Ponders the myriad pathologies of pop culture.
Obsesses about actressing at the edges.
Loves grilled cheese.
click here for link [nsfw]Labels: photoquote of the day
posted by StinkyLulu at
1:48 PM
3 Comments
Links to this post
Due to a major editing error on my part, the Smackdown has been revised, reorganized and re-tallied to more accurately reflect the contributions of all the Smackdowners who submitted. My apologies for any/all confusion. 12:08pm. 6/28/08
And the Smackdowners for the 56th Annual Academy Awards are...
click image to be routed to video
ENCOREAt first glance you're impressed because she plays subdued well, but you look again and it doesn't really add up. A noble effort, but she playing it ends up being a character and not a person.
MATTThe part's sketchy, and the film doesn't always know what to do with her, but Cher gives her role some appealingly playful rowdiness in her early scenes and shows a relaxed interplay with Streep and Russell. Pretty good work.
STINKYLULUCher’s deglammed portrayal of the grubby Dolly dismantles the performer’s glittering celebrity persona and proclaims the arrival of a serious acting talent. A simple, sensitive and significant performance.
AARONThe only thing we really know about Dolly Pelliker is that she is in love with Karen Silkwood, but Cher manages to still make Dolly enigmatic and intriguing. Whose side is she on? That Cher doesn’t make this clear complicates this picture considerably.
BROOKE CLOUDBUSTERWithout ever being the centre of attention, Cher crafts a character through many minor notes and beats and navigates a late-game and slow burning twist with remarkable nuance.
REGGIECher proved herself as a talented actress in this raw and heartbreaking performance. Dolly is depressed and lonely for love, and Cher fully delievers the goods.
WALTER“I don’t mean I love you, too.” Subtle and wonderful. Holy crap do I love Cher.
JOENot to be a cliché, but she's wonderful. Enigmatic enough that even the camera holds her at a distance, but Cher makes Dolly familiar and her struggles -- while firmly on the margins of the story -- feel real.
DOUGLAS RACSOUnderplayed but striking. It’s as if she was not acting at all because her performance came out so naturally. She does not have those obvious Oscar-grabbing moments, but her whole performance gives the full experience.
s
JOETo her credit, she's absolutely the brightest thing about a movie I (somewhat unexpectedly) viscerally disliked. She makes sure her character has more going on internally than the clichés the script handed out. Still, there's only so far she can go.
DOUGLAS RACSOI think she got nominated because she got the emotional parts, crying during dinner and all that mush. But other than playing her part well I just do not get this nomination. She was good and all but I think that she did not shine, nor stood out, much more, give an Oscar calibre performance.
MATTGlenn Close contributes a needed calm, centered persona, providing a fairly effective contrast to the rest of The Big Chill's rambunctious bunch. She's watchable, but her mature, serene presence is also the least interesting of the movie's marvelous ensemble.
REGGIEGlenn as Sarah is pretty good...she really adds a lot to the movie. Her big scene with Mary Kay Place was excellent, I thought. So, good performance.
BROOKE CLOUDBUSTERClose plays her role in this adeptly, but without any of her now-characteristic edge or intensity. The nature of the role doesn’t help her, sketchily written and within narrow boundaries, but this is like getting Rembrandt to colour-by-numbers.
WALTERThe talk on the porch. So full of wisdom gained, dreams deferred, lingering regret, that overall air of “where did it go”. Beautifully done, and the sobbing in the shower scene serves as just icing on the cake.
ENCOREShe doesn't overplay the role and go for loudness. It's almost as if we can feel what she's thinking. From the first shot I was hooked and haven't looked back since.
STINKYLULUStill waters run very, very deep in Glenn Close’s Sarah. With meticulous generosity, Close crafts a haunting portrait of unarticulated grief. And that Close makes the idiotic “here, make a baby with my husband!” bit feel almost real? Now there’s some exceptional actressing.
AARONThis role could have been boring and suffering, but instead it is nuanced and beautiful. Close allows us to understand Sarah, emerging slowly from her immediate grief into a more powerful sadness and calm. A great performance.
s
STINKYLULUHunt's accomplishment in the role of Billy Kwan – both in terms of craftsmanship and emotional intensity – is utterly unique and, often, simply marvelous. I adore the fact of Linda Hunt, yet Weir’s cynical construction of the role sours me on the performance.
