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| Ben Foster's going to shoot your friend! |
Directed by David Lowery
Produced by Cassian Elwes, Toby Halbrooks, James M. Johnston
Written by David Lowery
Starring Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara, Ben Foster
Budget: $4M
What a title, right?
There's an overstock store near my house which stocks a regularly-refreshed cart full of B- through D-list DVDs for the low, low price of $2. When I'm feeling particularly flush with cash I'll saunter through and pick up a handful. The selection's generally pretty good, with a nice mix of monster movies, awful 90s action schlock, and old classics.
Every so often I'll pick up something of quality; something more like Grabbers than Replikator: Cloned to Kill.
Ain't Them Bodies Saints was one that drew my eye, partially from the title alone and partially because the cover art was of a quality rarely seen in a bin containing movies questionably described as "bargain." My experience with movies taken from this bin have varied greatly, though I've been fortunate to have inherited my father's ability to judge a book by its cover.
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| Beatty's got bills to pay, same as you and I. |
Now, I'd never heard of Ain't Them Bodies Saints before I picked it up, which isn't that unusual. The film was a Sundance screen before it was released to any wide market, but by this point I've given up on Sundance screenings being any indicator of quality or renown. No, I was more surprised because I'm a fair Ben Foster fan, I think Casey Affleck delivers good work, and Rooney Mara seems to have far better decision making skills than her sister, Kate. And yet, this movie doesn't seem to have left much of an impression on the popular culture landscape.
Well, I'm glad to say I think I spent these $2 well.
"This Was in Texas"
Billed as "An exceptional modern western" by the box quote, Ain't Them Bodies Saints begins in media res with Ruth Muldoon (Mara) confronting her husband, Bob (Affleck), about his supposed plans to strike out on his own. After some reassurance, Ruth reveals that she's pregnant, and the two elate in the news.
Cut to the tail end of a heist gone sour, with Bob and Ruth in the getaway car as their accomplice, Freddy, bleeds to death in the back seat. After a shootout in an abandoned farmhouse ends with Ruth shooting policeman Patrick Wheeler (Foster), Bob takes the fall in an effort to grant his wife and future child a life outside the system. As the two are led to a squad car, Bob promises he'll find her again, as Ruth vows she'll wait for him.
It's here that the movie starts in earnest. We follow Bob and Ruth through a montage of her giving birth set against the narration of Bob's letters written while he's in the clink. Bob restates his promise to escape and take his wife and daughter, named Sylvie, away, while Ruth acclimates to life on the outside, waiting for the inevitable day Bob promised her at the beginning of the film.
Of course, Bob does eventually escape, and the primary crux of the film relies on the characters reacting to the news, as he makes his way across the countryside with only a single goal in mind.
And it's here where Ain't Them Bodies Saints slows down and showcases the differences in the western genre. As the movie unwinds (the most accurate word I can think of for the pace this film takes) we watch it take an anti-mythological take on a western fairy tale. I hope I'm describing this well.
The movie opens with the title card above: "This was in Texas." This immediately sets down a mythological tone for the events which follow, combined with the unassuming directorial style, basic big-sky-Texas setting, and minimalist score used to accent important spots, rather than as a constant accompaniment to character actions. The movie doesn't follow Bob as he carves a bloody path across the states to his family, nor Ruth as she engages in a tawdry emotional affair with the officer she shot.
Instead, the film almost feels like a deconstruction of the old "break out of prison to reunite with your family" narrative which is fairly common in this genre. Bob doesn't come across as a love-driven anti-hero looking to find his family; instead he feels like an overly possessive creep with a dark streak. There's a weight to Affleck's acting that really carries the character through; maybe it's the way he's mastered the low-toned delivery, or how he's managed to act sinister despite the unusually high pitch of his voice (not that there's anything wrong with that). Even his opening lines proclaiming that he'd never let Ruth leave him lack any sort of jovial tone, despite the honesty behind the words.
Of course, a large part of the movie rests on Rooney Mara's shoulders, and I think she does an admirable job as a single mother hiding her complicity in the crime (and the fact that she shot the police officer who won't stop trying to court her). The scenes between Ruth and Patrick alternate between tense interactions where we wonder if he suspects her part in injuring him four years ago, to sincerely touching scenes of him gifting Sylvie his old guitar for her birthday. I couldn't help but root for him after spending some time with Bob's cold stare.
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| Yup, no symbolism here, not at all. |
If that screengrab looks a little dark, good. It was a deliberate choice by the director to keep the lighting as authentic as possible to 1970s-ish Texas. There was apparently a strict rule during production to use only period-accurate lighting in an attempt to deliver the feeling of watching a series of old Polaroid reels unwind. They did such a good job that in some parts of the movie it's near impossible to determine what's actually happening, which apparently drove some conflict between Lowery and the studio.
The director's push for authenticity extends to the score as well, which is filled primarily with low strings and minor brass. For the most part the instrumentation feels absent; the primary use is a really wonderful bit over the early montage of Ruth's years apart from Bob and some tense string drones throughout, but for the most part the movie relies on the actors and visuals to set the tone. From the clouded-over Texas sky to the washed-out look of the film, it does a fair job capturing the feeling of watching a modern day fairy tale unravel around our characters.
Verdict
Ain't Them Bodies Saints is a competently made production with a good mix of first-time industry professionals delivering a story. If that seems a little noncommittal, there's a good reason, and it serves as my main critique of the movie, and the sole reason I wouldn't recommend it to everyone:
There are severe pacing issues and decisions with which I intensely disagree. In an effort to show us both Ruth's and Bob's sides of the story, the movie suffers in that it meanders during the middle 50 - 70 minutes. There's definitely something to be said for taking a slow pace and letting the movie unwind, but the only drive in the middle of the film is the exact circumstance of Bob reaching his family. While I can appreciate a character-focused drama, when you open and close with violent gunfights there needs to be a continuation of that threat throughout, rather than a single interaction between a shopkeep and a bounty hunter at the 45-minute mark.
Perhaps the best way to describe it is to evoke an exchange in the movie between Bob and Sweetie, played by Nate Parker. When describing how he'd delivered a powerful monologue about answering to God and the Devil for the things he's done and the prison doors swinging open, Bob's dramatic retelling grinds to a halt when Sweetie points out that the news reported him jumping from a work truck.
Overall, I enjoyed Ain't Them Bodies Saints as a proficient modern western telling the last story of this family. Unfortunately, I don't know that I can recommend it to everybody, simply because I feel like most people would lose interest at around the halfway mark.
The Saints: Acting from Affleck, Mara, and Foster shine through the overcast. I've seen a lot of people compare this movie to Terrence Malick, but beyond the efficient use of Texas openness, I don't quite see it. It's also nice to see someone de-romanticize the prison-break-find-the-family plot.
The Bodies: Usually I'm not one to wish for more mayhem when understatement works best, but I think adding a third gunfight to this would have served to truly elevate it.
The Ain'ts: Apparently the title is based on the director's misunderstanding of a song lyric. Considering the movie addresses the themes of redemption after death (if only a little) this feels a little like a writer's attempt to justify a title he thought sounded cool...not that I would know anything about that.
In other news, stay tuned for updates concerning my novel, Eight Days to Absolution. Wow, what a cool title, right? I wonder what it could refer to? Doesn't it just roll off the tongue?
