List: Top 25 Performances in 2011 Film
11 Jan 2012 3 Comments
in 2011, 2011 List, List Tags: 2011, 2011 film, A Better Life, A Dangerous Method, Acting, Asa Butterfield, Bridesmaids, Carey Mulligan, Carla Besnainou, Carlos Areces, Catherine Breillat, Certified Copy, Charlize Theron, Demian Bichir, Dominic Cooper, Drive, Elisabeth Olsen, Gary Oldman, Hugo, Juliette Binoche, Kirsten Dunst, Kristen Wiig, Kseniya Rappoport, Lee Chang-dong, List, Love Crime, Ludivine Sagnier, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Melancholia, Michael Fassbender, Michael Shannon, Nick Nolte, Olivia Colman, Performances, Poetry, Rampart, Rooney Mara, Ryan Gosling, Shame, Take Shelter, The Devil's Double, The Double Hour, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Last Circus, The Sleeping Beauty, Tilda Swinton, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Tom Hardy, Tyrannosaur, Viggo Mortensen, Warrior, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Woody Harrelson, Young Adult, Yun Jung-hee
I’ll list 10-25 alphabetically and then list the top 10 alphabetically. It seems odd to rank performances to such the extreme degree of “I liked this performance better than this and I liked this better than those two”. What do you think were the most memorable performances of the year?
10-25 (in alphabetical order)
Carla Besnainou – Anastasia – The Sleeping Beauty
Catherine Breillat knows how to get some of the most natural, seemingly effortless performances out of children. Here, Besnainou entirely holds this film with her unyielding curiosity and determination. She is quick on her feet, priding herself on her independence. The film dovetails once she leaves the screen and most of the reason I found myself glued during Breillat’s latest was because of this precocious child. Talented as the child is, the director should get most credit for this kind of performance for finding her (not an actress), capturing her on film and being able to assemble together her performance.
Demian Bichir – Carlos Galindo - A Better Life
An earnest and heartbreaking performance of the first degree, Bichir is emotional and gripping as a man who just wants to do well by his son. He lifts the on-the-nose material with his nuanced and extremely involving work.
Asa Butterfield – Hugo Cabret – Hugo
It was more than a little surprising to see several complaints about Butterfield’s work as the title character in Scorsese’s ode to cinema. Additionally, Butterfield is simply not getting the credit he deserves even from those who found him delightful. This did not feel like acting; it felt like I was watching a child who really had spent months living inside of a Parisian train station. I never felt he was playing a character; he was Hugo Cabret. Unlike Besnainou where you get the sense her charisma was caught by the camera, there are no accidents with Butterfield. This is a fully realized performance where the adolescent knows exactly what he is doing and is fully committed to his character and his motivations and emotions.
Dominic Cooper – Latif Yahia/Uday Hussein – The Devil’s Double
The Devil’s Double has only one ‘see it for this card’ and it is Dominic Cooper. Being called upon to play two roles entirely outside anything I have seen him in, he undergoes a complete transformation as both Latif and Uday (not to mention Latif’s impersonations of Uday). The film itself is too obsessed with its own sleaze to rise above it or be compelling, but Cooper is electric having to act out scenes with himself (with Uday being the most depraved son-of-a-bitch to grace the screen all year). Between the dual roles and the extremity of Uday, it could have gone wrong, but Cooper’s capability and commitment enable him to soar.
Kirsten Dunst – Justine – Melancholia
Dunst, having first-hand experience with depression, makes painstaking connections with Justine that culminate in an uncompromising understanding and loyalty to her. She is unwilling to cater to standard cause-and-effect rules of characterization or to apologize for the frustration and lack of sympathy she can elicit. For those of us who know what bouts of depression are like, this reveals it in all of its extreme truths and ugliness.
Michael Fassbender – Brandon – Shame
Watching Brandon dissolve right in front of us is quite the spectacle. This has been the year of Fassbender and we are all the better for it. He is an explosive force to be reckoned with, completely giving himself over to the camera for observational purposes.
Tom Hardy – Tommy Conlon – Warrior
This is another performance that never felt like acting to me. I could not take my eyes off of Hardy in Warrior; this is entirely due to his ability to fully transcend the hardened character type he is asked to play. It helps that the screenwriters stay refreshingly true to him, and thankfully do not give him any sort of arc that allows his basic emotional trajectory to change. This is who he is, and his more revealing moments of character shading feels real and honest; in no way forced. He achieves a kind of introspective intensity that is something to behold. Decades of estrangement and past dynamics have been so clearly defined in his head, that his dialogue evokes a perspective of factual simplicity reminiscent of a child.
Woody Harrelson – Dave ‘Date Rape’ Brown – Rampart
Dave Brown is a ticking time bomb in vastly changing times. Harrelson plays him as a brute past his prime in the shifting cityscape. An outcast on all counts, his cruelty covers all possible ground whether he means it or not. He’s like a wild animal trying to feign the practice of civilization.
Viggo Mortensen – Sigmund Freud – A Dangerous Method
Unrecognizable with the ever-present cigar and unwavering dignity, Mortensen gets my vote for best in show in Cronenberg’s latest. He is methodical and precise in his words, always needing to balance maintaining the intellectual upper-hand without losing the insight of discourse. He needs discussion more to keep his own ideas going and to reassert his theoretical leanings. But at the same time, Mortensen’s Freud genuinely connects with others through discussion; seeing how he wades through his thoughts towards Jung throughout is something else.
Carey Mulligan – Sissy – Shame
Here is an unhinged and unpredictable performance that ignites the screen. Mulligan elicits unbridled frenzy as Sissy who is much farther along the path to futility than Brandon is, or rather, is farther along the path precisely because she is aware of it. She deserves as much praise as her costar, hurtling off the screen with abandon.
Nick Nolte – Paddy Conlon -Warrior
He is devastating as the haggard father trying to shake his previous actions that all but define him far too late in life. His eyes desperately cling onto his sons for any semblance of forgiveness.
Gary Oldman – George Smiley – Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
Seeing Oldman in a role like this is a rarity. He is a stoic centerpiece to the crumbling status quo around him. The frequently loud and bombastic actor (not a knock) goes to the opposite extreme here, with a quiet and largely observational iconic character. He is unwavering in his procedures, requests and investigation, speaking only when he has to.
Kseniya Rappaport – Sonya - The Double Hour
The only truly palpable reason to see The Double Hour, despite it being engaging enough to merit a look, is for Kseniya Rappoport’s performance. She makes the film almost single-handedly gripping. She is morose, racked with guilt, has hidden agendas and is appropriately vague in her emotions.
Ludivine Sagnier – Isabelle Guerin – Love Crime
There is a lot more complexity to Sagnier’s performance and character than she has been given credit for in the underrated Love Crime. She is headstrong in her work, extremely intelligent but also inexperienced, insecure, desperate and a bit of a weakling. The harsh unpleasantness and humiliation she is put through by Kristen Scott Thomas becomes too much and she hatches a complex plan to get away with the perfect crime. Watching Sagnier play all the facets of her character (the willingly seduced, the tantrums that come with heartbreak, the stool pigeon, the mastermind and the nervous criminal) is a fabulous display of range all within a layered character study that she more than follows through on.
