Casey Affleck: Between the Ages

It was mildly disconcerting to see Casey Affleck playing a 31-year-old Boston detective hounding around town trying to find a missing girl for her awful family one week in Gone Baby Gone, and then to watch him play a 19-year-old wannabe outlaw in The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. What’s even stranger is how little the performances seemed to differ.

Affleck Beta is actually 32 now, and while he doesn’t quite have the presence necessary to pull off the gruff but well-meaning Bostonian Patrick Kenzie, his weirdly blank glaze works well for Robert Ford, which is odd because the monotone delivery doesn’t much change. It’s just that the twitchiness is ratcheted up significantly for the latter role. His Ford feels like a creepy stalker right up until the film decides he’s a tragic figure instead, whereas his Kenzie can’t quite shake the impression of a kid trying to swagger like an adult. Michelle Monaghan was really good opposite him, but I never quite bought her love for the man, through no fault of her own.

Still, I’m curious as to why Jesse James isn’t getting more play in the Oscar buzz arena, especially with such a strong performance by the always great Sam Rockwell that should definitely be up for Best Supporting Actor, and Brad Pitt’s charismatic yet unsettling portrait of the famed outlaw himself. Yes, it was edited and re-edited for two years, and perhaps 160 minutes of “art western” doesn’t go over well with test audiences, but you’d think that’s where award-focused marketing might come in - yeah, it’s artsy and long and slowly-paced, but think of the shiny statues!”