AIN'T THEM BODIES SAINTS
Director : David Lowery
Year : 2013
Genre : Drama
Rating : ****
Combining the aesthetics of a classic 1970's American western with the social realism of Terence Malick, 'Ain't Them Bodies Saints' is a beautiful romantic drama from editor turned filmmaker David Lowery. Starring Rooney Mara, Casey Affleck and Ben Foster, the movie tells the tale of a woman trying to deal with the grief of having a husband on the run from the police while she tries to create a stabilised life for her young daughter; a daughter he has never met. Shot evocatively by cinematographer Bradford Young and scored beautifully by Daniel Hart, 'Aint Them Bodies Saints' does a very good job of creating a huge amount of emotion with whispered dialogue and long tracking establishing shots and thanks to great performances from Mara and Affleck, the film is one of the more emotionally involving films out right now. While the screenplay itself is full of wandering philosophical paraphrase and the slow pacing can sometimes be off putting, 'Ain't Them Bodies Saints' is a remarkable looking movie that manages to invoke the careers of better known and respected directors while still maintaining its own unique, beautiful poetic vision.
The film begins with a brutal gunfight between the police and outlaws Ruth and Bob (Mara and Affleck respectively) and after an officer is shot in the shoulder, the two surrender and they are dragged away. To protect his pregnant wife from harm, Bob takes the blame for injuring the policeman and is promptly sentenced to five years to life imprisonment while Ruth is free to go home and have her baby in peace. While he is incarcerated, the two communicate through letters and when he is told that he has a new daughter, Bob vows to break out of jail and reunite with his estranged family.
Using both the natural light of the blazing Texas sun and the eerie opaque darkness of the shadows, Lowery is able to convey an air of tragic realism and American grit with very little need for camera filters or post production tweaking. Set in the cornfields and the deserts of Southern America, 'Ain't Them Bodies Saints' echoes both the edge of the traditional 'Altman' western while also maintaining an atmosphere of strict, harsh reality and and the counterpoint between these two fundamental elements makes for some astonishing visuals and a gorgeous cinematographical sheen. Of course, the biggest debt is owed to the aforementioned great auteur Terence Malick, whose filmography clearly influences both the style and the tone of the movie. While the mise en scene is reminiscent of Malick's early work such as 'Badlands', the sweeping camera moves, the constant use of a hand held camera and a haunting non diegetic voiceover are much more in the vein of 'The Tree Of Life' or even Malick's most recent movie, the disappointing 'To The Wonder', (which coincidentally starred Ben Affleck, the brother of the star of 'Ain't Them Bodies Saints'). As an individual filmmaker, David Lowery shows huge potential and based on the brilliance of this movie, it may not be too long before we see his work regularly appearing at the major awards ceremonies. Bringing back a style of filmmaking that is rarely seen these days in modern multiplex cinema, David Lowery may become known as one of the purest American directors working today, who shuns the trend of computer graphics and useless 3D.
The cast are great and Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck are brilliant together as the central outlaw couple. As an actress, Mara is becoming one of my favourite screen prescences and thanks to her great performances in 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' and 'Side Effects', she is quickly becoming one of my all time favourites. Bringing both a maternal strength and a vulnerable lonliness to her character, she embodies an archetype that is not really seen in film today; a mother who cares more about her child than her own happiness. Determined to do right by her daughter, she is desperate to destroy her outlaw past but is still held back by the undying loyalty she has for her husband and this eternal fight between the heart and the head is perfectly encapsulated in Mara's tiny, thin frame and the stress of a past life of crime and years of insomnia is etched into her tired, distraught visage. Casey Affleck beings the same quiet menace to his character that made his role in the extraordinary 'The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford' so overwhemingly powerful. While we empathise for his need to reunite with his family, we are constantly reminded that he is a wanted fugitive and throughout the film we are torn between wanting him to succeed and wanting him to fail. Affleck's cracked voice and quiet persona contrast very well with his character's violent demeanour and although we do not suspect him to be aggresive towards his wife in any way, we do worry that he may be abusive to his adorable daughter when an explosive bad mood hits him. In the end, we end up asking ourselves, ''Is every man beyond redemption or is forgiveness a necessity of human existence?'' and I suppose we never really come a conclusion.
