Wednesday, 11 September 2013

Ain't Them Bodies Saints (2013, Dir. David Lowery, USA) (Cert: 15/R) ***



 

Starring: Rooney Mara, Casey Affleck, Ben Foster

 

When a crime goes awry, Ruth Guthrie (Mara), a pregnant woman shoots cop Patrick Wheeler (Foster) in the shoulder. Her boyfriend, Bob Muldoon (Affleck), takes responsibility for the shooting and gets a lengthy prison sentence. Eventually, Bob escapes  looking to be reunited with Ruth whilst also being hunted down.

 

A gritty and rustic film that balances between being a drama and a thriller, Ain't Them Bodies Saints is a fairly engaging film with a few problems. The biggest problem is how unevenly it handles both its roughest and tenderest moments. The best moments of the film aren't those that deal with the relationship between the central couple of Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck but the relationship instead between Mara and Ben Foster. This is bolstered more by the unique dynamic and backstory between these two likeable rather than any problem with Affleck or the character of Bob Muldoon. However, despite these shifts in story quality, the film has a nice pace and doesn't overstay its welcome. With its dark and violent story and 70's Texan aesthetics, there are comparisons to No Country For Old Men (2007) and it falls far behind that film, but it's still entertaining and essentially works.

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