Ain’t Them Bodies Saints (2013) – Review

Review: Ain’t Them Bodies Saints is a beautifully atmospheric character drama/romance. The film is about two young lovers Bob Muldoon and Ruth Guthrie who engage in criminal activities. The police surround them and Ruth shoots one of the officers, Patrick Wheeler, during their apprehension. However, Bob takes all the blame and goes to prison, leaving Ruth to raise their child alone, but Bob promises to come back for them. A few years pass, Bob has escaped from prison and is making his way back towards the small town in Texas where Ruth has remained. Meanwhile, Patrick has developed a friendship with Ruth (that is more than that for him) and he is also tasked with capturing Bob should he try to make contact with Ruth.

At face value, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints easily could have become just another love-triangle drama, prevalent in young adult literature and cinema, but writer-director David Lowery does not lean upon any of the genre troupes and trapping. Quite the opposite – Lowery seems more interested in saying something more profound about love through the pain his characters experience. Ruth and Bob never waver in their love for each other, regardless of what society may think or what is best for them and their daughter. Their love exists on a much deeper level than cinema (that has become increasingly superficial) usually allows for – their love feels almost spiritual in their devotion to each other. Bob returning to Ruth is not just an arduous journey evading capture, but a journey to make his soul whole again. He does not care about the consequences; he just knows he needs to be with his family. For Ruth, the feelings are the same, but she is more sensible. She knows that Bob is doomed if he does come back for her.

However, maybe the most interesting character is Patrick. He is in love with Ruth, and while it is unclear if he knows that it was her who shot him or not (I think that he does know) it would not change his feelings. What makes him interesting is that he loves her and knows he would be good for her (which translates to the audience, which honestly gets the audience behind him despite the pull between Bob and Ruth), but he also knows that she is completely in love with Bob. He is willing to just settle for only having a part of her (is that to say that having a chance at powerful love, even if it is not fully returned, is worth any consequences?) . What also gets the audience behind Patrick is that he is kind and noble. He feels like the quite, stoic hero that frequently populated classic westerns, while Bob is quirky and shifty. As viewers, we do not fully understand the connection between Ruth and Bob, because to some extent we only see the negatives (exacerbated by Patrick clearly being a better choice for Ruth), while their love exists on a much purer level and is uncomplicated (when modern culture has seemed to overcomplicate love). For them, love is not a matter of convenience or simple attraction but something that completely envelops one’s soul.

Lowery spends most of the film contemplating the effect of this love on his characters. Bob is blind to everything that awaits him if he tries to come back for Ruth, which is likely to end up in his death. Ruth is not living a full life as she waits for a man that she can never be with. And Patrick will probably only find his heart broken. The film takes on a very atmospheric and brooding feel as the dramatic tension grows between these three characters and the audience. Bob is coming back, and when he arrives the audience knows something bad will happen. Thus, Lowery builds this low grumbling anticipation that bubbles just beneath the emotional turmoil that the characters are already experiencing. In this way the tone is fairly dark.

The film also has a very timeless quality, as if it could take place at in any time period (which is why the title card at the beginning only tells the audience that the story takes place in Texas, but not when). The idea of love being this all-consuming entity is itself a timeless concept explored in literature and art throughout history. Lowery does not bring much of anything new to the topic, and the film is probably not as profound or moving as it aspires to be, but by the same token it does have the ambition to explore the emotion on a deeper level, which is more than can be said for many films. And, for those willing to go on the film’s emotional journey, the experience is heartbreaking and dramatically dynamic.

There is an ethereal quality to the film as well, that mixed with its timelessness and high concept ideology leaves it to be compared to the work of Terrence Malick (and the story at face value could be placed side by side with Badlands – though, I think they are very different films). While there are some stylistic similarities, I do not really see this as a just comparison. Malick, if nothing else, obsessively is in search of truth and beauty, while Ain’t Them Bodies Saints is much more about these characters specifically and not about what love means in a general sense. Yes, we can make assumptions about love based on how these characters live their lives consumed by its effects, but Lowery seems to be more interested in the characters and what their emotional turmoil means to them than what their struggles say about love (which is the distinction between this film and the work of Malick). In short, Lowery’s film is not just a continuation of Malick’s work or style; it is its own thing entirely.