AARONI assume the gender switch is supposed to add to Billy’s mysteriousness. Instead it reads as gimmicky and works to distance us from his journey. Hunt’s physical work is often excellent, but the whole is rather disconnected.
ENCOREThis performance left me feeling a little cold. She's not a bad man, but that doesn't mean it's a great performance. It's not a bad performance, but I was just I didn't care for it.
JOEThe reasons she won are certainly cynical (not just the novelty of the performance but also the nature of the role), but Hunt really does deliver a spirited performance. In a weak field, she probably deserves to place.
WALTERAbsolutely incredible. Though Gibson and Weaver are fine, the film only truly comes alive when Hunt is on screen. That last sequence leading up to the hotel – breathtaking.
DOUGLAS RACSOShe was the heart and conscience of this movie and she stole every scene she was in. She totally deserves the nomination, and the win, is something you would have to wait for if I think she deserves it.
BROOKE CLOUDBUSTERHunt plays all the sides and facets of Billy Kwan with equal amounts of depth and clarity, but her key success is never mistaking a moral compass for beatification. Brilliance distilled.
REGGIENo matter what sex, whoever played this character, man or woman, would have won the Oscar. Billy Kwan is happy, mysterious, and longing for some companionship....not to mention the fact, Hunt totally slips into her character and had me convinced to this day.
MATTA gender-bending feat that never feels false or gimmicky; Hunt convinces us with her magically engrossing voice and authority. Our ambassador to Weir's shadow-puppet world, her Billy Kwan is both puppet and master – one who manipulates events, yet is tragically controlled by his idealism.
s
JOEUmm ... oy? I'm not sure how else to sum up this performance. Even if the stilted awkwardness is intentional (I'm sure it is), it's so one-dimensional that it's hard to give her credit. Might have deserved that Razzie nod, though.
WALTERSmall wonder that this is the only Academy Award nominee to also be nominated for a Razzie. What is this role? Lifeless, dead-eyed, dull – not that there’s much to work with. Disappointing.
DOUGLAS RACSOIrving’s performance was nearly wallpaper for the movie, or an accessory, or a part of the set. Yes, she was there but I hardly felt her presence, and it baffles me that she got an Oscar nomination for this (though she deserved that Razzie nomination).
ENCOREThe highest compliment I could find was that she's good looking. Positively steamrolled by Babs in any which way and she doesn't even look like she's trying!
BROOKE CLOUDBUSTERAmy Irving has an incredible ability to play the different angles of fragility and serenity, but this role relies on further stretching than this and the actress often mistakes silence for subtlety.
REGGIEWhat can I possibly say? Irving does what she's supposed to do with this performance, but her, and the movie, are just simply not good. Irving's best scenes are with Streisand, but it simply isn't good enough.
AARONIn a mostly silent performance, Irving demonstrates her emotional shifts through her physicality. Still, Hadass is never that interesting of a character, and early on when Avigdor asked “what could she be thinking?” I felt sure the answer was “nothing.”
STINKYLULUIn a solid (and unfairly maligned) performance, Irving embodies the idealized, deferential Hadass with ethereal warmth and formidable feeling; the actress aptly conveys the character’s shifting (and largely concealed) conflicts as she is transformed by her encounter with Streisand’s Anshel.
MATTBeautiful, sensuous, and languorous, Amy Irving embodies Singer's storybook maiden to perfection. At turns touchingly innocent and amusingly, lustily sly, she displays pitch-perfect rapport with her fellow actors and inhabits Streisand's burnished-golden universe with delicacy.
s
MATTTries to inject energy into this survival-amid-the-marshlands tale. Unfortunately, nobody voted her scene partner (an abysmal Mary Steenburgen) off the swamp. And without a better-developed script and less narcoleptic direction, Woodard can't redeem this boggy biopic.
JOEThe clichéd nature of the role was kind of exhausting, but Woodard brought to it her characteristic warmth and a youthful exuberance that didn't always read "simple." Kind of sucks this remains her only nomination.
