Ain't Them Bodies Saints

Ain't Them Bodies Saints (2013)

Director:  David Lowery
IMDB Rating:  6.6 (12/28/13)
PuRock's Rating:  6 Skinny Petes (Out of 10)
If This Film Had a Sibling:  Days of Heaven (Malick), Lawless

Pros:  Sense of Style, Cinematography, Modern Western
Cons:  Lack of Story, Slow Burn

First off, what does the title have to do with anything?  I did find the title to the film just as beautiful as the film itself, but with no connection.  What happened to the good old days where a film's title was almost always spoken during the film.  It was fun finding it in the dialogue like searching for Alfred Hitchcock or Where's Waldo.

The story is simplistic.  Boy loves girl, they commit a crime together. Find each other on opposite sides of the law.  Each character having to deal with their feelings while trying to make the right choice.

A lot of people want to compare this to the work of Malick (in fact I did up above).  But as a big Malick fan, I take a offense to this.  The shots are no where on the level of Malick and at least Malick has a sense of story.

Rooney Mara gives an exceptional performance as well as the rest of the cast.  It was also nice to see Skinny Pete (Breaking Bad) finding some new work.  The cast overall was well constructed.   The film had heart but lacked meat.

The most fascinating aspect of the film was a lost sense of place in time. It is apparently set in the 70s but could very well be the 1800s at times. You sort of lose yourself in where you are in history, which is actually quite refreshing.  In the end, the crux of the film is its story.