Kristen Wiig – Annie Walker - Bridesmaids
A comedic feat in the extreme, Wiig had me howling with laughter with her perfect timing and teased out awkwardness. At the same time, she creates a layered character who has to overcome her own selfishness and failings, starting with salvaging her cherished friendship with Maya Rudolph’s Lillian. One of the best comedic performances in years; she will be on my Oscar dream ballot without a doubt.
10-1 (in alphabetical order)
Carlos Areces – Javier – The Last Circus
The most fearless, reckless, no-holds barred performance of the year, there is nothing else in 2011 film quite like seeing Areces go from the bespectacled sad sack man to the maniacal gun-wielding clown along with an unhealthy detour into primal beast mid-film. Javier allows himself to be carried away by the unlikely fulfillment of love and the result is an unhinged courageous performance that holds immense confidence and skill. You will not forget Javier the Clown.
Juliette Binoche – She – Certified Copy
Can anybody hold the screen like the great Binoche? She is asked to display a wild but subtle range, always just out of reach but never out of intrigue. She moodily shifts in and out of various emotions, never overplaying and often extremely pleasant. Like the film, rich treasures are likely to be discovered from her work each time it is watched.
Olivia Colman – Hannah – Tyrannosaur
In a word, Colman is devastating. She bears all as a woman who has turned to faith to cover up her miserable existence that hinges on a torturous marriage. Her fragile connection with Peter Mullan’s Joseph becomes a welcome escape. It is the only performance this year that was painful for me to watch. She is an incomprehensible victim and she will stick with you indefinitely.
Ryan Gosling – The Driver – Drive
As much as Refn creates something evocative from a directorial point of view, I would argue that Gosling’s anchoring of the material provides an almost equally satisfying and necessary contribution. The Driver may belong to an archetype, but like many of his previous incarnations, Gosling (with the help of Refn and screenwriter Hossein Amini) makes his version singular. His ability to emote layers through silence is not only impressive but transfixing. Gone is the hard masculinity one expects to find with this type of role. Even when taking into account the brutal acts of violence he commits, in large part he is seen as a child.
Rooney Mara – Lisbeth Salander – The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo
I’ve thrown around the word transformative several time here so far and I’m going to use is again, because if ever there was one performance of that nature this year, it is this one. Mara is a revelation as the iconic Lisbeth Salander. She plays up the more sensitive aspects of the character, making her a fierce push and pull between hard and blink-and-you’ll-miss-it soft. It is impossible to take your eyes off her and it feels like Mara lived this part through and through while filming. She is incendiary and a force to be reckoned with.
Elisabeth Olsen – Martha – Martha Marcy May Marlene
Olsen carries this film into another realm. In her cult scenes she plays a woman eager to be a part of something, so much so that she discards common sense and allows herself to take part in some truly unsettling activities. Olsen shows layers of conviction, susceptibility and hesitancy through an additional heavy layer of necessary ambiguity. Post-cult Olsen displays societal disconnect beautifully with her bluntness, immaturity and more importantly her train wreck of a mental state. We are inside of her head and yet she remains distant from the audience. We feel her paranoia but cannot break through. It is a performance that has been rightly hailed across the board; simply put, she nails it.
Michael Shannon – Curtis LaForche – Take Shelter
Michael Shannon gets to be front and center in Take Shelter as a man who knows what is happening to him but cannot stop it. His paranoia initiates a series of poor decisions that damage everyone around him. Shannon makes us understand why he makes these decisions, and while we cannot stop him from doing so, we sure as hell wish we could.
Tilda Swinton – Eva – We Need to Talk About Kevin
The incomparable Tilda Swinton transfers the fear of apathetic motherhood to the screen through Lynne Ramsay’s abstract spell of a film. She has a difficult job. Her character is icy and disconnected from familial tendencies. She is a free-spirit, a travelogue writer who entertains the possibility of a happy family life even though in her gut she repels against it. Her fears materialize, projected onto the demonic Kevin. She tries so hard to care, to love, and to cherish but that forced effort just builds and builds onto Kevin until he is a monster. Swinton has to play indifference, forced enthusiasm, a woman barely holding herself together with rightfully increasing paranoia. She is so desperate to hold off the inevitable realization of her suspicions. Finally, our starting point sees her as a woman who has nothing left and is a zombie-like shell forced to go on. As you can imagine, Swinton kills it.
Charlize Theron – Mavis Gary – Young Adult
I’m not sure there is enough praise for me to heap onto Theron and her work in Young Adult. She plays a layered nasty piece of work, and it’s a role that is individualistic in film as Diablo Cody has given her unexplored character territory rich for innovation. As sterling as her line deliveries are, I am most enthralled with her as she listens to others and reacts to the situations around her. She is unhinged in her arrogance and delusions. Her best years are long past her and her clinging onto Buddy is a really wretched last-ditch effort to hold onto the popular glory of her teenage years. Her snarly stare when she turns against you would have any sane person running for the hills. It may just be the film performance of 2011 in my eyes.
Yun Jung-hee – Mi-ja – Poetry
Mi-ja is serenely open to life and what it has to offer in her golden years. She daintily goes about her business, wondering aloud why it is she cannot write poetry. She innocently asks others how they come up with the words to describe what they see. Her mind is slowly slipping away from her. She is becoming flighty and vague. Yun is restrained and full of complexity in Lee Chang-dong’s latest.
Complete List of Films Seen in 2011: 13 Assassins, 50/50, A Better Life, A Dangerous Method, Albert Nobbs, American Grindhouse, Another Earth, Attack the Block, Beastly, Beginners, Being Elmo, Bellflower, Bill Cunningham, New York, Biutiful, Black Death, Bobby Fischer Against the World, Bridesmaids, Buck, Cameraman: the Life and Work of Jack Cardiff, Captain America: The First Avenger, Carnage, Cars 2, Caterpillar, Cave of Forgotten Dreams, Cedar Rapids, Certified Copy, Cold Fish, Cold Weather, Conan O’Brien Can’t Stop, Contagion,, Cracks, Crazy, Stupid, Love, Detective Dee and the Mystery of the Phantom Flame, Dream Home, Drive, Edge of Dreaming, Hanna, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2, Hesher, Hobo with a Shotgun, Horrible Bosses, Hugo, I Saw the Devil, If a Tree Falls: A Story of the Earth Liberation Front, In a Better World, In Time, Incendies, Insidious, J. Edgar, Jane Eyre, Kung Fu Panda 2, Last Night, Le Quattro Volte, Love Crime, Margin Call, Martha Marcy May Marlene, Meek’s Cutoff, Melancholia, Midnight in Paris, Mildred Pierce, Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol, Moneyball, My Week with Marilyn, Of Gods and Men, Outrage, Page One: Inside the New York Times, Passion Play, Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Poetry, Project Nim, Rampart, Rango, Red Riding Hood, Red State, Redline, Retreat, Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Rubber, Scream 4, Senna, Shame, Sleeping Beauty, Source Code, Submarine, Sucker Punch, Super, Super 8, Tabloid, Take Shelter, Terri, The Adventures of Tintin, The Arbor, The Artist, The Debt,The Descendants, The Devil’s Double, The Double Hour, The Future, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Green Hornet, The Help, The Housemaid, The Ides of March, The Last Circus, The Lincoln Lawyer, The Mill and the Cross, The Muppets, The Rite, The Roommate, The Skin I Live In, The Sleeping Beauty, The Thing, The Tree of Life, The Trip, The Ward, The Woman, Thor, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, TrollHunter, Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, Tyrannosaur, Uncle Boonmee Who Can Recall His Past Lives, Unknown, War Horse, Warrior, We Need to Talk About Kevin, Weekend, Win Win, Winnie the Pooh, X-Men: First Class, Young Adult, Your Highness, Yves Saint-Laurent: L’Amour Fou
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List: Top 10 Song Usages in 2011 Film
07 Jan 2012 Leave a Comment
in 2011, 2011 List, List Tags: Carey Mulligan, List, Song Usage, 2011, 2011 list, Incendies, Insidious, The Tree of Life, Film, Miranda July, The Future, Martha Marcy May Marlene, The Muppets, John Hawkes, Music, Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol, Drive, Melancholia, movies, Warrior, Shame, Young Adult
The criteria is that as long as the song was not composed and/or written specifically for the film, it was eligible.
