An unexpected delight, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, offers an extreme cinematic interpretation of a Western story with well known characters. The narrative gets lost in an incredible exposure. The meta-cinematic discourse, brechtian to the core, that finds its climax in the scenes of the theatrical event of the shooting that rememorizes the scene that we saw minutes earlier, is constantly present. The characters of Jesse and Robert are constructed through a process of alienation. Brad Pitt is telling the story of Jesse James and we recognize him, Casey Affleck is an incredible presence, hysterically mimicking the Jesse construction in a dizzying myse-en-abyme. Dominik, the director, considers his film "a dark, contemplative examination of fame and infamy" and I can see that his examination goes beyond the Jesse James story into the acting method, character construction, narrative and cinematic expression. Dominik is making, in my reading, first of all an examination that gives new captivating film aesthetics that can chill your spine without taking you mind&body in the realist milieu. It transports you on a different path in the cinematic world, in the analysis of characters and images, sound and narration, in a complex process of reception. Dominik reveals the reality in illusion a la Zizek but this dark contemplative reality is much alive and fascinating than what the possible illusion without revealing itself can give you as spectator.
