Saw The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, which I will henceforth refer to as TAOJJBTCRF. I don't buy writer-director Andrew Dominick's crucifixion analogy - in fact I think the staged re-enactment of the famous death scene, shown later, with Bob Ford as himself, and his brother Charlie playing Jesse, is probably closer to the truth. TAOJJBTCRF is indeed as meditative as the critics asserted, and at two and half hours, it's probably more than a couple hairs too long. However it is a compelling psychological portrait of that strange breed of person so enamored with an idol that he or she becomes obsessed with subsuming them, and through violence transcending them. As Jesse James was a violent criminal, Robert Ford does not pay the usual price for assassination, and instead enjoys a notoriety, the film makes clear, equivalent to Jesse's. It is this strange, sad coda that is by far the most compelling part of the movie, a clean break with the studied portraiture that precedes it (at points TAOJJBTCRF is over-lovely, like a filigreed tea set in a doll's house ). Ford finally steps out of the role of Judas in Dominick's passion play and becomes a relatable, sympathetic human being whose misguided hopes have been cruelly, if deservedly, dashed.
TAOJJBTCRF was mostly lost in the Oscar shuffle, but it did receive one major nomination, for Casey Affleck's portrayal of Ford. That this nomination was for Best Actor in a Supporting Role rather than Best Actor in a Leading Role suggests that the nominators either had not seen the film or were so blinded by Hollywood's "star system" that they could not accept the fact that Brad Pitt's performance as Jesse James was the supporting one. (Perhaps I shouldn't be so hard on them, as the film was heavily marketed on the strength of Mr. Pitt's cachet, a strategy that did not forestall its inevitable commercial failure.) Regardless of the slight, Mr. Affleck is assuredly deserving of recognition, and I hope that he wins, though I doubt such a thing will come to pass.
