Review: Ain’t Them Bodies Saints (15)

A hot and sticky drama that is as much love triangle as it is a tale of a robber on the run, its milieu is the Texas badlands of the 1960s with a five-star cast that boasts Casey Affleck, Rooney Mara and Ben Foster as outlaw, moll and lawman respectively.

Affleck is Bob Muldoon, a ne’er-do-well who makes off with a pot of cash and buries it with the intention of returning later. Rooney is Ruth, his good-time gal and low-grade moll who enjoys the life and the danger of being in love with a bad boy. Foster is Wheeler, the small-town cop who keeps a close eye on Ruth. He’s a patient man, knowing that Bob will eventually return home to his lover and the child he’s never met.

Writer/director Lowery lets his film play out like an old-time western. Who are the three men who come looking for Bob and are warned off by old-timer Keith Carradine? As in all good westerns, a gunfight is coming…

The Affleck/Mara/Foster triumvirate represents a casting triumph. Affleck’s Muldoon is a driven man looking to rebuild his family with the stash he digs out of the earth. In his letters and in his heart, he just wants to come home. Affleck with his sleepy eyes slips easily between desperate gunman and doting dad, pushing ever onwards toward his ultimate goal.

Mara is perfect as the isolated lass fending off unwanted attentions and suspicion from Foster while slowly allowing herself to succumb to his attention. The mood is one of waiting for something to happen. The ambiance is muggy and oppressive with a hint of suppressed violence throughout. And always there is romance as Bob slogs his way across a harsh landscape.

Lowery has created as near to a modern retro-themed classic as there could possibly be. This one positively throbs with atmosphere. Unmissable.