Rewatched Assassination of Jesse James yesterday. Vaguely remember watching it more than a decade back, was obviously baked out of my mind, and couldn’t get down with the artsy fartsy look and what felt like a voice over telling me way too much. Like a fine wine though, this has aged beautifully (also maybe a bit of bias with all the movie podcasts telling me it’s actually brilliant but a victim of its release year, competing with No Country and There will be blood). I was actually ready to turn it off after the first hour, but as you move forward it gets more and more compelling. Brad Pitt does paranoia and depression well, Rockwell the bumbling fool and Casey Affleck the slime ball, equally good if not better. The epilogue also feels like a gut punch, where youre not really expecting much. The script is incredibly strong as you’re never exactly sure what Jesse knows and doesnt. Had the afternoon to myself, and it made for a great lazy sunday viewing. Not quite the same class as No Country or TWBB, but damn close. And yup, its wild Roger Deakins did this and No Country the same year.
8 / 10