WALTEREven if the screenplay doesn’t, Woodard manages to subtly, simply convey the friendship and affection between Geechee and Marjorie. I wish the movie did more than keeping her in the background, though even there she is interesting to watch.
DOUGLAS RACSOWoodard made the most out of the material given to her and it really paid off. She was the hidden gem of this movie – touching and memorable – to but I kinda wish that she was given more.
BROOKE CLOUDBUSTERThis actress imbues a stereotype with her own characteristic intelligence and uncommon brand of charm. She stops short of running away with the movie outright, but this is certainly a worthwhile performance, and nomination.
AARONWoodard is energetic and lovable in the role, but, though the actress fleshes her out considerably, director Ritt isn’t really interested in Geechee (not even enough for a real name).
REGGIEWoodard's Geechee is possibly her best performance. She knows why the character does what she does, like a real actress should. Geechee is comic relief, but we still feel her pain and struggle. Great performance.
STINKYLULUWoodard invests nuance, texture and humanity in what was scripted to be a one-note role. Yet through the combined force of her charisma, empathy and intelligence, Woodard's performance permits us to feel that single note with uncommon depth and resonance.
ENCOREShe takes a clichéd role and makes it great. She's beautiful to watch and steals the show in what could have become such a stock character.
s
But, in something of a nailbiter,
Labels: 1983, smackdown, supporting actress
posted by StinkyLulu at
10:40 AM
16 Comments
Links to this post
click image to be routed to videoLabels: 1983, supporting actress sunday
posted by StinkyLulu at
11:22 AM
1 Comments
Links to this post
I have but one or two things to say about Kurt Russell's largely shirtless performance in Silkwood. First, I think it's brilliant and hilarious when an actor, in clear collaboration with the costumer, makes a choice about the character's approach to underpants (ie. he wears none). And, second...
Nice work, Kurt. Thanks.
Labels: 1983, random cinematic hotness
posted by StinkyLulu at
8:45 AM
5 Comments
Links to this post
Oscar has something of a weakspot for entertainers "crossing over" as legitimate or serious actors, giving nomination nods to what appear in glow of the moment to be auspicious "second debut" performances. Yet, while Academy history has shown many such nominees to be flashes in the proverbial pan, few have delivered on such hyped promise and fewer still have proven themselves so handily as...
For early 1980s audiences who mostly knew the performer for her glamorous and glittery popmusic/television/media persona, Cher's presence in this film -- as the homely sidekick, no less -- appears as something of a startling incongruity.
It's worth remembering that Cher's performance in Silkwood marks only her second serious film role (her first came a year earlier in Robert Altman's little-seen adaptation of her stage success Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean) as well as her first appearance in a major dramatic picture.
The role of Dolly Pelliker is not an especially complicated one. The role follows, in some ways, the conventional "best friend" template and serves, mostly, to provide a clarifying counterpoint to the character of Karen. Karen's a striver, while Dolly's content just getting along. Karen's friends with everyone, while Dolly's only close to Karen and Karen's boyfriend Drew (the hunkarific Kurt Russell). Karen enjoys being a rebel, while Dolly's only an outsider because she has to be.
Yet the role of Dolly is also surprisingly difficult, requiring the performer to vivify a guarded character who's on the sullen and/or depressive side.And Cher's good in the role. Very good, even, at certain moments. (Though her strongest turns arrive in Dolly's more playfully acerbic moments, as opposed to the accumulation of glum moments which make up most of the character's screen time.)I recall Cher's performance in and nomination for Silkwood being somewhat dismissed by contemporary media commentators as a gimmick in which one of the era'a most glamorous icons was "slumming" or "playing pretend" as a grubby lesbian in a political film. I even recall Meryl Streep coming to the defense of Cher's actorly honor in more than one interview. Yet, viewing this film with the benefit of hindsight, I can see how easily it might have been to mistake Cher's performance as a stunt and to see the evidence of her actorly inexperience as lack of talent/skill.
For, truth be told, Cher's performance as Dolly is a bit muddy.