Honorable Mention: “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” – Tiny Tim – Insidious
Tiny Tim is inherently creepy, but this isn’t a knock; it’s part of what makes him strangely compelling. He is a total oddity. Insidious teases out just how bizarre his rendition of ‘Tiptoe Through the Tulips’ is by using it as a source of diegetic atmosphere not once but twice. The warbling of the song seamlessly illustrates the strange happenings going on in the house. By the time it is used twice, the film had already jumped the shark for me, but I love the idea of the song existing as a recurring staple of ‘The Further’. Inspired song choices like this are rewarding in so many ways.
Honorable Mention: “The Concept” – Teenage Fanclub – Young Adult (I could not find a picture of from the opening credits, so I used a picture from the scene featuring Nipple Confusion’s cover)
As we listen to ‘The Concept’ at the start of Young Adult, Mavis’ song of choice feels fitting; a trip back to 90’s nostalgia with a tune that clearly meant something to her and former flame Buddy when they were together way back when. Then the tape rewinds and the song starts again. And again. And again. Jason Reitman and writer Diablo Cody use the opening credits to start immediately peeling back the superficial layers of Mavis Gary. When we hear that obsessive repetition of Teenage Fanclub, we realize something is a little off with our protagonist. The song is used so the audience can start to sense those cracks right away; a hint of what is to come.
10. The Rainbow Connection – The Muppets - The Muppets
This year, my list is bookended with pieces of music that can guarantees my tears when I hear them. Going into The Muppets, I hadn’t really thought about the possibility of “The Rainbow Connection” being used. I just assumed it would use the original songs written for the film. When the song started, I immediately realized I was not emotionally prepared for the genius work of Paul Williams and Kenneth Ascher; sure enough, within seconds my eyes were welling up. It is and always will be a perfect composition. The Muppets uses it, at first as a duet between Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy, and eventually as a rousingly sweet self-tribute with all of the gang.
9. “You and Whose Army?” – Radiohead - Incendies
The first scene that Denis Vellineuve wrote for Incendies was the opening,, with Radiohead’s lingering pull of a song in hopeful tow since day one. It feels not unlike a memorable music video in that it fuses music and imagery in a way that burns itself into the brain. It works because as our introduction to the film, it is allows the singularity of the music video feel because there is no other story or context as of yet. Having the next two hours gives additional meaning to the image, as opposed to having something this individually powerful somewhere in the middle where it would only then distract. It is a hell of a way to start out your film, and thankfully Villenuve’s long-standing wish for Incendies’ initial moments were realized.
8. “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head” – Dean Martin – Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol
Mission: Impossible – Ghost Protocol may have been the most unadulterated fun I had at the movies all year. You know you’re in for a treat when the film starts out with an elaborately staged prison breakout with Dean Martin’s classic actually functioning as diegetic music in the scene! Yes my friends, the song acts as a timer so Ethan Hunt and his breakout crew know where they have to be by the time the song ends. Furthermore, by the time the song starts, all hell has already broken loose with Cruise rushing to bring a fellow inmate with him. We marvel while he makes his way through the chaotic brawl that has imploded within the prison walls as he dodges, punches, drags and runs his way through the halls. It is about as exciting as an action film gets and once it is over you think ‘Surely, this film has already peaked’. And then it has the confidence to rise up to the occasion to create set-piece after set-piece that exhilarates, all of them without the additional help of that legendary crooner Dean Martin.
7. “Nightcall” – Kavinsky – Drive
There were other song uses I could have chosen for Drive, but in all honesty I found myself much more attached to Kavinsky’s “Nightcall” than anything else (College’s ‘A Real Hero’ admittedly kind of grates on me) Being the opening title sequence whore that I am, this combination of the song’s sexy sleaze with hot pink lettering creates one of the most memorable opening credits in my recent cinematic memory.
6. “New York, New York” – Carey Mulligan - Shame
What hasn’t been said about this scene? Carey Mulligan wears her damaged heart on her sleeve here as Sissy in a haunting rendition that single-handedly makes the case for Shame’s ambiguity. What could be more intriguingly revealing than the way Steve McQueen and Abi Morgan use Sinatra’s song, the way Mulligan performs it, and the strategic cuts to Michael Fassbender’s tenderly subtle emotional response that he is so desperate to keep at bay? These are the kinds of scenes that radiate imaginative complexity, that get us thinking, interpreting and wondering.
5. “Prelude: Tristan und Isolde” – Richard Wagner – Melancholia
Melancholia opens with a greatest hits montage of what is to come. It shows us moments we will see, moments that are referred to but will not see, and moments that do not happen but are relevant character representations. They are slow moving paintings and are set to Wagner’s Prelude to :Tristan and Isolde”. From my review of the film; “It gives everything an appropriately pastoral quality and a peripheral imprint of something coming that cannot be pushed back. It is not overly present, but it is a quality in the music that is just enough for the pastoral purity to be ruffled.”
4. “About Today” – The National – Warrior
I’ll be talking a bit about Warrior in the week ahead, as it will pop up on my other year-end lists. Suffice it to say, if one film took me by surprise this year it was this. By the time Warrior reaches its showdown, we have seen each brother fight their way to the finals, interfamily drama has been milked for all its worth and the film has built itself up to epic proportions leading up to this moment. The catharsis that comes as a result is an emotional overflow, both for the characters and me as a viewer. I am still shocked that Warrior got me as passionately riled up as it did, and The National’s “About Today” anchors all of this, functioning as the perfect culmination of the hard worked payoff that Warrior unequivocally earns.
3. “Master of None” – Beach House – The Future
The Future is often frustrating but hit on something every once and a while that struck me in a way approaching profundity. Miranda July’s interpretative dance inside of her character’s childhood shirt was a moment that has stuck with me all year. It is clear this was a long-existing piece of performance art by July. It resonated because it entranced me, bringing me to a rare hypnotized place in my own mind. This is on no small part because of the song, my favorite by Beach House, has the power to lull me into a trance-like state, (driving with the song on is not an option for me). In a film about people emotionally stunted people unable to make the transformation from childhood into responsible adulthood, this scene demonstrates this literally. The way July performs the organic choreography makes it feel like we are looking in on an intimately personal moment, yet it still appears and feels appropriately like a performance.
2. “Marcy’s Song” – John Hawkes – Martha Marcy May Marlene
“Marcy’s Song” is used to show a disturbing dichotomy. First, we hear just how John Hawkes’ Patrick sees Martha (“just a picture hanging on my wall”). Second, it shows how Martha does not grasp this, taking his serenade as a devoted love letter, effectively sealing her commitment to him. The song itself, by Jackson C. Frank, is a stunner; exactly the kind of raw folk I tend to fall hard for. Hawkes supports the deceptive calm of the music with his ruggedly comforting but slightly unsettling vocals. It is the highlight of the film; a scene I want and plan to revisit time and time again.
