Robert Ford flutters passionately and covetously around late 19th century outlaw and reserved hero of the Southern cause, Jesse James, in this visually breathtaking and emotionally unnerving film. Youngest of his brothers and leaden with insecurity, Bob fancies himself unwavering protege of a man whose chivalrous and mysterious reputation masks a deeper unease with humanity. The two weave in and out of contact over robbery and family feud, illuminating Bob's lust and Jesse's growing anxiety through gang rumor and increasingly awkward conversation, funneling into melancholy self-destruction. Bob's child-like infatuation for Jesse is teased and threatened by kin and gang member as the posse gallop back and forth across the snow-drifted Midwest, raiding to reestablish lost pride. His eyes grow shrill and frosty as a tattered self-esteem is nudged to the surface, raising the hair and corroding the nerves of his hero, who starts to retreat into a shell of paranoia. Bob and Jesse's emotional spiral is foreshadowed in cigar-lit, rocking-chair conversation and family get togethers with tense and glaring body language. Words exchanged dance around the clashing self-images of both men, growing a guardedness that ironically binds Bob tighter to Jesse's boot and shackles Jesse from shedding his stalker. As Bob's declining self-esteem unveils murderous intentions, Jesse confesses his reactive wretch and desperation in one of the films most gorgeous scenes, kneeling on a frozen lake and muttering under frosty breath (more to himself than Charley Ford) with pines and snow-capped mountains towering behind. Other characters fade from the drama, leaving Bob and his older brother Charley increasingly alone with Jesse, who begins to accept death, resisting perhaps only to bait the Fords to extinguish his inescapable pain. The three meet catharsis, accompanied by a beautifully depressing ballad, in a claustrophobic room where one last chance for transparency is forsaken as Jesse surrenders his life in solemn confidence and Bob coldly draws his gun, sure of reviving his self-esteem. The film progresses to reveal a truth, seeping from Jesse's formerly shy admirers, of equal sadness for his death and anger for his killer. To his contempt, Bob absorbs the cowardly self-image that Jesse kept so well hidden until death, along with the burden of barroom stares and stifling back luck, when his own killer raises a shotgun barrel. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is a delicately woven fabric of superb acting, stunning cinematography, and sweet melancholic music. The film glitters with timeless emotion and humanity to entertain as well as give us a finer look into ourselves.

Robert Ford, who's idolized Jesse James since childhood, tries hard to join the reforming gang of the Missouri outlaw, but gradually becomes resentful of the bandit leader. The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is a waste of a pretty good cast in a storyline rather interesting or important but rather boring and pretty much slow moving that puts you to sleep. The perfomances weren't anything special either unfortunately cause i have seen definitely better from pretty much every single on them in better flims. (0/10)

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford is not only one of my favorite movie titles of all time. It is also one of my favorite movies of all time. 12th favorite to be exact. It's moved by an amazingly adapted script that nails the characterization of Jesse James just as much as the book does. While also keeping the dialogue that compels you to ponder, and contemplate. The beautiful music has a rhythm to it that parallels the rhythm of the story. The pacing of the movie is slow, but never drags. Giving you room to closely inspect the movie without missing a thing. A triple threat of cloud shots suggest time passing, and also gives room to breathe while giving you something pretty to look at. The cinematography has a cold dampness do it which emotes the same feeling as the music does, and seamlessly blending these aspects of the film into something unforgettable. A sort of breezy gloominess that sets a perfect tone. Also perfect is the plethora of characters and the cast that are elevated by the dynamic camera shots and movements that act as another character all together. Brad Pitt plays the infamous outlaw Jesse James. Watching him on screen ponder about his own morals and sanity is perplexingly magnetic. The lore around Jesse James himself makes you consider the possibility that Jesse was an omniscient being. A mysterious omniscient being who is slowly losing knowledge about himself. Hinting at the possibility that may he have gone and lost his mind. Casey Affleck portrays Robert Ford. An awkward and naive young man who idolized Jesse James to such an extent that when he met the real Jesse he eventually grew resentful of him. Ford's character arc highlights themes of expectations vs. reality. Sam Rockwell as Charley Ford, Paul Schneider as Dick Liddil, and Sam Shepard as Frank James are standouts amongst standout performances. Which this movie has a high number of. Each character is as memorable and unique as the last. Each character hypnotizes themselves into your mind causing you to think about them for a long period of time. Overall, this film is a masterfully crafted tale of media, myths, legends, and expectations that effortlessly paces through it's long but necessary runtime, and presents you with quintessential shots that tell a unique story within themselves, before giving you a conclusion that stains your mind with melancholy. So I give it a 9.5

The movie "The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford" is an indefinable movie creating extreme reactions after being watched. The terms describing it would vary from mesmerizing or deep to plain lackluster. The reactions can be justified if the traits of this iconoclastic work are considered. It's a western lacking the elements of western movies. It's a drama but at the same time includes few features of a comedy. Although the movie can be rightly identified with any of these genres, it's quite perceptible that limiting it to any of the given genres would be unjust.But the astonishing feat achieved by the director is beyond that since the prominence of the movie is revealed to the audience through characterization. The trap in which the movie shrewdly avoided being entangled was delving deep into the psyches of the characters and the transmutation undergone by them. The historical aspect of this depiction is just a façade of the story which is given out to the audience from the outset in the title. The movie succeeds in conflating the characteristics of the characters so as the cowardice of Robert Ford and the courage in Jesse James wouldn't have been comprehended without each other. It seemed as if the glorification granted on James was realized through the pusillanimity depicted by Robert Ford since he stood for the opposite of whatever the other one possessed. History has no way other than being biased on the side of the narrator for it is being told by a person. A person with a general tendency of the mind. This tendency can be modified but never eliminated since the narrator lives in a specific time with specific standards and moral codes. So, to put it in a nutshell, the narrated history can never be the real one because it is conveyed by the people already familiarized not only with the story but also with the idea of other people on the incident. The movie is well-aware of that and its attempt to negate the bias and didacticism implied in the story is twofold. First, the language used in the voice-over narration is literary and book-like unlike the everyday language of the characters. This contrast is an evident effort of the director reminding the audience of the storification of the incident. Second, the dream like scenes provided with blurry margins of the screen added to the elements of the untrustworthy narration since they were represented as memories. Masood Abdollahi