Andrew Dominik
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The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum of Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade (1967)
Directed by Peter Brook
influenced The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
The title recalls Peter Weiss’ play The Persecution and Assassination of Jean-Paul Marat as Performed by the Inmates of the Asylum at Charenton Under the Direction of the Marquis de Sade (usually referred to as Marat/Sade for obvious reasons).
Based on Joyce Carol Oats 2000 novel that clocked over 750 pages, Dominik scurries through Monroe’s life in rapid-succession, surprisingly finding enough time to hit the major touchstones: there’s her abusive marriage to Joe DiMaggio (Bobby Cannavale) and then a much healthier though still doomed courtship to Arthur Miller (Adrien Brody); 2022 recreations of scenes from “Some Like It Hot” and “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” are thrown in; plus the aforementioned appearance of JFK which is a scene that won’t easily be shaken and practically serves as a metaphor for how poorly Monroe was treated.
First are the stylistic choices by Dominik, such as cutting in and out of black and white, impressive recreation of screens from Monroe classics such as “Some Like it Hot” and “Niagara,” and the hard Marilyn POV that pays off – kind of – when she’s with JFK and pumped up on sedatives by a doctor ever slinking around the edges of the set.
Critics will claim (justifiably) that Blonde portrays Monroe as having no agency in this victimised life story, or that the movie fails to give her credit for the comedic panache she demonstrated in hits such as Some Like It Hot (tonally, Blonde is closer to the overheated psychosis of 1952’s Don’t Bother to Knock ).
In chronological succession, Dominik explores several noted film productions ( Don’t Bother to Knock , Niagara , The Seven Year Itch and Some Like It Hot are all attenuated through interesting moments) and significant license is taken when examining her more famous romantic, troubled relationships.
In its impressively lavish and often spot-on visual recreations of the makings of Monroe classics such as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Some Like it Hot , we are party to her well-documented increasing turmoil.
Wilder also wrote a horrible monologue for Monroe in Some like it Hot , showing her off as the typical scatter-brained blonde and to underline the point Ana de Armas (as Marilyn) runs around semi-naked for no apparent reason other than titillation.
It’s a smile that reminded me of Sheryl Lee in David Lynch’s Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me , where Laura Palmer’s homecoming queen visage is fleetingly replaced with that of a screaming demon.
However, when the film erupts into surrealistic Lynchian territory, particularly “Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me,” “Mulholland Drive,” and “Inland Empire,” it tells a fictitious tale of one of Hollywood’s biggest icons.
If I had to make a cinematic comparison to Blonde , think: Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me , but not a fraction as good.
First are the stylistic choices by Dominik, such as cutting in and out of black and white, impressive recreation of screens from Monroe classics such as “Some Like it Hot” and “Niagara,” and the hard Marilyn POV that pays off – kind of – when she’s with JFK and pumped up on sedatives by a doctor ever slinking around the edges of the set.
After engaging in a threesome, Norma, Cass, and Edward are seen attending a screening of “Niagara”.
One fabulous transition involves an orgasming Norma, head thrown back, clasping at a bed that becomes waterfalls overlaid by the title cards for “Niagara.”
Tesla (2020)
Directed by Michael Almereyda
influenced by The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
Visuals
As filmed by Sean Price Williams, Alex Ross Perry’s longtime cinematographer, his aesthetic surroundings are often reminiscent of Andrew Dominik’s The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford , though significantly smaller in scope — I’ve always admired Dominik’s attempt to capture the world through the imperfect and slightly warped craft of an old window, and there are often moments in Tesla where that approach feels echoed, such as a scene in which Hawke struggles with his brother’s memory while penning a letter by firelight.
He similarly lingers in his depiction of the famous subway grate moment from “The Seven Year Itch,” with Marilyn’s ivory halter dress billowing up around her as she giggles and smiles for the crowds and cameras.
Director Andrew Dominik constantly changes the screen’s aspect ratio, from 1.00:1 to 1.37:1 to 1.85:1 and 2.39:1, obviously wanting to duplicate some of Monroe’s more iconic moments; black and white for when she posed over the updraft of the New York subway grating while filming “The Seven Year Itch,” glorious widescreen color for her memorable “Diamond’s Are a Girl’s Best Friend” performance in “Gentleman Prefer Blondes,” and back to black and white again for her comic interactions with Jack Lemmon on the set of “Some Like It Hot.”
GoodFellas (1990)
Directed by Martin Scorsese
influenced The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
Characters
He's like a prairie version of the Joe Pesci character in "Goodfellas" – an innocent remark by a cohort inspires waves of paranoia.
