The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Writer-director Andrew Dominik fails to adapt Ron Hansen’s novel sufficiently, and the result is less than the sum of its parts -- starting with excellent performances by Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck as the title characters and superb cinematography by Roger Deakins (“on loan” from the Coen Brothers) -- and more than the story will bear -- making it rather dozy at close to three hours. The giveaway is a mostly unnecessary narration, which is obvious at times but leaves much of the story confusing and underdeveloped, in need of connection. There’s enough good stuff to keep one watching, and enough aimless scenes and shots to set eyelids closing and head nodding. While offering the pictorial delights of a classic western, the film attempts to offer a meditation on the beginning of celebrity culture, as cult hero Pitt is stalked by fan and assassin Affleck. Each performance is riveting at times, but again the connection is missing. Meanwhile some fine actors are wasted in undeveloped supporting roles, Sam Shepard and Mary Louise Parker among others. The slack self-indulgence of this postmodern Western was highlighted for me since I came to it directly after showing Stagecoach to kick off my John Ford series at the Clark. Ford’s economical storytelling conveyed more than this film’s vaporous aestheticizing in half the time. Though Dominik’s film has its advocates and detractors, a common point of comparison is Terrence Malick, but while I am definitely a fan of his, of this not so much. (2007, dvd, n.) *6+* (MC-68.)