This past weekend I watched all two hours and thirty-eight minutes of The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Even the title is long. It's so long, so long. It beautiful, lush photography makes for compulsive viewing, even if it's dull as sin. The music (by masters Nick Cave and Warren Ellis) is gorgeous and has a lulling effect. This is lovely but doesn't help drive the action. It's such a very long film and could have been so much better if they had cut about 45 minutes off of it (there are several minor plot lines that could have been excised, in my opinion). Poor Mary Louise Parker was relegated to the role of Mrs. Jesse and had almost zero lines and spent her time wiping her hands on her apron. Brad Pitt was fine, Casey Affleck was better than I expected, Sam Rockwell is always awesome, Paul Schneider is actually pretty hot, and Zooey Deschanel is lovely and she sings (she has a truly beautiful singing voice, see Elf for reference).
Nevertheless, despite the performances, music and cinematography, I was bored senseless. Then at the two hour and twenty minute mark, Nick Cave showed up! Nick Cave makes a brief appearance as a folk singer in bar, singing the traditional song "Jesse James" and I was so happy! Just hearing his voice woke me from my near-comatose state brought on by the rest of the film. God bless him. He's so good it's scary.
In related news, Zooey Deschanel is releasing an album with the fantastic M. Ward under the name She & Him. It's titled Volume One, it will be released this Tuesday the 18th and you can order it here. More exciting still is the new Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds album, Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! which will be released on April 8th. Go ahead and pre-order your copy here. Now let's all keep our fingers crossed for a U.S. tour!
1 comment:
Oh Sam Rockwell. Swoon swoon swoon.
I have been listening to both She & Him and Dig!!! Lazarus Dig!!! the past few weeks and give them thumbs up!
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