Overall, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints is either going to play as an emotionally absorbing experience or a slow, dull drama – there does not seem like there will be middle ground. The performances are also brilliant, which is what happens when a director hires wonderful character actors to play the leads. Thus, if nothing else, this film is a worthwhile lesson in strong dramatic acting. But for those whiling to engage the film on an emotional level, it is quite compelling (but again, it probably is not going to teach you something new about love, humanity, or yourself).

Technical, aesthetic & acting achievements: David Lowery takes the leap from very indie writer-director to pseudo-indie writer-director (after all, this does star name actors and has a production budget and quality equal to that of theatrically distributed films) with Ain’t Them Bodies Saints. He has shown himself to be a great talent with the film, as he has an eye from powerful aesthetics and has directed very strong performances from his actors. I do look forward to his future work.

As said above in the review, the film has a very atmospheric feel, to which Daniel Hart’s score plays a big role. Bradford Young’s cinematography is quite good. Visually, the film seems to only use natural lighting sources, which gives it a very natural feel, fitting with the overall tone. His photography is often very beautiful as well. Helped additionally by Jade Healy’s production design, the overall look forwards the thematic feeling of timelessness. The small town in Texas seems like it was forgotten in time, as if it forever will stay the same (it a state of decrepit shambles) regardless of the advancement of society around it.

In terms of performances, there may not be a better acted film than Ain’t Them Bodies Saints so far this year. The performances are powerful, yet subtle and restrained. These characters feel like real people, put upon by hard times and emotional struggles. Nate Parker is very good in a small supporting role. Keith Carradine plays Skerritt, the man who raised Ruth and Bob and whose son was killed during their arrest by the police. He plays a man bitter with regret, unable to move past his loss. The viewer can feel the pain in his eyes. Ben Foster is brilliant as Patrick. He is gentle and kind, yet stalwart. He very much reminds me of a character out of classic westerns, which fits this film very well – a man out of time. Casey Affleck is really the perfect fit for characters such as Bob – weird, slimy but capable of deep emotional feeling. He can play an anti-hero like no other. Rooney Mara may have the most difficult role in the film as Ruth. While she is devoted to Bob, she is also torn by her understanding that she also must look out for her daughter’s best interests. She is being ripped apart inside – both terrified that Bob will come home (and what that means) and almost euphorically hoping that he does. And on top of all this, she has to keep it all bottled up inside. It is fabulous work.

Summary & score: Ain’t Them Bodies Saints is a worthwhile experience for those looking for wonderful performances and a narrative that aspires to interact with its viewer almost purely on an emotional level. 7/10

Movie of the Week – The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

This week’s movie is The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007).

The western is about Robert Ford, a young man who idolized Jesse James since childhood. When the James Gang takes on new members for a heist in Missouri, Ford tries to not only join the gang but befriend his idol as well, but when he meets the man he gradually comes to resent him.

The film is by New Zealand writer-director Andrew Dominik, making his first American studio picture (coming off the indie hit Chopper). He worked with producers Brad Pitt (who also stars in the film), Ridley Scott and Tony Scott, composers Nick Cave (who also makes a cameo) and Warren Ellis, wonderful cinematographer Roger Deakins (whose beautiful work on the film garnered an Oscar nomination), and production designers Richard Hoover and Patricia Norris.

The cast is also phenomenal with Pitt and Casey Affleck starring (Affleck also garnering an Oscar nod), and Mary-Louise Parker, Sam Rockwell, Jeremy Renner, Sam Shepard, Garret Dillahunt, Paul Schneider, Michael Parks, Ted Levine, and Zooey Deschanel in support, with great narration from Hugh Ross.