1. “The Moldau” – Bedrich Smetana – The Tree of Life
I have a long history with “The Moldau”. It is my favorite piece of instrumental music. I first heard it back in 5th grade Music Class. I asked my Music Teacher for a copy of it so I could listen to it on my own time. She gave it to me on a cassette tape. For months I would lie up in my bunk bed while I was supposed to be sleeping, and would play the first three minutes on my tape player over and over right next to my ear as it lulled me to sleep.Years and years pass.
Then last year, Don Hertzfeldt used it in his 2006 masterpiece animated short Everything Will Be OK. My reaction was immediate, like greeting a long lost family member. When The Tree of Life trailer was released, and this song was played, it was like a dream come true. I hoped and hoped leading up to the film’s release that it would be played in the actual film. To my delight it was, and this piece of music about the Czech river is divinely used to depict emerging childhood, the innocence of it when wonders and fanciful merriment are all that matters; when everything is a discovery. It is an overwhelming few minutes of film, with so many memories and exuberance bursting from the screen. I honestly feel like this song has somehow become a part of me over the years, or at the very least has become so important to me that it feels that way. The way Malick has used “The Moldau” goes beyond my wildest expectations with the images further bringing the music to life and vice versa.
List: Top 50 Favorite Modern Actresses
04 Jan 2012 2 Comments
in List, Uncategorized Tags: Actresses, Angela Bettis, Bae Doona, Carey Mulligan, Cate Blanchett, Catherine Deneuve, Catherine Keener, charlotte rampling, Christina Hendricks, Christina Ricci, Claire Danes, Ellen Page, Emma Stone, Emma Thompson, Gong Li, Hanna Schygulla, Helen Mirren, Helena Bonham-Carter, Isabelle Huppert, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Jeon Do-yeon, Jessica Hynes, Juliette Binoche, Kate Winslet, Katee Sackhoff, Katherine Moennig, Keira Knightley, Kelly Macdonald, Laura Linney, List, Liv Ullman, Ludivine Sagnier, Maggie Cheung, Maggie Smith, Marion Cotillard, Meryl Streep, Mia Wasikowska, Michelle Forbes, Michelle Pfieffer, Michelle Williams, Modern Actors, Modern Actresses, Moon So-ri, Naomi Watts, Nicole Kidman, Olivia Williams, Sally Hawkins, Saoirse Ronan, Shirley Henderson, Summer Glau, Thora Birch, Tilda Swinton, Vera Farmiga, Winona Ryder
I just went through this rant in my intro to my ‘Top 50 Favorite Modern Actors’. So that post will give a general idea for what went into the list.
50. Christina Hendricks
Seen in 2 TV Shows, 2 films: “Mad Men”, 4 seasons, “Firefly”, 2 episodes, Life as We Know It, Drive
49. Kelly Macdonald
Seen in 9 films, 1 TV Show: Trainspotting, Elizabeth, Gosford Park, Intermission, Finding Neverland. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, No Country for Old Men, Choke, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, “Boardwalk Empire”, 2 seasons
48. Katherine Moennig
Seen in 1 film, 1 TV show: “The L Word”, 5 seasons, The Lincoln Lawyer
47. Helena Bonham Carter
Seen in 20 films: A Room with a View, Hamlet, Howards End, Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, The Wings of the Dove, Merlin, Fight Club, Planet of the Apes, The Heart of Me, Big Fish, The Corpse Bride (voice), Wallace and Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit (voice), Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Sweeney Todd, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Alice in Wonderland, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, The King’s Speech, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
46. Marion Cotillard
Seen in 7 films: Big Fish, La Vie en Rose, Public Enemies, Nine, Inception, Midnight in Paris, Contagion
45. Katee Sackhoff
Seen in 2 TV shows, 1 TV movie: “Battlestar Galactica”, 4 seasons, Battlestar Galactica: Razor, “24″, 1 season
44. Michelle Pfieffer
Seen in: Grease 2, Scarface, Dangerous Liaisons, Batman Returns, The Age of Innocence, Dangerous Minds, One Fine Day, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, What Lies Beneath, Stardust, Hairspray
43. Summer Glau
Seen in 1 movie, 3 TV shows: “Firefly”, 1 season, “Dollhouse”, 4 episodes, Serenity, “Angel”, 1 episode
42. Thora Birch
Seen in 9 films: All I Want for Christmas, Hocus Pocus, Monkey Trouble, Now and Then, Alaska, American Beauty, The Hole, Ghost World, The Pregnancy Pact
41. Catherine Keener
Seen in 11 films: Living in Oblivion, Being John Malkovich, Death to Smoochy, The Interpreter, The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Capote, Hamlet 2, Synecdoche New York, Where the Wild Things Are, Please Give, Cyrus
40. Jessica Hynes
Seen in 2 TV shows, 4 films: “Spaced”, 2 seasons, “Doctor Who”, 3 episodes, Swing Kids, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Shaun of the Dead, Confetti
39. Meryl Streep
Seen in 18 films: The Deer Hunter, Manhattan, Kramer vs. Kramer, Sophie’s Choice, Out of Africa, She-Devil, The River Wild, Death Becomes Her, A.I Artificial Intelligence (voice), Adaptation, The Hours, The Manchurian Candidate, Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events, A Prairie Home Companion, The Devil Wears Prada, Doubt, Julie and Julia, Fantastic Mr. Fox (voice)
38. Michelle Forbes
Seen in 5 TV shows, 3 films: Just Looking, Dandelion, “24″, 1 season, “Battlestar Galactica”, 3 episodes, Battlestar Galactica: Razor, “In Treatment”, 1 season, “True Blood”, 1 season, “The Killing”, 1 season
37. Moon So-ri
Seen in 3 films: Peppermint Candy, Oasis, A Good Lawyer’s Wife
36. Jennifer Jason Leigh
Seen in 10 films: Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Single White Female, Short Cuts, eXistenZ, The Anniversary Party, The Road to Perdition, The Jacket, Margot at the Wedding, Synecdoche New York, Greenberg, “Weeds”, 3 episodes
35. Claire Danes
Seen in 15 films, 2 TV shows: “My So-Called Life”, 1 season, “Homeland”, 1 season, Little Women, How to Make an American Quilt, I Love You, I Love You Not, Romeo + Juliet, Princess Mononoke (voice), Brokedown Palace, Igby Goes Down, The Hours, Shopgirl, The Family Stone, Stardust, Me and Orson Welles, Temple Grandin
34. Gong Li
Seen in 4 films: Raise the Red Lantern, Farewell My Concubine, To Live, 2046
33. Naomi Watts
Seen in 13 films: Flirting, Tank Girl, Mulholland Drive, The Ring, 21 Grams, I Heart Huckabees, Assassination of Richard Nixon, Stay, King Kong, The Painted Veil, Eastern Promises, Mother and Child, J. Edgar
32. Saoirse Ronan
Seen in 4 films: Atonement, The Lovely Bones, City of Ember, Hanna
31. Mia Wasikowska
Seen in 4 films, 1 TV show: “In Treatment”, 1 season, Alice in Wonderland, The Kids Are All Right, Jane Eyre, Albert Nobbs
30. Hanna Schygulla
Seen in 3 films: The Bitter Tears of Petra von Kant, The Marriage of Maria Braun, Edge of Heaven
29. Angela Bettis
Seen in 4 films, 1 TV show: Girl, Interrupted, Bless the Child, May, The Woman, “Dexter”, 2 episodes
28. Maggie Smith