Despite it's brilliant performances and amazing look, 'Ain't Them Bodies Saints' is not perfect. There are some pacing issues and the long meandering monologues can become quite tiresome at times. Rather than adding to the narrative or expanding the characters, these scenes only seem to serve as filler and as a result, I did find myself becoming bored at irregular intervals. The story isn't anything new and those familiar with this kind of plot will see the ending coming a mile away. In fact, the ideas of a woman trying to deal with the stress of an incarcarated other half were conveyed to much greater emotional effect in Michael Winterbottom's excellent drama 'Everyday'. However, despite it's narrative flaws, we are constantly drawn back into the film thanks to the astonishing performances and Lowery's hypnotic direction.
Using both the natural light of the blazing Texas sun and the eerie opaque darkness of the shadows, Lowery is able to convey an air of tragic realism and American grit with very little need for camera filters or post production tweaking. Set in the cornfields and the deserts of Southern America, 'Ain't Them Bodies Saints' echoes both the edge of the traditional 'Altman' western while also maintaining an atmosphere of strict, harsh reality and and the counterpoint between these two fundamental elements makes for some astonishing visuals and a gorgeous cinematographical sheen. Of course, the biggest debt is owed to the aforementioned great auteur Terence Malick, whose filmography clearly influences both the style and the tone of the movie. While the mise en scene is reminiscent of Malick's early work such as 'Badlands', the sweeping camera moves, the constant use of a hand held camera and a haunting non diegetic voiceover are much more in the vein of 'The Tree Of Life' or even Malick's most recent movie, the disappointing 'To The Wonder', (which coincidentally starred Ben Affleck, the brother of the star of 'Ain't Them Bodies Saints'). As an individual filmmaker, David Lowery shows huge potential and based on the brilliance of this movie, it may not be too long before we see his work regularly appearing at the major awards ceremonies. Bringing back a style of filmmaking that is rarely seen these days in modern multiplex cinema, David Lowery may become known as one of the purest American directors working today, who shuns the trend of computer graphics and useless 3D.
The cast are great and Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck are brilliant together as the central outlaw couple. As an actress, Mara is becoming one of my favourite screen prescences and thanks to her great performances in 'The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo' and 'Side Effects', she is quickly becoming one of my all time favourites. Bringing both a maternal strength and a vulnerable lonliness to her character, she embodies an archetype that is not really seen in film today; a mother who cares more about her child than her own happiness. Determined to do right by her daughter, she is desperate to destroy her outlaw past but is still held back by the undying loyalty she has for her husband and this eternal fight between the heart and the head is perfectly encapsulated in Mara's tiny, thin frame and the stress of a past life of crime and years of insomnia is etched into her tired, distraught visage. Casey Affleck beings the same quiet menace to his character that made his role in the extraordinary 'The Assassination Of Jesse James By The Coward Robert Ford' so overwhemingly powerful. While we empathise for his need to reunite with his family, we are constantly reminded that he is a wanted fugitive and throughout the film we are torn between wanting him to succeed and wanting him to fail. Affleck's cracked voice and quiet persona contrast very well with his character's violent demeanour and although we do not suspect him to be aggresive towards his wife in any way, we do worry that he may be abusive to his adorable daughter when an explosive bad mood hits him. In the end, we end up asking ourselves, ''Is every man beyond redemption or is forgiveness a necessity of human existence?'' and I suppose we never really come a conclusion.
Despite it's brilliant performances and amazing look, 'Ain't Them Bodies Saints' is not perfect. There are some pacing issues and the long meandering monologues can become quite tiresome at times. Rather than adding to the narrative or expanding the characters, these scenes only seem to serve as filler and as a result, I did find myself becoming bored at irregular intervals. The story isn't anything new and those familiar with this kind of plot will see the ending coming a mile away. In fact, the ideas of a woman trying to deal with the stress of an incarcarated other half were conveyed to much greater emotional effect in Michael Winterbottom's excellent drama 'Everyday'. However, despite it's narrative flaws, we are constantly drawn back into the film thanks to the astonishing performances and Lowery's hypnotic direction.
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