The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Saw this last night - it's been showing in only one cinema here, and it was packed, as I suspect it has been every night. I suppose its distribution company is trying it out and seeing how the word-of-mouth goes. I imagine that if (and that's a big 'if' as it's hardly standard Oscar fare) it gets nominated for Oscars it'll eventually make it to the multiplexes.
It's a demanding night out, at two-and-half hours, but the audience was obviously gripped. Hardly a muscle moved apart from the odd trip out for a toilet break. You can always tell if a film has captured its audience - it rarely happens, and when it does it's something special. There's a palpable stillness; you could sense the audience holding its breath.
The film looks wonderful, with cinematography by the celebrated Roger Deakins. It's set in a wintry landscape, in a country with new settlements springing up all over - a superbly-realised picture of a society in transition.
Jesse James is coming to the end of his career, but he's still a larger-than-life character, and Brad Pitt's performance gives him the requisite stature. Pitt is getting better and better as he reaches middle age and is now a considerable presence. Casey Affleck has been rightly lauded for his performance as Robert Ford and there should be Oscars all round if there was any justice. Pitt, however, gives the picture a stature and weight - he's tired and disillusioned, yet retains unhinged sociopathic behaviour which erupt suddenly and terrifyingly.
Affleck's Ford is a pathetic character, but dangerous with it. It's an unselfish performance - Affleck's achievement is to make him truly creepy, yet pitiful.
Not long before I saw this I watched The Long Riders, in which Stacy Keach played James. It was one of the first westerns to attempt a period flavour, with long coats and moustaches all round, and a sepia-toned visual aesthetic. Yet it remained in thrall to the outlaw aesthetic common in the early-70s, and, in the end, was a triumph of style over content.
Assassination was a far meatier affair - it's a meditation on the nature of celebrity, but it's far more than that. Philip French, who's reviews are always worth reading as his knowledge of film history is unparalleled, says it's also about the complex relationship between assassin and victim. He also mentions that a few weeks after James's death in St Joseph, Missouri, Oscar Wilde came to town as part of his American lecture tour, and wrote about the looting of James's possessions by souvenir hunters. He thinks it's a shame this wasn't mentioned in the film, but I I think it might have overloaded it. I've realised that I'll have to see it again, as I want to immerse myself in it once more - it needs repeated viewing. I feel sure that it'll grace the multiplexes eventually - after all, it's a Brad Pitt film! A real treat to see such a serious, subtle and perceptive film - great stuff.