Ain’t Them Bodies Saints
Bob Muldoon and Ruth Guthrie, an impassioned young outlaw couple on an extended crime spree, are finally apprehended by lawmen after a shootout in the Texas hills. Although Ruth wounds a local officer, Bob takes the blame. But four years later, Bob escapes from prison and sets out to find Ruth and their daughter, born during his incarceration. The beautiful, irreconcilable dilemma of the story is that Ruth—compelled by the responsibilities of motherhood and her evolving relationship with the deputy she shot—remains haunted by her intense feelings for Bob. Each of them longs for some form of peace. Ironically, it’s Bob, the unrepentant criminal trapped in the romantic image of a bygone past, who is driven by an almost righteous sense of clarity. Following the footsteps of Badlands and Bonnie and Clyde, Lowery’s humanism transcends the genre. The barren landscapes of David Lowery’s poetic feature evoke the mythology of westerns and saturate the dramatic space with fatalism and an aching sense of loss. Aided by powerfully restrained performances by Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara, and Ben Foster, Lowery incorporates an unnerving tension into the film, teetering it at the edge of violence.
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2013
David Lowery
Bradford Young
Craig McKay
Jane Rizzo
Toby Halbrooks
Ben Foster
Casey Affleck
Keith Carradine
Nate Parker
Rooney Mara
Cinematography Award Sundance
Director to Watch Award Palm Springs
19th Festival on Wheels
WORLD CINEMA