Ain't Them Bodies Saints (2013)

I am always in favor of letting contemporary films breathe. Sometimes the flow of intertextual communication as a hermeneutical tool is sterile if we are always going to use it with a hierarchical intention. I prefer to break with this trend established in the circuits of critical evaluation and choose to value the honesty of David Lowery, inscribing his film under a very clear and defined coordinates that also prove very fruitful for the film, as it allows you to establish a dialogue with the legacy that precedes it. In the same way that Malick was able to configure a space of legend when we went back to the beginning of the century in Days of Heaven, Lowery operates in the same way, shaping the film time of the 70s as a place of myth. In this way, he also connects his film with a similar recent approach in intentions, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Ford Robert Ford, Andrew Dominik, 2007, feature film that already had incorporated this one reflection in its trunk argument.




In this way the aesthetic and sound order of Ain't Them Bodies Saint sacts in this process of transmission and possibly achieves an achievement in front of its precursor. By lowering the metaphysics of atmospheric experience, by placing his damned lovers in a halo of romanticism - lyric, yes, but deeply close and earthly - the emotionality is much more pervasive. The fascinating aesthetic appeal and the shelter of the sensory not only function as a perfect tool to give the texture of the myth but also allows to get to the depths of the feelings of the characters, something that with Malick was not achieved.


There are several elements that make it possible to certify what I am trying to argue. One would be the use of the letters. The vaporous use of them, the desperate readings, the anxiety and the affliction of distance read under a voice-over that functions like the dream of Ophüls, transports us to the foggy and dreamy time of the myth, but also allow us to delve into the expression affective of the characters
 especially of of Casey Affleck´s, actor that modulates its voice to adapt to these intentions. His Bob is set in the wake of fugitive anti-heroes, a design that brings him closer to those fugitives of the noir of the 40s and 50s, determined by a strong will, that make the movement its constitutive state, although they are always gripped by forces that are Escape from their control.

Instead, Rooney Mara specializes in those female characters that incorporate the enigma in their chromosomes,after their brilliant interventions in Side Effects, (Soderbergh, 2013) and  The Girl with The Dragon Tattoo, (David Fincher, 2011). In this case, her character Ruth starts from the Greek founding myth of Penelope and the waiting gives name to the constellation of feelings that soak the film, seated in the deep south, as a place to explore the roots of American fiction.






If we have previously spoken about the letters, another aspect, this one influenced by the musical, would be the clapping of palms at various moments in the beautiful soundtrack of Daniel Hart . The palms incorporate the human in the melodic band, clear folk inspiration, Given that his film stands at the intersection of the tradition of western and classic black cinema. Thus all the enveloping that can be melodic passages accompanied by the image, always refer to the earthly love of the two lovers.

A journey that is getting darker, that starts at the limit where beauty and violence will eventually find themselves. It is a territory that can only be governed by a twilight light of a gloomy sunset. A tonality that will lead to the black darkness, the color of tragedy.


Ain't Them Bodies Saints it is more a state of mind, an ethereal and sensorial film with carefully elaborated plans, a fiction of sad and disturbing banjos, as if it were the old storyteller story that whispers to us the story of lovers condemned to not to meet again. As if we were in the cavernous vocal cords of a Hank Williams torn by pain.

What attracted you to the script?

Mara: I loved the whole world. I loved where it took place and the time period in which it took place. I really loved the roots – the stuff that you don't see in the film. I felt like the whole script was very poetic. It felt like a folk song. Then, when I met David (Director David Lowery) and I saw "Pioneer," his short film, I had this feeling that he was going to make something special and I wanted to be a part of it.

How would you describe your character?

Mara: I think Ruth, in the parts that come before the film starts, (back story) had to kind of grow up fast and is sort of caught in between the nostalgia of wanting to go back to her old life and also being a mom and being protective. She's caught in between two love stories – the love story with Bob (Casey Affleck) and the love story with her daughter and she has to choose one, which is a very difficult choice to make.

Where did you shoot film and was it a pleasant experience?

