“Jesse James” does not shoot to thrill. Quite the contrary.
Instead, this haunting character study of the West’s greatest legend aims to deepen its portrait of the conflicted soul of the man —and to introduce his ultimate nemesis. In so doing, thanks to a visually epic and unhurried approach, “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford” refuses to pander to conventional entertainment standards. For this mood piece, toxic paranoia and an overwhelming sense of dread take precedence over flashy action showdowns and plot elaborations.
It’s an outlaw of a Western, with producer and star Brad Pitt giving the most precise and harrowing performance of his career as a tortured outlaw. Defying his own mega-famous persona in his every gesture to play a similarly renowned icon from another century, Pitt is matched psychic wound for wound in his expressions by the revelatory star turn of the less conspicuous Affleck brother, Casey, as the other title character. If you can stand the idea of 2 hours and 40 minutes of a pair of doomed 19th-century hoodlums slowly coming undone, which isn’t always easy, the reward is an almost Shakespearean meditation on the wages of karma carried along by some of the most unforgettable period imagery in a film in years.
Australian screenwriter-director Andrew Dominik (2000’s “Chopper”) doesn’t just cast his two headliners right. The supporting players come just as vividly to life in his adaptation of the 1983 Ron Hansen novel about the last year in the life of the celebrity robber and the post-mortem destiny of his obsessed disciple-turned-killer. The love-hate duet between resigned anti-hero Jesse and star-struck young Robert Ford unfolds with a James-Younger gang including Sam Shepard as the disaffected elder brother, Frank,and Mary-Louise Parker as Jesse’s long-suffering wife, Zee. Washington politicos will get a kick out of recognizing James Carville in a cameo as Missouri’s blustering Governor Crittenden.
But the three most specific and affecting side roles come from the actors playing the criminal associates who eventually turn on each other and on Jesse: Paul Schneider as the creepily charming Dick Liddil, Jeremy Renner as his rival Wood Hite, and the multifaceted Sam Rockwell as Robert’s brother Charley. In a bizarre story twist, Dick’s inappropriate womanizing tweaks Wood’s fury; their face-off will indirectly become the first step toward Jesse James’ demise.
The movie’s starkly beautiful atmosphere comes from cinematographer Roger Deakins. Deakins uses the manipulation of light and camera framing to capture sets and locations that are as transporting as they are authentic. Though it loses energy in the ending coda with Pitt’s absence, “Assassination” is high Midwestern Gothic tragedy. And it’s mesmerizing.
‘The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford’
****
Starring: Brad Pitt, Casey Affleck
Director: Andrew Dominik
Rated R for strong violence and brief sexual references