Dominik set out to make a Barry Lyndon style film about Jesse James and the man who shot him, delving both into the characters and the ambiance surrounding them. For a western (be it a very modern one stylistically), there is not much action (much to the chagrin Warner Bros. who funded the film), but the characters and landscapes are so rich and telling, that the film is still very much engaging without tons of chases and gun fights. It is a film that grows on you with each viewing. From an aesthetics standpoint, Pitt and Affleck are wonderful, the production design is spot on and Deakins’s photographer is marvelous (and probably among the top 10 or so best shot films of the last decade; he lost the Oscar to Robert Elswit’s work in There Will Be Blood, which is also a stylistically modern western that is very well shot). The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is probably not for everyone, but those that enjoy great character pieces will surely find this to be mesmerizing. Check out the trailer.

Available on Blu-ray, DVD and Streaming

The Killer Inside Me (2010) – Review

The Killer Inside Me is a dark if not frightening film delving into the mind of a disturbed psychotic killer. Throughout the film seems a bit disjointed. The viewer is not always sure of the motivation or the passage of time, or even what is real – but it works. Director Michael Winterbottom structures the film through the mind of his protagonist and being that he is demented and oblivious to wrong-doing the structure is at times hard to follow or even unreliable. Can the audience really trust anything that they are shown? Winterbottom (and protagonist Lou Ford) do not pull any punches as the story is told – it is quite unnerving and specifically graphically violent. Much like American Psycho, the mask of sanity erodes as the story unfolds – the more time the audience spends with Ford, the more uneasy they become. The film emits tension, but subtly – the viewer feels alarmed and uncomfortable with the character they are given to follow, but they cannot place the reason – and then like a striking blow Winterbottom exploits the tension to its emotional peak (and at this point alienating some audience members). However, what makes this film particularly interesting, and Winterbottom’s work astounding, is despite the character being very unlikable and the brash violence, there are still moments in which the audience is behind the character – much in the same way as with the film Downfall. The viewer recognizes the evil in the character yet that same character being the narrative storyteller captivates the audience, and done correctly can even garner support from the audience – and Winterbottom achieves that, but still keeps the character distant as well. Ford is always on guard even from himself. Ford tells the story in a matter-of-fact way, but he does not divulge his emotions, they are there for the viewer to see gradually, just underneath. The film works best as a character study – everything around Ford is just scenery, a nuisance that he sees himself above. The film is impressive in its duality of viewer emotion (we hate Ford utterly from a moral stand, but yet underneath we root for him to overcome the obstacles closing in around him). The two female characters in the film are portrayed to be strong, and yet they both give in to Ford’s violence, not running from it but embracing it with compassion (much like the audience). The film, it would seem, would not play well for a feminist audience, but Winterbottom seems to be using his female characters as a plant in the audience’s mind – to see if he can bring them over to the dark side, and here like Ford’s control over the women, he succeeds in many cases. With The Killer Inside Me Witnerbottom has created both an interesting character study of a psychopath, but an even more penetrating look at the emotional morality and narrative influence on a passive audience. On the technical side of the film: Winterbottom is able to craft a film that is primarily interested in the emotional state of the audience. He is less concerned with a tight narrative that is easy to follow. This is a big risk, but Winterbottom succeeds in engaging the audience with characters rather than plot. The supporting characters are not really developed and are sometimes distracting, but overall Winterbottom and screenwriter John Curran (a fine filmmaker in his own right) are able to capture the tone and performances they need for the film to work. Casey Affleck is calm with sinister misdeeds waiting to erupt behind his eyes (the performance reminds me a lot of his work in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford). Jessica Alba is shot beautifully in the film and plays the role in such a sweet way that the contrast of violence to her allure is quite powerful and jolting. Kate Hudson is also good, in maybe the most unforgiving of all the characters. As with Alba, Hudson portrays her character to be likable, yet dumbfounding at times, that the juxtaposition of emotion is dynamic. Cinematographer Marcel Zyskind (a frequent Winterbottom collaborator) shoots the film to perfectly capture the core emotion of each scene. Melissa Parmenter’s score is subtle and supports the emotional weight – but it is the lack of score at key moments that provides more of an impact. The minimalist production design by Mark Tildesley helps focus the attention solely on the characters. The film is not for everyone, as much of it is visually intense – but Witnerbottom and cast and crew have made an unhinging film in which the audience partakes in the brutality and culpability. 7/10