What I watched:
A movie with an awkward and long title, that’s what I watched.
I thought it would be a biopic about Jesse James and the man who killed him. Instead it was a movie about celebrity and what happens when you get to meet your heroes. Do they live up to your expectation and are they worth your emulation? And what happens if they’re not what you hoped they would be. Not sure if that's what I was supposed to get from the movie but that’s what I got. So for me, Brad Pitt was a good choice for Jesse James, a man so famous that the ‘man’ doesn’t exist, only the ‘name’. And he did a real good job of it too. He played Jesse as I imagine he would be, part charismatic leader, just one of the boys and part psychopath with a mean and violent streak. Brad Pitt was surprisingly chilling. I’ve never really had any positive or negative feelings about Pitt but I thought he did some really good work. I forgot I was watching “Brad Pitt”.
There were some good supporting parts too (Jeremy Renner, Sam Rockwell, Garret Dillahunt,Paul Schneider, Mary Louise Parker and Zooey Deschanel), all actors delivered. Apart from the ladies who seriously had nothing to do and I only recognised Zooey Deschanel from her singing voice. Take away her fringe and I have no idea who she is!! But I guess the star of the show was Casey Affleck, playing the Robert Ford of the title. I’m really creeped out by him ever since I saw him in this movie “The Killer Inside Me” where he plays an awful, awful human being so I really dislike watching him. Which means he’s a good actor and the unsettled feeling I get worked well for him in this film too. My only gripe with him was that he was supposed to be young, barely 20, and Affleck (although baby-faced) looks way older than that. I feel like the movie kept having to remind us how young he was because he certainly didn’t look it!
This movie was L-O-N-G. Two and a half hours. And slow. Very slow. I ended up watching it in three parts. I am a sucker for punishment though and I watched the first hour over two days, then had a four day gap… and then started the whole thing from the beginning again! But for some reason, I didn’t hate that it was a long, slow movie. Nor did I mind watching it from the beginning again. I think that’s coz I was watching a good movie in the hands of some talented filmmakers.
Last shout outs go to the soundtrack (beautiful!!) and the cinematography. The scenery was gorgeous and a lot of the shots tried to emulate old photographs and hit just the right note. Oh so pretty :)
Recommended? Hmm, not sure. It’s a good solid movie and I enjoyed it. Just bear in mind that it’s two and a half hours of your life you’re never going to get back. But I don’t think you’ll regret it.
1 comment:
Hahah I would've imagined it to be a biopic, too :). Sometimes long slow movies are exactly what you want. That's how I feel with my favorite movie, "Out of Africa." It's really my favorite, but you really have to be in the mood for it.
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