Seen in 17 films, 1 TV show: Murder by Death, A Room with a View, Hook, Sister Act, Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit, The Secret Garden, The First Wives Club, Gosford Park, Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, “Downton Abbey”, 2 seasons
27. Charlotte Rampling
Seen in 10 films: The Night Porter, The Verdict, The Wings of the Dove, Swimming Pool, Deception, The Duchess, Life During Wartime, Never Let Me Go, Melancholia, The Mill and the Cross
26. Keira Knightley
Seen in 16 films: Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, The Hole, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl, Love Actually, King Arthur, The Jacket, Domino, Pride and Prejudice, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Atonement, The Edge of Love, The Duchess, Never Let Me Go, Last Night, A Dangerous Method
25. Emma Stone
Seen in 5 films: Superbad, Zombieland, Easy A, Crazy, Stupid, Love, The Help
24. Ludivine Sagnier
Seen in 9 films: Water Drops on Burning Rocks, 8 Women, Swimming Pool, Peter Pan, Paris je t’aime, A Secret, Mesrine: Public Enemy Number 1, Love Crime, The Devil’s Double
23. Michelle Williams
Seen in 15 films: Species, Halloween: H20, Dick, If These Walls Could Talk 2, Prozac Nation, Brokeback Mountain, I’m Not There, Deception, Synecdoche, New York, Wendy and Lucy, Shutter Island, Mammoth, Blue Valentine, Meek’s Cutoff, My Week with Marilyn
22. Emma Thompson
Seen in 14 films: Howards End, Much Ado About Nothing, Remains of the Day, In the Name of the Father, Junior, Sense and Sensibility, Love Actually, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, Stranger than Fiction, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, I Am Legend, An Education, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2
21. Liv Ullman
Seen in 4 films: Persona, Hour of the Wolf, Cries and Whispers, Autumn Sonata
20. Helen Mirren
Seen in 12 films: The Long Good Friday, The Cook, the Thief, his Wife & Her Lover, The Madness of King George, Gosford Park, Calendar Girls, The Clearing, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, The Queen, Inkheart, State of Play, RED, The Debt
19. Shirley Henderson
Seen in 11 films, 1 TV show: Trainspotting, Topsy-Turvy, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, 24 Hour Party People, Intermission, Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason, Marie Antoinette, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Life During Wartime, Meek’s Cutoff, “Doctor Who”, 1 episode
18. Vera Farmiga
Seen in 8 films: Return to Paradise, The Manchurian Candidate, The Departed, Joshua, Quid Pro Quo, Nothing but the Truth, Orphan, Source Code
17. Laura Linney
Seen in 10 films: Primal Fear, The Truman Show, The House of Mirth, The Mothman Prophecies, Mystic River, Love Actually, Kinsey, The Exorcism of Emily Rose, The Squid and the Whale, The Savages
16. Jeon Do-yeon
Seen in 2 Films: Secret Sunshine, The Housemaid
15. Christina Ricci
Seen in 21 films: Mermaids, The Addams Family, Addams Family Values, Caspar, Now and Then, Gold Diggers: Secret of Bear Mountain, That Darn Cat, The Ice Storm, The Opposite of Sex, Small Soldiers (voice), 200 Cigarettes, Sleepy Hollow, Bless the Child, The Man who Cried, Prozac Nation, Monster, Cursed, Black Snake Moan, Penelope, Speed Racer, AfterLife, “Grey’s Anatomy”, 2 episodes
14. Ellen Page
Seen in 8 films: Hard Candy, X-Men: The Last Stand, Juno, Smart People, Whip It, Peacock, Inception, Super
13. Maggie Cheung
Seen in 5 Films: Centre Stage, Irma Vep, In the Mood for Love, Hero, 2046
12. Olivia Williams
Seen in 7 films, 1 TV show: Rushmore, The Sixth Sense, The Heart of Me, Peter Pan, An Education, The Ghost Writer, Hanna, “Dollhouse”, 2 seasons
11. Winona Ryder
Seen in 17 films: Beetlejuice, 1969, Mermaids, Edward Scissorhands, Night on Earth, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, The Age of Innocence, Reality Bites, Little Women, How to Make an American Quilt, The Crucible, Girl, Interrupted, Mr. Deeds, The Ten, The Private Lives of Pippa Lee, Star Trek, Black Swan
10. Carey Mulligan
Seen in 9 films, 1 TV show: Pride and Prejudice, Northanger Abbey, Public Enemies, An Education, Brothers, Never Let Me Go, Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps, Drive, Shame, “Doctor Who”, one episode
9. Nicole Kidman
Seen in 22 films: Dead Calm, Days of Thunder, Flirting, Far and Away, My Life, To Die For, Batman Forever, Practical Magic, Eyes Wide Shut, Moulin Rouge!, The Others, The Hours, Dogville, Cold Mountain, The Stepford Wives, Bewitched, Birth, The Interpreter, The Golden Compass, Margot at the Wedding, Nine, Rabbit Hole
8. Bae Doona
Seen in 4 films: Barking Dogs Never Bite, Take Care of My Cat, Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance, The Host
7. Kate Winslet
Seen in 14 films, 1 TV show: Heavenly Creatures, Sense and Sensibility, Hamlet, Titanic, Quills, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Finding Neverland, Little Children, The Holiday, The Reader, Revolutionary Road, Mildred Pierce, Contagion, Carnage, “Extras”, 1 episode
6. Sally Hawkins
Seen in 10 films: Tipping the Velvet, Vera Drake, Layer Cake, Fingersmith, Cassandra’s Dream, Happy-Go-Lucky, An Education, Never Let Me Go, Submarine, Jane Eyre
5. Juliette Binoche
Seen in 9 films: Damage, Three Colors: Blue, The English Patient, Chocolat, Cache, Paris je t’aime, Flight of the Red Balloon, Summer Hours, Certified Copy
4. Cate Blanchett
Seen in 22 films: Elizabeth, The Talented Mr. Ripley, An Ideal Husband, The Gift, The Man who Cried, Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, Bandits, Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, Lord of the Rings: Return of the King, Coffee and Cigarettes, Veronica Guerin, The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou, The Aviator, Babel, The Good German, Notes on a Scandal, Hot Fuzz, I’m Not There, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, Hanna
3. Tilda Swinton
Seen in 12 films: Vanilla Sky, Adaptation, Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe, Thumbsucker, Stephanie Daley, Michael Clayton, Julia, Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, Burn After Reading, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, I Am Love, We Need to Talk About Kevin
2. Catherine Deneuve
Seen in 12 films: The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, Repulsion, The Young Girls of Rochefort, Belle de Jour, Donkey Skin, The Last Metro, The Hunger, Dancer in the Dark, 8 Women, Persepolis (voice), A Christmas Tale, The Girl on the Train
1. Isabelle Huppert
Seen in 10 films: Violette Noziere, Story of Women, La Ceremonie, Sentimental Destinies, Merci Pour le Chocolat, The Piano Teacher, 8 Women, Time of the Wolf, I Heart Huckabees, White Material
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Review: Shame (2011, McQueen)
11 Dec 2011 2 Comments
in 2011, Film Review Tags: 2011, Carey Mulligan, Film, film review, Hunger, Michael Fassbender, movies, NC-17, Review, Sex Addiction, Shame, Steve McQueen
This review contains an open discussion of the film; spoilers follow.
