Ain't Them Bodies Saints

R

Released Aug 16, 2013

1 hr. 35 min.

Drama

List

77%

131 Reviews

Tomatometer

61%

10,000+ Ratings

Audience Score

A man (Casey Affleck) takes the fall for his lover's (Rooney Mara) crime, then four years later breaks out of prison to find her and their young daughter, who was born during his incarceration.

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Critics Consensus

While conventional in plot, Ain't Them Bodies Saints is a visually poetic film that pays homage to the New Hollywood directors of the 1970s and promises big things from director David Lowery.

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Joe W

So bad I created an account to review. Aggressively boring! Cinematography and pacing can go a long way to carry a contemplative movie but this clunker fails on both fronts. Agony to watch!

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

02/14/24

Full Review

KARL O

I guess someone's a big Terence Malik fan. Sometimes imitation is not the greatest form of flattery. This is a movie that even managed to make the action sequences dull. A whole lot of acting for one small movie. I missed this on release. I'm sorry I didn't leave it missed.

Rated 2 out of 5 stars

06/26/22

Full Review

Audience Member

Convincing performances, down-to-earth drama with that ‘modern times western' feel to it. Slow at times, tense at others and with a predictable, but satisfying, ending. Not without viewing and entertainment value, despite a slew of dumb decisions from the main character.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

02/07/23

Full Review

Audience Member

Good movie. It fulfills much of what Lowery is often after in his movies. Yes, the cinematography is a real strength here. The score is solid as well. Rooney Mara does a wonderful Sissy Spacek take. Foster is again strong as the guy who wants to take the troubled woman and give her what she deserves in life. And Affleck is again good as the little screw-up guy who never has the good sense to do what he really should. But for all the positive qualities, the movie never really rises to the occasion; it doesn't reach a level of transfixing the viewer or pull at you in a way that's hard to shake. What energy of great cinema it does generate just flows around you. It never flows through you to make you feel the magic of film. 3.1 stars

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/20/23

Full Review

ari v

Felt more like a warm up to A Ghost Story to me than anything else.

Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars

03/31/23

Full Review

Audience Member

In the opening sequence of Ain't Them Bodies Saint's, Casey Affleck's Bob takes the fall for the crime of lover Ruth (Rooney Mara) and is incarcerated as a result, therefore missing the birth of his daughter. Four years later, he breaks out of prison in a bid to find Ruth and finally meet his daughter. Affleck and Mara are a very reliable couple of leads, and they're ably supported by Ben Foster, a man who should really have more leading roles under his belt; he is a superb actor. Set in the 1970's, this has a real western feel to it, although there are less sweeping landscape shots and more intimate interior shots than you might expect from that statement. It's a solid, if unspectacular drama, you may be able to figure out where the story is going fairly early on but that doesn't do the film a disservice, David Lowery has created a film in which the intricate setting adds a character to the film, something which always appeals to me.

Rated 3 out of 5 stars

01/29/23

Full Review

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David Lowery

Director

Rooney Mara

Ruth Guthrie

Casey Affleck

Bob Muldoon

Ben Foster

Patrick Wheeler

Keith Carradine

Skerritt

Kennadie Smith

Sylvie Guthrie

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Wendy Ide

Times (UK)

Rooney and Affleck never overplay their parts in fine performances that make you long for a smile from one of them.

May 30, 2023

Full Review

J. Hoberman

ARTINFO.com

[Ain't Them Bodies Saints] is... beautifully shot, highly aestheticized, ponderously lyrical, dramatically inert, lugubriously scored, and weirdly sanctimonious.

Feb 22, 2019

Full Review

Candice Frederick

Reel Talk Online

The problem with the film, written and directed by David Lowery, is that it's tepidly drawn, with molasses-like pacing and an anticlimactic ending that does little to keep the audience invested.

Rated: C-

Sep 6, 2017

Full Review

David Bax

Battleship Pretension

Everything is relentlessly grim and dour without earning the weight to make that mean something.

Feb 25, 2021

Full Review

Pablo Muñoz

Espinof

Somehow, everything in the movie feels forced. [Full Review in Spanish]

Apr 17, 2020

Full Review

David Harris

Spectrum Culture

A homage to American cinema of the brown era, one that has many beautiful parts that don't add up to an interesting whole.

Rated: 2.8/5

Nov 20, 2019

Full Review

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Synopsis

A man (Casey Affleck) takes the fall for his lover's (Rooney Mara) crime, then four years later breaks out of prison to find her and their young daughter, who was born during his incarceration.

Director: David Lowery
Executive Producer: Robert Ogden Barnum, Mark Burg, Jesse Kennedy, Logan Levy, Fredrik Malmberg, Michael Menchel, Daniel Wagner, Harvey Weinstein, Bob Weinstein
Screenwriter: David Lowery
Distributor: IFC Films
Production Co: Parts & Labor, Sailor Bear
Rating: R (Some Violence)
Genre: Drama
Original Language: English
Release Date (Theaters): Aug 16, 2013, Limited
Release Date (Streaming): Dec 5, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA): $387.6K

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