Friday Matinee

The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford

Andrew Dominik’s masterful, mood-drenched, Roger Deakins-lensed western elegy is a bold, staggeringly beautiful cinematic achievement. Brad Pitt’s mesmerizing, deeply human performance as the notorious outlaw anchors a tale of mythmaking and obsession, as a starstruck new recruit in his gang fatefully pushes the story to its inevitable, devastating conclusion in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. A powerful ensemble cast, haunting Nick Cave & Warren Ellis score, and Oscar-nominated cinematography help flesh out the tale.

“A tremendously stylish, intelligent retelling of western myth.” – Peter Bradshaw, Guardian

“It’s Dominik’s uncompromising, uncommercial vision and the two leads that give the story such a wonderfully wounded grandeur.” – David Fear, Time Out

“Dominik paints a richly detailed mosaic on locations in Calgary and Winnipeg, and you can only marvel at the visual miracles achieved by cinematographer Roger Deakins.” – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone

“The extraordinary expressive performers, male and female; the haunting interior and exterior conflicts; the painstaking authenticity of the period detail; and the subtly modulated mood shifts all combine to make a modern masterpiece of an old legend.” – Andrew Sarris, Observer