Indeed, Cher's characterization of Dolly is not especially precise. (I'm never quite sure whether Dolly's somewhat taciturn and brusque by nature, or depressive and surly because her life's hit a bad patch.) And major character moments remain somewhat oblique. (Director Nichols's use of longshot during most of Dolly's major moments might be the source of this, and its a curious choice given the director's propensity for tight shots elsewhere in the film.)
Often, Cher's Dolly is more of a presence than a person in the film, which makes it difficult for me to get really enthusiastic about the performance. This fact is made all the more conspicuous by my complete geekery over the exceptional work by veteran side-player Sudie Bond, in the bizarre but heart-rending role of Thelma (Dolly & Karen's shrill, bewigged co-worker who's "Silkwood shower" scene remains -- for me -- one of the most harrowing scenes in this or any film). Sudie Bond's performance is truly great actressing at the edges and thrills me in ways that disrupt my enthusiasm for Cher's tentative (and less vivid) work closer to the center of this film.
That said, Cher's accomplishment in the role definitely slashes and burns Cher's previous celebrity image to announce her arrival as a legitimate, serious actress, a status that would be confirmed time and again in the coming decade. And while it might sound like I don't think Cher's nomination for this performance is an entirely worthy one, that's not exactly true. One moment, in particular, sells me on Cher's performance as Dolly.
The moment arrives late in the film, shortly after nuclear contamination has been discovered in the home shared by Streep's Karen and Cher's Dolly. The subsequent investigation soon reveals that Karen's the only one who's "cooked" and the anomalous aspects of the case impel Karen, Drew and Dolly to travel to Los Alamos for further assessment. As the scene begins, Cher's Dolly is nearly giddy with contentment, traveling once again with her chosen family and joking about being in the newspaper alongside her friend Karen. When Streep's Karen, however, presses Cher's Dolly about whether Dolly might have clued investigators to the fact that Karen possessed some potentially incriminating documents, Dolly's affect shifts abruptly.
In a flash, Dolly's smile crumbles. Her body contracts, her eyelids become heavy, and her previously childlike exuberance is replaced by a grim, terrified guilt. In this moment, more than perhaps any other in the film, Cher conveys Dolly's guilelessness as well as her desperate fear of losing her friends (who are as family to her). It's a mysterious yet palpable moment of potential deception -- a defining moment for the character -- and Cher conveys Dolly's complexity with palpable immediacy.
In moments such as these, Cher's work in the role of Dolly -- while not always extraordinary in and of itself -- remains fascinating, in part, because of just how clearly it augurs the quickening of Cher's gifts as a formidable actress.
In the wallflower role of Dolly, Cher deploys her formidable charisma and presence in service of the character's defining vulnerability. And while her characterization is nowhere near as precisely expert as those crafted by the journeymen actors working all around her her, Cher's performance in Silkwood nonetheless signals her arrival as a film actor of exceptional, compelling promise.Labels: 1983, sapphic signals, supporting actress
posted by StinkyLulu at
11:36 AM
7 Comments
Links to this post
Check back later today/tonight.
posted by StinkyLulu at
6:49 AM
1 Comments
Links to this post
Among the more startling moments for me in Martin Ritt's Cross Creek arrived with the introduction of the ancillary character of Paul, the hired man who helps Mary Steenburgen's Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings whip her orange grove into shape. Within the film, the character is nearly incidental -- part narrative necessity, part ambient detail. But 'twas the casting of the role that yanked me awake...
For, in the 1983 film, the role of the hard-working farmhand and part-time moonshiner is played by one of the most important actors of my childhood, Ike Eisenmann. Eisenmann is perhaps best remembered for his portrayal of Tony, the boy witch from the first iteration of the Witch Mountain series (a role which had him adopted/abducted by a guignol Bette Davis in the wackadoo sequel). But I first fell in swoon with Ike as the child protagonist of my favorite teevee show circa 1977, The Fantastic Journey. And for a brief period, young Mr. Eisenmann enjoyed, along with Matthew Laborateaux, the status of being my very favorite actor. At least through the end of the 4th grade. 'Tis always strange to see kid actors grown up. And even stranger to reencounter adult versions of those kid performers, especially when those actors were the ones who stirred such intense but not-yet-understood feelings way back then. And when they look so much as they did, yet entirely -- ahem -- different? It's a startling encounter, to say the least.