Mara: We shot the film in Louisiana in August and it was 105 degrees every day. There's really not a whole lot to do there, but I just kind of loved how easy and simple it was and loved being there and would love to go back to shoot another movie. I don't think most people would say that but there's something about it that I loved.

Were you able to walk around without being recognized?

Mara: I can walk around anywhere. It doesn't happen very often that people recognize me, but it has been happening more often recently, but not really that much. It happens the most in New York. Like I said, hardly ever. Maybe people do recognize me but maybe I'm not very approachable.

This story takes place in a very rural area. Did you find it easy or difficult to immerse yourself in that world?

Mara: It's not really a whole different culture. I'm an American and grew up here. It's very different from having to play someone from a completely different country. That is truly a different culture. Even though the setting is very different from growing up in New York, it felt very familiar to me and it didn't feel like a totally different culture. We've grown up hearing similar accents and watching westerns and very similar stories to this one so it didn't feel that foreign to me.

We meet you and Casey's character as a very loving couple and while certainly not like Bonnie & Clyde, we see almost no traces of their outlaw pasts. Was that directorial?

Mara: It was how it was written. It's sort of a more realistic version of this kind of story. I don't think they consider themselves outlaws. They're just kind of kids who get in over their heads, but I don't think they're trying to be outlaws.

Is it advantage or disadvantage to work with the writer/director?

Mara: I've done it a few times. It's different because they have a different perspective on the script and sometimes it can be really helpful and sometimes it could also be a hindrance because maybe they're too close to it and don't know if something isn't working. It could go either way. Working with David is fantastic because he's not precious about anything and would have dropped anything if you gave him a good enough argument and would come up with something right on the spot. The way he wrote the script, like I said, was so poetic and very musical. I think a lot of the dialogue and monologues have kind of a musical quality and he wanted the film to feel like a folk song and I think that's definitely what the script read like. We made a lot of last minute changes so it obviously was great having the writer right there.



A lot of the scenes were dialogue heavy. Does that satisfy you as an actor?

Mara: It would but I feel like Ruth had the least amount of dialogue of any of the characters. We added stuff while we were shooting but I think Ruth is actually a pretty quiet character. I was always trying get a little more fire in there for her. I didn't want her to just be this sympathetic mother who is protective. I wanted her to be more rounded than that.

You and Casey's character did bad things. Why do you think they're sympathetic characters?

Mara: Casey (Bob) makes the point that he's never really hurt anyone. My character is the one who did something bad in the beginning and I don't think she did it with ill intentions. Like I said, they're just kids. I don't think they had any idea what it means to shoot someone or the power behind a gun. There's no ill will behind what they're doing. They're just get caught up. I think they're just kind of naïve. Bob actually goes to prison and he hadn't killed anyone ever.

What do you like about Casey as an actor?


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Mara: Casey as an actor? You know, I really didn't know him at all before this. He shot all of his stuff first and then I came to Shreveport and we shot our stuff together and then I shot my stuff alone and he went off. So, I think our first day shooting together we shot one of the opening scenes in the car. He has this long, beautiful monologue about our future. I had read the script so many times at that point and loved that monologue and when we did it together, I never imagined the way he was going to do it, which is very rare. Usually you can imagine how an actor is going to do something, especially if you've read it many times. It was so alive and in the moment and that's what it was like working with him. He's a fantastic actor.

When you're not working, what do you do with your time ?

Mara: I like to read a lot. I don't spend that much time not working, but I'm not working now and I haven't really been doing anything. I like to walk around different cities. I like to travel a lot. My charity takes up a lot of time.



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What is the name of your charity?

Mara: It's called Uweza. It's sort of like the Boys & Girls Club of America. It's in Kibera in Kenya and is one of the largest slums in East Africa. We have a lot of enrichment after-school programs. (It also provides housing, food, and medical care for orphans.)

Did your family support your decision to become an actress?

Mara: Yes. Well, my older sister is an actress (Kate Mara) and she started acting before I did so they were use to it. They were very supportive of her and very supportive of me.