Ain't Them Bodies Saints - Review

In this tale of love and drama, Bob (Casey Affleck) is arrested after taking the blame for his wife's shooting of a cop, during the time he is in prison, his wife, Ruth (Rooney Mara) gives birth to their baby girl and chooses to wait for him. The film follows Ruth and her daughter, Sylvie, coping without Bob, and also Bob's escape from prison and cross-country journey to be reunited with the people he loves.

This film is without question one of the few absolute masterpieces of modern drama films, David Lowery presents everything, the good and the bad, in such a hauntingly beautiful way that it now feels the genre would be hollow and lacking in substance without this film listed. Reaching down into the deepest caverns of our hearts, the tragic situations the characters find themselves in provoked such an immediate and honest response that the fact I was watching a fictional piece of work never entered my thoughts, I was with the characters emotionally, feeling their pain and hoping for some good to come their way. The fact that the artificiality of the film didn't interrupt my viewing even once is something special, and Lowery should be praised for this seamless feature.

The constant conflict of emotions in regards to what we should be feeling and what we are feeling is something that I felt to be extremely thought provoking and perhaps the greatest thing I took away from the film. We are watching criminals, people who have lied, cheated, robbed and killed people, yet we feel so attached on an emotional level to them, and their love is presented with such strength, that it bypasses all of the bad and we are stripped down to viewing them as two human beings in love who have been separated by an unlucky set of events. The addition of the cop into the equation presents us with a physical representation of the moral dilemma we are facing as an audience, we know that Ruth would be secure and safe if she let go of her longing for Bob and opened herself up to Patrick (Ben Foster), however we know in our hearts that her love for Bob is everlasting, to live on the edge of danger for her is worth it if she can be with Bob, and we never want her to give up on him.

The cinematography of the entire film is reminiscent of the likes of Terrence Malick and other directors influenced by avant garde cinema. Bradford Young shows his natural skill in making a frame as aesthetically pleasing as possible, the lighting, movement of camera and positioning of mise en scene leads us into appreciating a purely visual element of cinema at times almost unconsciously. Everything about this film just adds up, making it one of my favourites of the year so far. With outstanding performances by both Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck, I will be surprised if an Oscar nomination or two isn't given out in regards to acting, the moving portrayals fit perfectly with the atmospheric and memorable film.