Labels: 1983, random cinematic hotness
posted by StinkyLulu at
11:56 AM
1 Comments
Links to this post
"Actressing at the edges" emerged almost inadvertently as my descriptive catchphrase for what I'm most fascinated by in the Supporting Actress category. It evokes what I love most about watching certain performers on screen -- their ability to make the most of whatever they're given to do onscreen in ways that suit the character, the situation and the film. I love scenestealers, to be sure, but great actressing at the edges isn't really about yanking focus -- it's about transforming the limits of a role (nominal screentime, scripted cliches, banal stereotypes, etc) into unanticipated possibilities. And I can think of few better examples of someone turning such scripted limits into unforeseen performance possibility than...
Marjorie's arrival -- as an apparently wealthy and well-mannered single woman -- to the (literally) backwater community causes a flutter of interest, most notably that of Woodard's Geechee who arrives inquiring about job. Woodard's Geechee wheedles her way into a position as Rawlings's maid, mostly by pretending not to understand Marjorie's painfully polite demurrals as she gregariously chatters on and on. The combination easily erodes down Marjorie's feints at resistance and also lays the foundation for what becomes a foundational relationship for Marjorie's life in Cross Creek.
Among the handful of Cross Creek denizens that the film depicts as shaping the writer's vision of her world -- the poor white family who are in so many ways up the creek; the proud hired man and his pregnant wife; the moonshiner; the child whose choice to make a pet of an orphaned fawn became the inspiration for Rawlings's Pulitzer-Prize winning novel The Yearling; the hotelier Norton Baskin who would become her husband -- Geechee emerges as perhaps Rawlings's most intimate friend. As I understand it, the figure of Geechee in the cinematic treatment of Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings's story is a composite based upon lives of several maids who worked for the writer throughout her time on Cross Creek. I don't know enough about the Rawlings story to know which elements came from what, but this little bit of trivia amplifies what I admire most about Woodard's work in the role of Geechee.
The role of Geechee is laden with racial cliche. She's poor, unsophisticated, deferential, devoted to her white employer and provides some of the film's few flashes of comic relief. To her credit, and to the credit of the filmmakers, however, Woodard utilizes such cartoonish character traits as the broad outlines for what is a boldly independent characterization.
Woodard's characterization establishes Geechee as utterly distinctive person.
Her work in the role -- the flashes of contradictory emotion that complicate the meaning of her words and actions -- seems to actively resist the cinematic idealization of black servitude. Woodard's Geechee may be this white lady's maid but Woodard's performance reminds us at nearly every turn that Geechee is also a complex individual making complicated choices as a poor, single black woman making a living in the rural south.
Woodard's biggest scene elaborates Geechee's dilemma. Marjorie has fired Geechee's layabout ex-con boyfriend, and presumes that Geechee will be leaving with him. Woodard's Geechee confronts Marjorie on this choice, on whether Marjorie wants Geechee to leave and why Marjorie's not speaking up when she sees Geechee making a bad decision. Woodard handles this scene with acute insight. Geechee's challenge to Marjorie works largely because Woodard has already shown Geechee to be independent, strong-willed and fairly bold.
Woodard textures this scene with complex, idiosyncratic emotions that amplify Geechee's clarity as a character, transformed -- not defined -- by her professional relationship with Marjorie. 
Indeed, Woodard's presence in the film is one of Cross Creek's most clarifying threads. The film is one of those writerly pictures where people amble about making pronouncements about the way things are. And, with the exception of her two or three big head-butting scenes with Steenburgen's Marjorie, Woodard's Geechee is largely an ambient presence in the film -- part of the landscape of the film's tribute to Rawlings appreciation of this particular landscape and its denizens.