In truth, the story of Jesse and Robert is a mob tale set in the Old West and disguised as a treatise on fame – is Robert Ford really any different than Henry Hill, the “Goodfellas” gangster who chose a life as an informant over death?
Jesse James (1939)
Directed by Henry King
influenced The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
September 8, 2007 - On the heels of the more audience-friendly shoot 'em-up 3:10 to Yuma comes the ponderous but often pretentious epic The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford -- an intriguing visual poem starring Brad Pitt as the Old West icon and Casey Affleck, Pitt's co-star in the Ocean's films, as James' assassin.
Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter (1966)
Directed by William Beaudine
influenced The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
James has also been the subject of dozens of movies dating back to the 1920s, the most curious surely being "Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter," by the awesomely prolific B-movie director William Beaudine.
Billy the Kid Versus Dracula (1966)
Directed by William Beaudine
influenced The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
(He also shot a companion cheapie that same year called "Billy the Kid Versus Dracula."
In its impressively lavish and often spot-on visual recreations of the makings of Monroe classics such as Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and Some Like it Hot , we are party to her well-documented increasing turmoil.
Once Upon a Time in the West (1968)
Directed by Sergio Leone
influenced Killing Them Softly (2012), The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
Themes
The director's previous film, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, was among the most underrated of the last decade : as rich and evocative an elegy of America's outlaw era—and the movies it inspired—as any since Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West .
In the end, though, it is the thematic richness of Dominik's film that makes it not only the best film of the year so far but a strong contender for the greatest Western since Sergio Leone's Once Upon a Time in the West nearly 40 years ago.
Back in 2011 Michelle Williams played Monroe at odds with Laurence Olivier on the set of “The Prince and the Showgirl” (1957) in Simon Curtis’ “My Week with Marilyn.”
The life and troubled times of Marilyn Monroe have been the fodder for multiple films, from Goodbye, Norma Jean , to Norma Jean & Marilyn , to My Week with Marilyn .
But when they started working on “The Misfits,” their relationship got rough.
Though contention with Billy Wilder on the set of Some Like It Hot adds an interesting dimension in suggesting her awareness at how her Golden Globe winning performance as Sugar Cane was limiting and degrading as a brainless object, it’s interesting how the contention of The Misfits and the troubled production of George Cuckor’s incomplete Something’s Got To Give , which she was (sorta) filming when she died are both overlooked for the third act deliberations of her relationship to President John F. Kennedy (Caspar Phillipson).
All About Eve (1950)
Directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz
influenced The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007), Blonde (2022)
Themes
Echoes of everything from “The Talented Mr. Ripley” to “All About Eve” appear throughout the film, both of which are certainly unusual reference points for a Western.
With various historical elements translated authentically (to supplement the ample amounts of artistic license), but with star Ana de Armas substituted into photographs and film footage (the first of which is “All About Eve,” preserving the original George Sanders lines, as he has no corresponding actor here to portray him), “Blonde” represents a very loose, very brief history lesson about the inimitable celebrity – even if, as in the source material, names and places are rarely specified.
Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid (1973)
Directed by Sam Peckinpah
influenced The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
Visuals
Andrew Dominik, who made the raw, gritty, irresistible Chopper just seven years ago, got his hands on DVDs of Terrence Malick’s films, Altman’s McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate, Peckinpah’s Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid, and a few other nouveau westerns and picked his very favorite parts, took Warner Bros’ $50 million, and the passion of Brad Pitt (which I would never mock in any way, though it as led to some terrible choices), and a cadre of very good actors and made one of the most obnoxiously taste-free stews imagineable.
Heaven's Gate (1980)
Directed by Michael Cimino
influenced The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (2007)
Visuals
Andrew Dominik, who made the raw, gritty, irresistible Chopper just seven years ago, got his hands on DVDs of Terrence Malick’s films, Altman’s McCabe & Mrs. Miller, Cimino’s Heaven’s Gate, Peckinpah’s Pat Garrett & Billy The Kid, and a few other nouveau westerns and picked his very favorite parts, took Warner Bros’ $50 million, and the passion of Brad Pitt (which I would never mock in any way, though it as led to some terrible choices), and a cadre of very good actors and made one of the most obnoxiously taste-free stews imagineable.
The pairing of her acting and Dominik’s movie is akin to Ellen Burstyn’s Oscar-nominated role in Darren Aronosky’s Requiem for a Dream.
Worse still are the grotesque intra-uterine visions of doctors that owe a debt to the demonic delirium of Rosemary’s Baby (Roman Polanski’s Repulsion also casts a long shadow) or to the abortive abortion scene from David Cronenberg’s The Fly crossed with the imagined unborn-baby-talk of Alice Lowe’s antenatal slasher Prevenge.