Summary taken from IMDB: In New York City, Brandon’s carefully cultivated private life — which allows him to indulge his sexual addiction — is disrupted when his sister Cissy arrives unannounced for an indefinite stay.
There is a shot in director Steve McQueen’s second feature film that rivals any other from this year. A long montage depicting a ménage à trois weaves through many a suffocating flesh-filled close-up, eventually landing on our protagonist’s face. Michael Fassbender looks transformed here; his face is hauntingly gaunt and primal. There is no pleasure to be found in his expression; all we see is someone making a desperate life-or-death climb to the finish line. The shot took me to another place entirely; it showed me who this man is and the result gutted me.
There are undeniably only so many layers to Shame, which depicts the life of an affluent sex addict living in New York City. But with a subject matter that has rarely been explored with any degree of seriousness, not much in this case is more than enough. Those basic points are made with the degree of lucidity that McQueen provides. Along with the two performances by Fassbender and Mulligan, it is hard to argue against its somewhat rudimentary vision.
Brandon’s fixes and the likely meaningless chunks of time in-between are experienced with an equal perfunctory indifference. His sexual encounters feel more like a rush to get his satisfaction as opposed to something he entirely revels in. Brandon’s sexual exploits come at him in a multitude of ways, and he has established a routine methodical means that include but are not limited to hookers, web cam models, print and online pornography, a “filthy hard drive” at work and casual hookups. The Internet age allows him a bevy of backup options.
There are a lot of scenes that establish expected territory. Brandon does not comprehend the idea of marriage. Climaxing with the one woman he may have feelings for becomes impossible once intimacy rears its ugly head. His boss, whom Brandon tolerates, spends all night trying to hook up with a woman, only for Brandon to be the one that scores. He does not have one sustainable human connection, and that seems to suit him as long as he has the temporary and empty connections that provide his fix.
Shame really starts to resonate when Brandon’s life begins to unravel due to the presence of his clinging dependent waif of a little sister. Sissy (Carey Mulligan in an unhinged and unpredictable performance that ignites the screen) is an unwelcome presence in his life, but after ignoring her calls only to find her showering in his apartment one night, it is clear she plans on staying a while.
A lot can be said about Brandon and Sissy based on the way they share physical space and interact with one another. Brandon’s desired dismissal of her goes beyond the energy it takes to care for her; the past, whatever that may be, looms over the two in every scene. Sissy wants to make due on the connection they have as siblings who have weathered through a lot together, but Brandon wants none of it. The two are damaged and evidently defined by their likely tumultuous past. Sissy seeks consolation, but Brandon seeks the opposite from her. Having Sissy in his life is unquestionably too hard for him.
Some are taking issue with the film’s lack of backstory, but the film supplies so much rich substance in the scenes between the two, that it never becomes a question to feel cheated by its lack of explanation. In fact, the pivotal line as said by Sissy, “We’re not bad people; we just come from a bad place” provides all the confirmation and backstory people are finding absent. It is an explicit statement of past trauma that discards any purported hesitation we have towards throwing the word abuse around when discussing the source of their behavior. Whatever else that piece of dialogue is, it is far from ambiguous. It provides an orthodox cause-and-effect answer, and I am still trying to decide if I feel the line should have been in the film. Because it is not just the line; its placement and Sissy’s emotional state in that moment of audio provide the climax (no pun intended) of the film. It says a lot that the line is heard on top of Brandon’s unsettling self-destructive excursion; perhaps too much.
Sissy’s arrival does two things; first, it takes Brandon’s mind back to a place in time he does not want to be. Secondly, it takes away his privacy and thus, his ability to get off in the comfort of his own home. The combination of the two is the catalyst for Brandon coming apart at the seams in the film’s latter half. Shame’s purpose as a character study lies in Brandon’s eventual realization of how badly he needs sex once it is gradually deprived of him.
Brandon’s journey is bookended by two segments that set his exploits to moody tormented cello complete with the tick-tock passage of time. The first sequence opens the film and introduces Brandon as a walking calamity. His routine of traveling from high to high has been long established by the time we meet him. All that self-loathing is there but its familiarity allows it to barely register as the score hovers around unbeknownst to him.
By the time the second sequence of orchestral gloom comes along, Brandon has a heightened awareness of how desperate he has become. He cannot masturbate or interact with his laptop at home because of Sissy’s presence. Her being in his apartment is problematic for any number of reasons. He is indirectly called out on his hard drive stash by his boss. He is impotent with Marianne (Nicole Beharie), a woman he is legitimately drawn towards, throwing his sense of self into disarray. The routine that masked his crippling addiction has fallen out from under him; those strings are ringing louder and louder in his ear. Thus begins his bender where the hunt for release becomes fraught with increasingly disconcerting encounters. The notes follow him as he almost gleefully walks into a confrontation with the boyfriend of a woman he tries to pick up using graphically descriptive means, not to mention his hands. His lack of options leads him into an underground gay nightclub; his search for an outlet wrenchingly complete.
Watching Michael Fassbender dissolve right in front of us is quite the spectacle. This has been the year of Fassbender and we are all the better for it. He and Steve McQueen have established a working collaborative relationship, producing results that heighten the material through their partnership. Brandon is gritting through life, only out for his own base needs. The people he interacts with are meaningless, especially including the ones he sleeps with. Fassbender is an explosive force to be reckoned with as he completely gives himself over to the camera for observational purposes.
Mulligan is no less impressive introducing unbridled frenzy as Sissy who is much farther along the path to futility than Brandon is, or rather, is farther along the path precisely because she is aware of it. She deserves as much praise as her costar, hurtling off the screen with abandon. She takes a character that is mainly a plot device (the only similarity to her turn in Drive), but makes so much more of this role than the former because her character in Shame moves beyond her functional purpose. Props must go to Nicole Beharie as well for her lovely supporting turn; I cared about her immediately and was frustrated by my inability to tell her to abandon ship.
Steve McQueen has the confidence of a veteran; his vision is clear and he presents it with poise. Between this and Hunger, it is obvious that long takes are his strong suit. One more film from him and they will be a fully-fledged trademark. He risks distracting the audience but he does not; his lengthy observations make us more attentive, more aware of the physical space and of body language. They allow us to get a fuller sense of the performances and they enhance the notion of the audience observing Brandon through the glass-plate walls; he is a test subject. McQueen distances us with the sterile environment and cagey glass. He puts us up close when it counts, and when it becomes important to unsettle the audience. His methods set the methodical pace of a representative case study.
McQueen and cowriter Abi Morgan use Brandon as a representative for sex addiction, which may be disappointing to some and it is understandable. The decision forces Brandon into a broadly stroked corner. But McQueen knows what he wants to do and he does it with aplomb using Fassbender as his riveting translator. The director balances Brandon as cornerstone example with a sibling dynamic ripe for rich exploration. Brandon’s surprisingly conventional, but no less powerful, arc towards disintegration is tinted with more hope than one would expect. Shame is arresting cinema that loyally follows its self-loathing protagonist wherever he may go.
