17th MoFo Hall of Fame

While it's painfully obvious now, I didn't initially understand that Scorsese was attempting to replicate the look of bipack colour for earlier parts of the film until a few scenes heavily featuring grass or other supposedly green flora passed. I caught myself pulling out my phone to google whether or not “cyan plants” exist when it finally hit me, and I promptly felt like an idiot. I would've preferred if the opening scene when Hughes was a child had been shot in black and white, since the aesthetic choices would've had a more immediate impact, and mirror the jump in vibrancy from Multicolour to three-strip Technicolour that happens later on. Though even without black and white photography for the introduction, the colour choices are very clever, and the film's cinematography was excellent from start to finish.

As for the performances, I was not a fan of Cate Blanchett at the start. For her first few scenes, she just seemed very fake, making her personality borderline insufferable. It didn't take long for her to feel more natural and for that odd front to drop, which is when I started to think that perhaps that was how the real Katherine Hepburn acted around people before she got to know them. I don't know whether or not that's accurate, but it's how she came across to me in the film, and it made those earlier mannerisms retroactively more enjoyable, if that makes any sense. Adam Scott never felt right to me, but I loved Jude Law's short appearances as Errol Flynn, and the supporting cast as a whole were great.

I do however have mixed opinions about DiCaprio. I'll preface this by saying that this is definitely the best performance I've ever seen from him, and there were plenty of times throughout the film when I was actually quite impressed. But for some reason, DiCaprio almost always feels likes he's acting a part to me, and the youthful features of his face frequently make me perceive him as a 16-year old who is pretending to be an adult. There were a number of more dramatic sequences that were really good, until he turned his face a certain way or made a certain expression, and it would completely take me out of the moment. His perpetually young appearance made it more difficult to discern the passage of time as well, though contextual clues and changes in lighting and colour certainly helped.

While my reservations about DiCaprio might sound like a major issue, it didn't actually affect my overall enjoyment of the film. The runtime didn't feel like it dragged, and I was thoroughly engaged for most of it. I especially enjoyed the Senate hearings, and the short comments from radio announcers throughout the story. If I rated the Hall of Fame nominations, I'd probably give this film a bonus star for DiCaprio very nearly saying “Newfoundland” correctly while explaining his plans for Trans-Atlantic flights. He just needed to pronounce that “D” on the end, though its absence might just have been a consequence of his character's dialect. He might not have changed my opinion of him as an actor very much with this film, but he certainly earned some respect.

I loved the choice of slow story telling combined with the documentary style of voice over narration. It's an effective way of telling the tale of the assassination, as it felt very personal. I liked the way the point of view was from Robert Ford and not Jesse James. This kept Jesse James as an enigma, and that's how the film presented him as, a man of mystery.

The look of the film is pure artistry, the colors are de-saturated to give a vintage look and feel to the film. Backing that up is slow camera movement with long scene takes and smooth scene transitions that often focus on scenery to allow the viewer time to digest what they've just seen, before going into the next scene.

One of the most amazing things about this movie was the use of blurred (out of focus) panels on the sides of some of the shots...like in the photo I used above. I've been noticing this trend on still photography in the last couple of years, but never had seen done in a movie before. This film might be the genesis for that movement...The blurred edges aren't just ascetics, they work to focus attention on the subject in the center of the frame, while ignoring the information on the edges that have been blurred. I think that's so cool!

OMG! The spoken dialogue between the characters was perfect vernacular for the 1880s. Not many movies get this common man's language & style of speaking correctly. Notice there's no F bombs and when they talk sex talk, they use phrases and terms that would be common in the 1880's, but not today. The scriptwriter deserves an Oscar!

Generally I'm not a huge fan of Brad Pitt but he was perfect here as the quiet, yet sometimes animated, dark and enigmatic man of violence...who's also a caring family man. Pitt extruded this hidden dangerous streak that scarred the hell out of his men. I believed he was dangerous so it worked.

Cassey Affleck was amazing in this. The movie is told from his perspective and damn he deserved an Oscar too. I thought he was great in Manchester by the Sea but I liked his performance here even better. He's so good at letting the audience inside his head, that I felt like I was in his shoes. He's so natural and real on screen. The rest of the cast was exceptional and kudos goes to the director for keeping all the performances in balance with the subtle style of the film.

The Assassination of Jesse James is going to figure high on my list. I can tell this is going to be a hard HoF for me to decide what my #1 movie is.