Ain't Them Bodies Saints

Director: David Lowery
Year Released: 2013
Rating: 1.5

Outlaw Bob (Casey Affleck) goes to jail for bein' a badass, leaving loyal wifey Ruth (Rooney Mara) to stay behind and care for their child - years pass and he eventually escapes and tries to make his way home, except there are people there waiting for revenge. While it's important for filmmakers to be inspired by their betters, Lowery is doing Malick-lite here - down to the cinematography and storyline (melding Days of Heaven with Badlands and traces of The Tree of Life) - except while Malick is poetic and ingenious when he's at his best, Lowery's psychic energy is devoted to making this look and 'seem' like a Malick picture but with a B-rate script that does little to develop the characters or make them compelling in their own right. They're mere shells of 'real' people and their situation provides little emotional resonance - Malick's Badlands made criminals captivating, this makes criminals insignificant.