This movie must have been a dream because there’s no other way of explaining it.

Sure, there’s an absence of the cliché hum of whimsical plucking harps and no one cued to blur the images onscreen. But how else could you explain a film as haunting and heartbreaking as “The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford?”

It’s this point exactly that director Andrew Dominik understands is essential to truly getting to know the man behind the legend of the outlaw Jesse James. He understands that sometimes man and myth are so closely intertwined that they coalesce.

With this in mind, Dominik opens the movie with a narration on the history of Jesse James like a parent carefully dusting off a forgotten book of American folklore from years long since past. And it’s all just to tell a story.

While that might sound like the most obvious statement in the world, this largely is what “The Assassination of Jesse James” is all about: reviving the art of storytelling.

Through some of the most gorgeous and unforgettable cinematography ever captured on film, Dominik weaves an incredible tale of hope, regret and loss by drawing on the parallels between Jesse James and his assassin. At first this all seems arbitrary, like some sort of viral e-mail containing stupid facts on former presidents that just happen to coincidentally match up.

But by the time the ghostly fog has lifted from the train heist and Ford is a regular member of the James gang, it becomes eerily apparent just how alike the two are.

Casey Affleck is at the top of his game as James’ friend and assassin Robert Ford. Affleck seems to draw on almost every awkward, unnerving and painful emotion in the book and paints a portrait so stark and strange of Ford, it seems real.

He understands the disenfranchised and broken spirit that made a naive boy looking for adventure shockingly turn into a killer.

Brad Pitt is mesmerizing and heartstopping as Jesse James. He’s never been more mysterious or memorable, and like Affleck, truly gets under the skin of his character and the audience.

It’s the strength of these performances coupled with masterful storytelling that creates a totally new chapter to the James legend.

Dominik’s vision for the story, adapted from the Ron Hansen novel of the same name, is so unique and encompassing, not only is it inescapable – it’s impossible to deny.

“The Assassination of Jesse James” isn’t just another movie. It’s not just part of the current pack of films trying to revive the western. It’s a distant yet caring love song for a true American legend.

The film details a man that was as much a part of our culture as the simple hope to lead as remarkable a life as possible; to live the charmed life of the idealized adventure fiend.

Dominik’s direction and screenwriting capture all of this like never before imagined.

By the time the dream comes to an end like the last wisp of smoke after the final candle in the house has been blown out, you will know that too was Jesse James: a man who seemed to regret being defined merely by his actions, but at the same time couldn’t escape who he was. A true American.