As far as I can tell, writer/director David Lowery has a whole host of shorts and even a 2009 feature called St. Nick under his belt, but until now he’s been a name that I haven’t been aware of. After seeing his latest feature, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints, his name is very much on my radar though. Saints stars Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara as a mixed up young Texas couple who, looking to take a shortcut in making a life for themselves, get involved in a series of criminal acts that go wrong and eventually attract the attention of the police. One standoff later and a young officer (Ben Foster) has been shot, Affleck’s character has been imprisoned for the act, and a pregnant Mara is left with the task of raising their child alone. That’s not where the drama of the film comes from though. The drama comes years later when Affleck escapes from jail, several parties go on the hunt looking for him, and Mara has to question what’s going to happen if and when he shows up at the happy home she and her daughter have made for themselves.
Saints is a really simple story that creates really simple drama, and there’s an effortless-looking effectiveness in that. It focuses on character and builds momentum naturally through the tension of conflicting motivations—specifically how those conflicts are going to come to a head when everyone eventually comes face to face. It’s a slow-building, subtle movie that doesn’t really use any aggressive filmmaking techniques to build all that tension either. The tension comes naturally from what we know about the characters, so the narrative doesn’t need any help from the filmmaker moving itself along. Where Lowery does show off a bit is with the photography. Saints is full of sweeping landscapes and twilight hour photography—and even quite a bit of swaying grass—so it’s likely going to get a lot of positive comparisons to Terrence Malick’s work, particularly Badlands.
Of course, given how much of what the film does comes from its focus on character, the acting is probably the most important contributing element to its success. Given that strong talents like Affleck and Mara are in the lead roles, you’re probably expecting great performances, and Saints doesn’t disappoint. The work they both do here is simultaneously nuanced and powerful, and is a great joy to watch. Special mention should be given to Foster and Keith Carradine, who both get meaty supporting roles and who both do great work as well. Carradine is kind of a reliable old hand at this point, but Foster is an aggressive actor who can sometimes take too many risks and go too big with his performances. That doesn’t happen here. If anything, the restraint he plays his character with could best be described as Gosling-esque, and he too is mesmerizing to watch as he does so much with so little. How about the little girl though? Child actors can always be a bit iffy, right? Well, Lowery seems to hedge his bets a bit here by never giving Affleck and Mara’s daughter (Kennadie and Jacklynn Smith) anything to say or do. It’s kind of creepy how she just sits there silent and passive like a Kewpie doll for the whole movie, but, in the end, playing things safe was likely the right move. The presence of a child serves its purpose well, and at least the girls who played her were cute. Big recommendation to catch this one whenever you get the chance.
