held captive within this movie’s thrall. We’ve been sucked into the film’s splendor, and then it takes us for another turn. Another shot, this time the lithograph of James’ remains, takes center stage. We begin to wonder about a society that could venerate a man like him. Here, of course, is where Dominik ties this story to a modern context.
I can surely say I’ve never had a movie watching experience quite like this one. I began the film being assured of its visual greatness, while being simultaneously skeptical of its greatness as a whole work of art. But then this film taught me how to watch it. As I succumbed, I gradually became assured that it is plainly a great film. There are many surprises in store here, for those who are willing to find them.