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Review: An Education (2009, Scherfig)
29 Oct 2010 Leave a Comment
in Film Review Tags: 2009, An Education, blog, blog review, Carey Mulligan, Cinema Enthusiast, cinenthusiast, film review, Lone Scherfig, older review, Oscars
An Education (2009, Scherfig)
8.3/10
We have all seen this story before. A young inexperienced girl meets an attractive older man who seems to have everything. He is not what he seems and her world comes crashing down but through all of it she has learned a lesson and it has all been a growing experience. The goal for these types of films, because they are so familiar, is to find a new level of authenticity within the story and characters and to essentially bring something new to the table. With the combination of Lone Sherfig’s direction Nick Hornby’s screenplay and the ensemble cast, An Education does that.
Jenny (Carey Mulligan) has an idea about what she wants in life. She wants to lead an interesting life filled with interesting people and not be stuck in the place she grew up which she sees as being populated by dull people. Her parents want very badly for her to go to Oxford which she is studying constantly for. One day she meets David, an older man who has the culture and sophistication she has been looking for, especially compared to Graham the local boy her age who likes her (adorable!). She soon finds herself involved with him and his friends Helen and Denny. She begins to question everything about her life leading up to this point. She questions her studying and where that will eventually take her. She questions what she really wants in life and whether or not an education will provide her the life experience she is looking to have. As far as she can tell, it will not and she uses her English teacher Miss Stubbs as a prime example of what her life could potentially be if she continues her education and all she sees is dull and boring. Soon though, we can see the cracks in David and his friends’ lives and even though Jenny is much slower on the uptake, or rather on making the right choice, she eventually learns a lesson and is left to reassess her life and what she ultimately wants from it.
There is so much going on in this film and a lot of elements that are worth touching upon. It is important to mention Danish director Lone Scherfig’s accomplishments. She does an admirable job of transferring Jenny’s views on both her school life and her life and times with Davis to the audience. The school scenes are all very monotone in color, using lots of blues and steady shots. All of the scenes with David and his friends pop with color and even have a slightly unsteady camera as Jenny tracks through unfamiliar waters. The Paris montage is a prime example of this. The scenes with only Jenny and David that have anything to do with sex take on a very different vibe. They are darker in visually in tone. Scherfig also take a slightly unconventional way of shooting certain scenes that really enhances the content of the scene as opposed to having technique overshadow everything. The scene that springs to mind is the one where Jenny first meets David and gets into his car. The scene is shot with two different POV shots going back and forth. We either see David looking at the camera because of Jenny’s point of view or we see Jenny looking at the camera because of David’s point of view. The effect makes itself known but never distracts and is very effective.
What is there to be said about Carey Mulligan’s performance that has not already been said? She has had a bit of buzz surrounding her in the UK since her appearance on the critically acclaimed Doctor Who episode “Blink” aired 2 years ago in which she has a starring role and made a remarkable impression on fans of the show with some declaring Sally Sparrow (her character) as their favorite Companion of the Doctor’s despite her appearing in only one episode. Her role in The Seagull on stage with Peter Sarsgaard last year earned her a lot of buzz as well. All she needed was a role like this in a film to allow for an official public entrance into the world of film. Very rarely is there this much buzz anticipating the potential in a young woman’s career. I know I have not been this excited for quite some time. Ellen Page is the last person I could think of. But before that…I have no idea. Next year she will appear in an adaptation of my second favorite novel Never Let Me Go with Keira Knightley, Andrew Garfield (of Boy A), Sally Hawkins and Charlotte Rampling. (Words cannot explain how nervous and excited I am by the film and especially with this ridiculous cast)
Back to Mulligan though, she radiates every second here. There are so many moments when her face reads so clearly and so authentically to anyone watching her. We fully believe every moment Jenny is living through. The scene when she lowers her nightie for David was incredible. There were so many emotions reading on her face in that one moment. Jenny makes a lot of bad decisions but can we blame her? She shows off a bit too much but can we blame her for that either? While Jenny is not perfect, Mulligan and the script make it impossible to be upset or frustrated with her because both the performance by Mulligan and the script make Jenny’s actions so relatable and understandable. Would any of us do anything differently? Mulligan even steals scenes from Emma Thompson. Emma Thompson! Carey Mulligan has an ageless quality about her. She could belong in any time. She appears to be wise beyond her years and extremely mature but she captures the naiveté, youth and inexperience of Jenny so well. She also excels in showing us Jenny’s progress as a character and her growing maturity by the end.
All of the other actors excel here as well. While the character of Jenny’s father Jack borders on caricature much of the time, Alfred Molina is superb in the role and brings humor to the proceedings. He also really nails the scene when he brings Jenny tea and biscuits at the end; powerful stuff. Olivia Williams, while not having any flashy scenes, manages to create the film’s most interesting character besides Jenny and David, Miss Stubbs. Cara Seymour, a highly underrated actress is great as Jenny’s mother. She wants to relate to her and she can but she never allows herself to outright link herself with her daughter. Emma Thompson has a pretty flat role but its monotony sort of outlines all of the sexism going on within girls’ schools at the time, an issue I wish had been explored slightly more blatantly. Even Matthew Beard as Graham did a great job. He was so adorable! I needed to mention that again. Also, thank you Sally Hawkins for popping up in one scene, a great scene, and leaving me to want more Sally Hawkins. Thanks a lot.
For me the standout besides Mulligan was Peter Sarsgaard in what I believe to be his best performance yet. Ok so the accent was only passable but it did not distract at all. Sarsgaard’s performances have always been too subtle for Academy voters. Molina’s performance will be the one recognized and not undeservedly but I wish Sarsgaard was getting more attention. David is not nearly as simplistic as other roles like this have been portrayed. He is a scumbag, charming, manipulative and all of those lovely traits we have come to know and hate in these characters. There is an ambiguity with David though that is beautifully played by the actor. He really does like Jenny and her parents even but he is unable to harness the genuine feelings he has for people into anything healthy. The speech he makes to Jenny about being clever after she finds out about his job pertains to more than just his job. He is really talking about the way he lives in every respect and the audience does not catch onto this until after it is revealed that he is married. We get the sense that he has never really grown up. The nicknames he places with Jenny and he is creepy, but oddly sincere and very very childlike. He reveals the different layers of David through little moments such as the way he treats Jenny when they go to the old woman’s house, the way he looks at her as she dances with Denny, etc. The scene when David asks Jenny to marry her is why his performance should be getting serious awards consideration. The subtleties are spellbinding. I was taken aback by his facial expressions in these moments. Then there is the moment in the car which I did not see coming. Sarsgaard plays the charming schemer role in An Education but he brings so much more to the role which is one of the reasons that the film brings something new to the table with this story.
There are other reasons that An Education brings something new to the table. One very important reason is the constant assertion that sex does not play a role in Jenny’s newfound lifestyle. It IS the lifestyle and her love for French things, sophistication, interesting conversations, jazz clubs, fun clothes and exciting adventures that is causing her to stray from her studies. It is not some passionate romance. Sex plays such a small part as can be seen in the great short scene after Jenny has sex when she observes “All of that poetry and all of those songs for something that lasts no time at all”. There are also a lot of little moments that make the film quite special. An example is the auction scene and the way David signals to Jenny to bid. The film also allows Jenny to be manipulative as well. She is shown manipulating her parents along with David in order for them to get what they want instead of the predictable route of Jenny watching amazed as David does all of the work.
