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movie review - The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

the journal of Michael Werneburg

twenty-seven years and one million words

Tokyo, 2007.12.16

This is one of the last movies we saw in the cinema before our son was born. A sad way to see off many years of avid movie-going!

While this film's cinematography was memorable and the performances generally apt, I didn't appreciate its trudging plot, listless pacing or underwhelming sense of any conflict. Also, for a movie this overly explained, I found the narration wholly unnecessary.

Not recommended.

rand()m quote

It has always seemed strange to me...The things we admire in men, kindness and generosity, openness, honesty, understanding and feeling, are the concomitants of failure in our system. And those traits we detest, sharpness, greed, acquisitiveness, meanness, egotism and self-interest, are the traits of success. And while men admire the quality of the first they love the produce of the second.

—John Steinbeck, Cannery Row