Ain't Them Bodies Saints

It is not a secret that the genre of Westerns is one that has, for the most part, ridden off into the sunset with very little of note coming from Hollywood over the last few years.  There have been a few quality films such as Django Unchained and True Grit, but it is not the profitable genre and movie making machine that it once was.  One of the biggest flops of 2013 was a Disney attempt at a Western in Gore Verbinski’s The Lone Ranger, which, even though it vastly underperformed its expectations (making a domestic total of $89 million), still managed to land in the top ten highest grossing Westerns before being adjusted for inflation.  That could give us a good sign of how dry the well is running.

For fans of the fading dynasty, there is indeed some hope as Ain’t Them Bodies Saints brings some much needed freshness in style and content.  I call it a Western, but some might argue that with the movie being set in the 1970s.  While that is the case, the costumes of the film are so well chosen that they are still able to give a feel of a true cowboy movie.  Many visual aspect of this tale bare resemblance to beloved gunslinger movies of old, and it was able to blend both the modern and the antiquated in a romantic fashion.

It is not just the styles and set pieces that harken back to Westerns of old, but there are many plot points from the genre that work themselves into Ain’t Them Bodies Saints.  It is drenched in Western folklore with outlaws, lawmen, posses, the retired gunman, and the saloon.  Around every corner is the essence of the Western, yet it is not completely overwhelmed by it.  It may seem hard to believe that the modern and the old could be blended to this degree, but director David Lowrry works some visual and thematic magic with this movie.

Perhaps I am seeing what is not actually there, and making up this tie-in to Western mythology on my own.  Even if I am wrong on that point (I can’t help but feel that I am right) the movie is still a treat.  It is much like a dance, which has all of its components moving to a rhythm, all coming together to tell a tale.  It has some wonderful cinematography in it, catching a lot of warm colours as well as spending time focusing on people in movement.  A number of scenes follow people walking from behind, looking past their backs towards their destination.  Only rarely do we see the front of people when they walk, at times when our attention needs to be focused on what they are walking away from.

The movements of this movie are enhanced by the dynamic acting performances of the cast, who bring real soul to the story of life, love, and crime.  Casey Affleck plays Bob, a criminal whose life catches up with him and envelops his love Ruth, who is played by Rooney Mara.  While Affleck is a bit of a baby face, he is able to assert himself in this film as a truly dangerous character, one who has much love but will also never hesitate to pull the trigger.  Mara’s portrayal of Ruth drives the film in its story of life moving forward, as she is a young mother who needs to now think about the best interests of her daughter yet still is bound to Bob and we get the sense that she will be forever loyal to him, making it completely unlikely that she will ever truly be able to progress fully.

There are a few shootouts in the film, but they are not the point of the story.  The story really is about Bob and Ruth, true love, and how that fits into their lives as they know them.  It is a movie that is able to take the romanticism of the Western and keep it alive with a much different style of tale, something which the best Westerns out there have been able to do.  I am not saying that it is on par with Unforgiven, but I am saying that it is worth a viewing for what it attempts to do.  It is both visually beautiful with a haunting, yet charming story, and it is most likely to be far from a waste of your time.

Rating – 3.5 out of 4 stars

Gone Baby Gone

Well, I know I will no do this movie justice.  If you have ever had an anti-anxiety pill, you will know that the little pill packs a punch of goodness.  While it helps calm the emotional oceans, it also makes operating heavy machinery a bad idea.  Myself, I am a lightweight with medications.  I hardly ever take a pill for anything, so while most people take one full anti-anxiety pill, I only take a quarter and life is good.  I think I have had multiple quarters of that happy little pill by this point, so I may not be quite all with us.  Soldier on, that's what I shall do.  Or something like that.  Perhaps a nap.  More than likely, this will be a bit of a shorter review.

Anywho, the movie I am reviewing today is Gone Baby Gone (now available on Netflix), and it is Ben Affleck's directorial debut.  While many people line up to criticize the acting capabilities of this man, his skill behind the camera really needs to be respected as he is extremely gifted in telling a story.  The movie follows a young couple who are private investigators that specialize in missing persons, Patrick (Casey Affleck) and Angie (Michelle Monaghan).  When a young girl goes missing, the aunt and uncle of the abducted child hire Patrick and Angie to assist the police in bringing her home safely.  During the investigation, there are many twists and turns as Patrick begins to unravel a case that is much bigger than he imagined.

Ben Affleck does an amazing job in creating the atmosphere for this film.  There is a lot of attention put into showing cutaway shots of the neighbourhood, focusing both on the physical nature of it, but also the personal side of it.  We get an idea of the residents, what they are like, the conditions they live in, and their way of life.  This is furthered by the dialogue, which I will admit was a bit hard to follow at times with the New England accents, but it just furthered the sense of authenticity of the movie.  There were a number of tense scenes that were not over dramatic, like some movies, but more focused on the nuanced street smarts that Patrick uses to get by.  I should mention that Casey Affleck has a wonderful performance in this movie.

Affleck walks the hard ground with this movie, as the topic of child abduction is a very loaded one to create a story around.  There is a great emotional response that the audience can have to such a plot point, and it is treated with respect, but also used in a way that allows us to feel the proper amount of unease, disgust, and also hope in the safe return of the missing Amanda.  It plays well to the thriller aspect with run-ins with ever so creepy environments and characters.

The best part about this movie, though, is that it has another level to it.  It is an interesting watch and a very good movie, but it also serves as a discussion point on ethics and morals.  The movie culminates around right and wrong, justice, and the subjective nature to which people view each of those things differently.  Watching it, I got a clear sense of the ethical structure that people on opposite sides of the argument were bringing to the table and felt no pull from the director that we were to lean one way or another.  When a movie entertains, bravo.  When it entertains and makes me think, that's when the money and the time spent were more than well worth it.

Rating - 3.5 out of 4 stars