Ain't Them Bodies Saints

Ain't Them Bodies Saints is a 2013 crime drama film starring Rooney Mara and Casey Affleck as star crossed outlaws, living in Texas, they are caught and Affleck's character Bob is put in jail just as his wife Ruth falls pregnant with their first child, a daughter. Years later Bob makes a daring escape from prison to be reunited with his wife and daughter, who he has never seen.

The film stars Rooney Mara as Ruth Guthrie and Casey Affleck as Bob Muldoon, star crossed lovers and outlaws. During a shootout Ruth shoots a police officer, and Bob takes the fall for it. Ruth has his child and then waits for him, all the wile pondering on the state of their relationship and what to do with her life. The film features a fantastic cast, Rooney Mara gives a dense, complex and conflicted performance as a woman raising her child as a single mother, and struggling to deal with her guilt, her loneliness and her conflicted feelings about her husband. Ben Forter also stands out as Patrick Wheeler, a sheriff who hunts for Bob, and who has to deal with his feelings for Ruth.

The film, despite featuring fantastic performances, suffers from a thin script a wanting plot. Much of the story of the film involves Bob trying to get back to his wife, and Ruth trying to reconcile her feelings for her husband. Despite this being a rather interesting premise, it wears thin after a while, and the film starts to become melodramatic, and only really regains any momentum during the final half hour, the problem is that the film features various characters talking about going places, and leaving Texas, however ironically the film never really seems to go anywhere, and there is very little emotional progression throughout the movie.

The film is undeniably beautiful, and won the best cinematography award at Sundance. The film features beautiful Terrence Malick imagery of sunsets and clouds, and is yet another American film in the style of Mud or Upstream Color featuring beautiful imagery and cinematography. Overall Ain't Them Bodies Saints, despite featuring beautiful cinematography and fantastic performances from it's leads, has a plot which ultimately wears thin and descends into melodrama after the first hour. Rating: B-

Bob Muldoon: Every day I wake up thinking today’s the day I’m gonna see you. And one of those days it will be so. And then we can ride off to somewhere, somewhere far away.