Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara and Ben Foster star in this crime drama by David Lowery, which portrays the romantic side of criminal lovers and draws a lot of inspiration from Terrence Malick’s 1973 masterpiece Badlands. But while this Bonnie and Clyde story, set in an archetypal American suburb, has all the makings of a powerful film, it eventually falls short—like a love song with a melody so beautiful you just wish for better lyrics to match.
Set in Texas, the film centers on Bob (Casey Affleck), his pregnant lover Ruth (Rooney Mara) and pal Freddy, who after committing a gun robbery, are hunted down by the police. A shootout ensues, in which Freddy dies and Ruth injures an officer (Ben Foster). Bob takes the blame and serves time in prison. Fast forward four years, Ruth and her baby girl now live in the house of her godfather, Skerritt, who used to be a powerful mob-like figure, while oddly enough the officer she shot often pops around to check on things. In order to reunite with Ruth and his baby girl, Bob breaks free from prison, but discovers that he doesn’t just need to evade the police but also the gunmen hired by Skerritt.
The thing that sticks with you is the consistently wistful mood and tone, thanks to lovely cinematography and a well-chosen score. The story is told with a song-like rhythm, with a lot of chopping in time, especially in the early parts when Bob breaks free from prison. But while we cherish this stunning atmosphere, we can’t say the same about the actual storyline, which largely fails to convince and doesn’t do enough to engage the audience.
It is certainly not down to bad acting, though. Affleck does a great job portraying the poetic side of a rough-and-tumble kind of man, while Foster, too, hits great heights particularly in one scene where he plays guitar to the little girl yet betrays his feelings for Ruth. But it’s Mara who shines brightest in deftly depicting Ruth’s independent streak and loving nature. And yet the natural and well-executed dialogue is simply not enough to make the lovers’ relationship really come to life.
Unfortunately, the storytelling relies too heavily on things that happen off-screen. Too often we find ourselves having to fill in the gaps of what seem to be complex, multi-faceted characters. The focus is on too many characters, too, which only has the effect of diminishing the significance of certain aspects of the plot; for instance, Ruth’s conflict over seeing her husband do time. With more time spent on these relationships, Ain’t Them Bodies Saints could have been a memorable film and not just a visually beautiful one.
