The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford 2007, 15, Warner £15.99
Among the many oversights in this year's Oscar nominations, none was more glaring than the absence of this breathtaking visionary western from all but the best cinematography and supporting actor categories. When the books documenting the history of 21st century film are written, Andrew Dominik's magical feature will surely feature as one of the most wrongly neglected masterpieces of its era. Visually rich, dramatically mournful, and thematically existential, this was quite the best film of 2007.
Taking its lead from Ron Hansen's novel, Dominik's script and direction focus on the cataclysmic blend of 'adoration and anger' which binds the pathos-ridden Ford to his quarry. 'You see his anxiety, his neediness and his ambition,' notes Dominik in the scant supplementary material. 'That's what moved me about the book, and what I wanted to capture.' And capture it he most certainly does, as Brad Pitt and Casey Affleck circle one another as James and Ford, each drawn inexorably toward their own inglorious death.
Beautifully shot by Roger Deakins, it boasts languid compositions that echo the finest works of Terrence Malick and Sam Peckinpah.
Yet this work is distinctly Dominik's own, despite a lengthy editing process which saw him periodically removed from the cutting-room as others struggled to condense his first four-and-a-half hour cut.
The absence of a director's commentary from the two-disc 'collector's edition', which boasts merely a booklet and 'death of an outlaw' doco, may presage a future 'director's cut', although it's hard to see how additional footage could possibly improve upon this haunting perfection.
