Amor Fora da Lei

Caught this at Sundance where the buzz surrounding it was pretty high. Did it live up to the hype? Yes and No.

As almost every reviewer has noted, it is a return to the Terrance Malick/Robert Altman-style outlaw lovers films of the 70s. Lots of long lingering visuals of country places and lots of deeply-felt brooding by the main characters. Not bad for that kind of film, but frankly nothing to write home about.

The three leads are very good, as is Keith Carradine. The music and photography are great (though I think there is an over abundance of mid and close shots in a film that screams out for long deep focus photography). Yet, somehow, it doesn't quite jell. A lot of this could be due to its slow pace. Another element may be the reluctance of the writer/director to dole out plot points (you know, like when someone reads an important letter, but we don't find out what is inside until 15 minutes later).

All in all, it is fairly good for what it is. I am sure it will garner positive response from critics. Still, somehow the whole is less than the sum of its parts.

What is it about the Deep South that's so evocative in cinema? Maybe it's the timelessness. Ain't Them Bodies Saints could be set at any time during the past forty years. The sun seems forever rising or setting in this region, and filmmakers can't help but point their lens in its direction, silhouetting their beautiful actors. Terrence Malick has a lot to answer for.

It's hard not to think of Malick's first film, Badlands, when watching this. The story concerns a couple of young Texan criminals, painfully in love. When Ruth (Rooney Mara) shoots policeman Patrick (Ben Foster), her lover Bob (Casey Affleck) takes the blame and goes to jail. Bob promises he'll come for Ruth, and duly escapes incarceration. Meanwhile, Patrick is making moves on Ruth, oblivious to her guilt. All of this is under the wise, watchful eye of Skerritt, played wonderfully by Keith Carradine. As Bob closes in on Ruth, the cops and the gangsters close in on Bob.

There are times during Ain't Them Bodies Saints when writer-director David Lowery's style and technique comes across as mimicry, of Malick and also of Jeff Nichols, as well as countless American movies from the 1970s. Thankfully, he also has an interesting story to tell, and it is one presented with rich textures. At times the film flows like a visual poem, with Bradford Young's evocative cinematography melding perfectly with Daniel Hart's stirring music. The effect is of something exquisitely handmade.

Affleck's mumbled delivery here exudes danger; he's mythologising himself in the same way he once mythologised Jesse James. Mara is sentimentalised as the angelic mother, but Lowery is wise enough to suggest that this comely vulnerability is an act also - a sophisticated defence against hard men secretly seeking softness.

Perhaps the film veers too closely at times toward stylish vagueness and too far from the broken heart of the story. But there is no denying this is a serious, authored work of art.

'AIN'T THEM BODIES SAINTS': Three and a Half Stars (Out of Five)

Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara star in this romantic crime drama about young lovers who are also outlaws, in Texas, that's crime spree comes to an end when one of them is sent to prison. He then breaks out of prison, years later, and travels home to see his wife again and meet his daughter for the first time. The film was written and directed by David Lowery and also stars Ben Foster, Nate Parker and Keith Carradine. It's a routine story but it's beautifully shot and the acting is all more than decent.

Affleck plays Bob Muldoon and Mara plays Ruth Guthrie, they're outlaws in Texas who run into trouble on their latest heist and Guthrie shoots and wounds a police officer named Patrick Wheeler (Foster). Muldoon takes credit for the shooting and Guthrie claims to not have been involved in any of their crimes, so Muldoon goes to prison as Guthrie has their child. He later escapes, multiple years later, and travels home to see his wife again and meet his daughter. As he returns he finds the police waiting for him and Wheeler is now romantically interested in his wife.

The movie seems inspired by classic 'young love and crime' films like 'BADLANDS' and even 'BONNIE AND CLYDE' but it isn't nearly as memorable as the movies it's trying to emulate. Lowery is a talented director though and (like I said) the acting is great and the cinematography (by Bradford Young) is beautiful. Affleck and Mara are well cast as the young lover outlaws but their talent (along with Foster, Carradine and most of the rest) deserves a lot better than this script. There's just nothing to it. The film looks good enough to make it worthwhile though and that title is classic (Affleck says it doesn't mean anything but is just Lowery's misinterpretation of the lyrics to a song). It's style over substance filmmaking but it's gorgeous all the same.

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At his televised 80th birthday celebrations, the esteemed British director Sir David Lean had a message to young, budding film-makers: Listen to us; learn from us. Then do your own thing.

Debutant writer-director David Lowery has clearly been influenced by the American New Wave directors of the 1970s. And then done his own thing.

Ain't Them Bodies Saints follows the relationship of Bob Muldoon (Casey Affleck) and his partner Ruth Guthrie (Rooney Mara). Besieged by local Police at an isolated farmhouse, the pregnant Ruth injures an officer in the shoot out. Bob Muldoon takes the rap for this crime and is incarcerated for a long stretch. Several years later, he affects an escape from the prison in which he is held and makes his way back to his home town in rural Texas.

There is very little back-story or explanation of events in this atmospheric film. This appeared to be a deliberate ploy by Lowery. Like the Curate's egg, it was good in parts . But ultimately it left too much of the plot inchoate: who were the three men hunting down Muldoon? Bounty hunters? Erstwhile partners in crime? We weren't privy to their motives and this detracted from the narrative. This was but one example. The very title of the film is also rather enigmatic and might lead some to believe the film is more bloodthirsty than it actually is.

Casey Affleck, who has enjoyed something of a patchy and sporadic acting career to date, is perfectly cast as Muldoon. As he showed in his Oscar-nominated performance in The Assassination of the Outlaw Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, Affleck has a great ability to convey a threat of violence without displaying any physical intimidation. He does so again in this film exuding a latent and uneasy menace. Hopefully this role will prove a springboard for Affleck and give him some momentum – he has good screen presence.

There was also a strong performance from Rooney Mara and support from Ben Foster and Keith Carradine.

The cinematography was, on the whole, superb. Long linking shots in subdued colour gave a great feel for the small town Texan setting amidst arable farmland. The wonky camera shots for the close ups we can put down to current, hopefully soon obsolete, fashion.

And if the pacing was a little on the slow side at times, well David Lowery is still learning his craft.

This is a very promising debut from a rookie director. He is one to watch.

If I had seen this film outside of a film festival setting I probably would not have appreciated it as much. Fortunately, director David Lowery provided amazing insight into his thought process and artistic intent as he crafted this film.

His attempt to create a "classic" film, distinguishable for its details but otherwise typical of the star-crossed lovers genre, resulted in something so much more. The characters are much more complex and do not fit neatly into their traditional archetypes. The audience will feel conflicted throughout, growing partial to different characters and rooting for different outcomes at various junctures in the film. Character introspection and lengthy shots of the landscape definitely took priority over plot development. If the depth of the story matched the depth of the characters this would be a truly great film.

The performances are second-to-none and the film was expertly cast. The hand clapping percussion and fiddle gives the score a uniquely southern, soulful feel; anyone from Texas can attest, the combination of score and cinematography will let the audience know what small-town Texas feels like.

Lowery prefaced the film as a cinematic "folk song" and it totally had the feel of a Townes Van Zandt ballad. If the film-goer keeps the folk song description in mind they'll truly appreciate the film's nuances and enjoy the experience.