The film is not perfect. The consequences of Jenny’s actions and of David’s actions are not very felt and last for too short a time. The film also wraps up all of Jenny’s problems with a montage of her studying. I love the scene when she goes to Miss Stubbs to apologize but once she asks for the help, the film does not observe nearly as acutely as it did before. I do wish a few issues had been touched on a bit more like as I mentioned the conditions of women’s schools in the 60’s. Then there is the last scene. My friend who I saw it with said after it was over “It’s like they showed the film to a moronic test audience that needed even more finalization to the already too wrapped up ending and this was the result”. I said “I feel like I just walked out of a mediocre film even though I really loved it.” That last minute is a killjoy. There is the narration that makes no sense. There is the confirmation that she indeed went to Oxford even though the scene before shows us that she was accepted!! There is the overly clichéd statements about life and learning that the film already blatantly depicts throughout. What a horrible note to end on. Horrible, just horrible.
Despite these problems, An Education on the whole is a marvelous and deftly observed story about a girl growing up in the 60’s and grappling with her options. Featuring a star making performance by Mulligan, a great ensemble cast, a nicely layered script by author Nick Hornby and subtle and creative direction by Lone Scherfig, An Education is one of my favorite films of the year.
Review: Never Let Me Go (2010, Romanek)
28 Oct 2010 Leave a Comment
in Film Review Tags: 2010, blog, blog review, Carey Mulligan, Cinema Enthusiast, cinenthusiast, film review, Kazuo Ishiguro, Mark Romanek, Never Let Me Go
Never Let Me Go (Romanek, 2010)
8.6/10
There comes a time in all our lives when we have to face our mortality. We have to first comprehend it, and then deal with it our own way. There is no escaping it. The characters in author Kazuo Ishiguro’s heightened world are compliant. Their purpose in life might not allow the freedom that we are allotted but their eventual fate is our fate and they simply accept it as we do. If these characters attempted to do escape their fate, it destroys the purpose of the story. They no longer mirror us.
The film is based on Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel Never Let Me Go, a book I would rank in my top 5 of all time. While I will not be discussing the film as an adaptation, I will say that the film captures the reflective spirit of the novel and stays quite close to the source material.
Using title cards and Cathy’s (Carey Mulligan) sparse voiceover narration, Alex Garland’s script divides the story into three succinct and even parts. The first shows Cathy (Isabel Miekle-Small as young Cathy , Tommy (Andrew Garfield and Charlie Rowe as young Tommy) and Ruth (Keira Knightley and Ella Purnell as young Ruth) as children and their life at Halisham, the school that they live in. It establishes their upbringing which is equally off-putting in how closely it resembles our world and in the ways it differs. Miss Lucy (Sally Hawkins) bluntly shows compassion one day by telling a classroom of students of their fates. Afterwards, she stands by the window in silence as do the children. The wind blows a few papers off Miss Lucy’s desk. Tommy picks them up, places them on her desk and goes back to his seat. The next day, Miss Lucy has been dismissed and is not seen again.
The first section also establishes the dynamic between Cathy, Tommy and Ruth. Cathy and Ruth are good friends while Tommy is a loner who is made fun of for his outbursts of rage. Cathy befriends Tommy and they establish a special friendship. The assembly where Miss Emily (Charlotte Rampling) gives a speech about Miss Lucy’s dismissal is when Cathy sees Ruth and Tommy holding hands, a development which just happens to occur a day after learning of their fates. This correlation is indicative of the way they will later indirectly deal with “completion”, through reflecting and facing the problems within their dynamic. Most films that feature main characters being portrayed by children in early scenes, take you out of the film to a degree. We are well aware these children are not their adult counterparts. Never Let Me Go does a remarkable job, rarely to be matched, in their casting of young Cathy, Ruth and Tommy. In particular, Isabel Miekle-Small is just as engaging to watch as Mulligan in the subsequent segments; no small feat.
The second section takes place at The Cottages where Cathy, Tommy and Ruth go to when they are eighteen. This is the weaker section of the three. There is a lot of worthy material here but Garland’s script fails to fully utilize the time to establish Tommy and Ruth as individuals or to explore the characters quite as much as it should have. Also, a couple of scenes are tonally off. One of them is a scene when Ruth visits Cathy’s bedroom at night, which ends up feeling oddly and wrongly like a horror film. The segment‘s strengths are several standout scenes as opposed to its overall portrait of life at The Cottages.
The third segment takes place years later with Cathy as a “carer” and Tommy and Ruth after their 2nd donations. They have not seen each other for ten years. This is the best segment of the three, fully utilizing themes of lost time, regret and desperation. Romanek’s strongest imagery comes from this section. The scene showing Ruth’s third donation is haunting and unforgettable. All of the repressed emotional build-up reaches a boiling point (albeit, still a repressed boiling point). The completion equals the non-dystopian definition of death metaphor comes to a head here as well. The fate that had been lingering has arrived and seeing Cathy, Tommy and Ruth deal with it reveals our own sense of hopelessness and inescapability.
Mulligan, Garfield and Knightley all excel, each performing remarkably. All three major performers superbly display repressed desperation. Mulligan is even better here than she was in An Education. This truly is some of the best acting you will see at the movies this year. The success of the film hinges on whether Mulligan, Garfield and Knightley can reveal the subtext contained within the script. Cathy, Ruth and Tommy indirectly deal with their destiny by concentrating on their feelings for one another. Ruth and Tommy are together but Cathy’s feelings for Tommy go back to when they were children. Tommy also seems to be harboring feelings for Cathy but is too stabilized with Ruth to act on it. They know they do not have a lot of time before they head towards completion. Why don’t they act on their feelings? Well, the same goes for us; why don’t we?
Mark Romanek’s direction does not pack the visionary punch that One Hour Photo did. There, Romanek demonstrated a uniquely affecting balancing act between being overt and subtle. Here, his success shows itself in the great care he has for the material and the characters that inhabit it. The costumes and sets are dreary and largely blue in tone. His strength is the way he captures and uses the facial expressions of the actors. Considering the importance on what isn’t being said, is the key element of the film. He perfectly captures the tone of Ishiguro’s novel. Each scene in the first two parts appropriately feels reflective. Along with Romanek’s attention to the actors’ faces, his other strength here is the persistent sense of fate looming over each scene, creating a distinctive atmospheric tone.
Now to get personal at the end of this review; I have a soft spot for films that deal with mortality, especially those with a unique story such as this. I have endlessly been through this realization and understanding of our eventual end. It is in the back of my head every day. Many times it is in the front. Every once in a while I will have an anxiety attack and start to hyperventilate because my perception and understanding of expiration hits me in the face. I fully relate to Cathy because our predicaments are the same. All of our predicaments are the same as Cathy’s, despite the circumstances. Never Let Me Go is all about self-reflection and looking at the past with wiser eyes. It is about how we live our lives with the time we are given. It is about our own end and how we live with that information. Death looms in every frame. It lingers in the actors faces, it pervades over every shot and it is the elephant in the room for every conversation in Garland’s script. This may add up to an overwrought film for some. The distant coldness combined with the emotional restraint has turned others off. Admittedly, the film keeps the audience at arm’s length at times. I can see why some might not connect to the film. It all worked for me though as it did for many others. This is subject matter I deeply connected with and the exploration that everyone involved contributes leads to a beautiful piece of filmmaking.
