Film Review: Aint Them Bodies Saints

Director: David Lowery

The debut film of director David Lowery is a well known tale of an outlaw separated from his family after he is sent to prison. Whilst Lowery doesn't look to change the movie landscape with a daring plot, he does produce a beautiful looking movie set against the backdrop of the open plains of Texas and Missouri. The expansive shots portray beautiful large skies with contrasting clouds and light from the low lying sun to produce a stunning visual spectacle. Within the first quarter of an hour I could feel the influence of Terrence Malick on this picture.

Bob Muldoon (Casey Affleck) is a notorious outlaw living in Texas with his wife Ruth Guthrie (Rooney Mara) who has started to join the heists with him. Their crime spree comes to an end when they are cornered by the police, but only after Ruth shoots a policeman and Bob takes the fall. He is sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for the robbery and wounding of the policeman but escapes prison on a work truck, he vows to keep his promise to come back for Ruth but will it be possible and does she want him back?

Bob Muldoon (Casey Affleck) holding his wife Ruth Guthrie (Rooney Mara)

The acting from the leads Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara is excellent, I hold both in high regard and neither did anything to change that opinion in this movie except maybe to re-affirm that belief. Even their Texan drawl is convincing for the most part. Ben Foster plays Officer Wheeler who is shot in the shootout but then becomes a close friend to Ruth and he was a real surprise performer in this film.

The film is set in the 1970's but this isn't immediately obvious and is presumably intentional to give it a timeless feel, possibly due to the varying themes in the movie. The script itself is sparsely dotted over the screenplay and generally involves long monologue type speeches by the main characters either to themselves or in them reading out a letter they are sending or receiving. The dialogue between characters takes on a heightened sense of importance when it is used. David Lowery has produced a good debut film and promises a lot in his future projects.

3/4 Conventional plot with a stunning visual style