That said, Woodard's work in the role of Geejee is a near perfect example of what I mean when I say "actressing at the edges." There is no reason she needs to be this good in this role. The film certainly doesn't need Geechee to be as human, as complicated, as strange as Woodard makes her here. Plenty of the other supporting players do just fine in Cross Creek, floating on the buoys of familiar stock characters and delivering pleasant, effective but unremarkable performances. Yet, in nearly every scene, Woodard gives Geechee far more than the role requires while maintaining the necessary level of plausibility and the balance of the scene.Woodard invests nuance, texture and humanity in what was scripted to be a one-note role. Yet through the combined force of her charisma, empathy and intelligence, Woodard's performance permits us to hear and feel that one-note with uncommon depth and resonance. And that's what actressing at the edges is all about...Labels: 1983, blacktresses, supporting actress, the help
posted by StinkyLulu at
11:28 AM
1 Comments
Links to this post
There are some rare instances of exceptional actressing at the edges that, no matter how hard I try, continue to defy my powers of explication. They are the sorts of performances that remind you that the word "extraordinary" does not simply mean "remarkable" but also "very unusual." This is one such performance. I'm transfixed as I watch it, but flummoxed when I try to talk about it. Of course, I'm referring to the "extraordinary" trophy-snagging work of...
A fixture among the loose cohort of Western journalists reporting on the political unrest in Indonesia circa 1965, Hunt's Billy Kwan is a stranger among strangers.
Short of stature (Billy's regular referred to as a "dwarf" by others within the narrative), and of mixed-race descent, Billy's an outsider everywhere he goes, which he -- through sheer force of personality -- parlays into a curious elite status.
He may not belong anywhere, but he gains access everywhere.
Gregarious, confident, and passionate, Billy also fancies himself to be something of an independent spy, a freelance covert agent assigned to keep an eye on the political scene in post-colonial Indonesia (and of the intricate social networks of the expatriate journalists).
In what is possibly the film's most compelling mystery, Hunt's Billy Kwan keeps "dossiers" on all the people he knows, in which he preserves photographs and observations of particular "figures of interest" in his world.In Gibson's Guy, Hunt's Billy Kwan discovers his ideal collaborator -- a man capable of getting the story and getting the girl, all while Billy's right behind him making everything happen.
(Director Peter Weir utilizes an elaborate shadow puppet metaphor to underscore the ostensibly greater themes of the film, the most conspicuous of which is "who's really manipulating the characters in this oblique drama of adventure and intrigue").
As the journalists around him become absorbed in the minutiae of verifiable details and ideals of objectivity (all while behaving like drunken goons on a weekend pass), Billy remains convinced that he's the only one to understand what's right and what's wrong in this big picture.Such grandiosity is both Billy's defining characteristic and, perhaps inevitably, his fatal flaw.
Linda Hunt's performance connects palpably to the character's central conflict and, in so doing, the actress crafts a performance that is, by turns, startling, strange and compelling.
Hunt's Billy is both a cynical realist and a sensitive idealist. His circumstances of birth have trained Billy to be a savvy manipulator -- someone who understands that it's sometimes easier to be the master of ceremonies while pretending to be the team mascot -- yet Hunt's searching performance underscores how nonetheless guided by an unusually open-heart.
Hunt's performance balances this cynicism and sensivity with an at times electrifying alacrity.
As Billy's ideals are shattered in quick succession by those around him, his manipulations become ever more cruel, possibly -- we are left to wonder as the film builds to its climax -- sinister.
But Billy is the film's moral compass (while Mel and Sigourney are its amoral, adventuring eye-candy), so his final actions necessarily reveal the character to be more of a martyr than a monster.
And Linda Hunt's performance as Billy Kwan remains a fascinating artefact.
The only example of gender-blind casting to have ever received the Academy's golden seal of approval, Hunt's performance proves difficult to parse for a couple reasons. First, the film's general style is one of glib realism, with the routinely familiar stock characters animated mostly by naturalistic grit (aka sweat, sex, booze and profanity). This is, with the exception of Hunt's Billy Kwan, the sort of movie where the costumer and casting director perform the main work of characterization. Hunt, on the other hand, is almost hyper-stylized in performance and affect -- a choice that both fits with and reveals the character but is sometimes jarring in this otherwise hyperrealistic cinematic landscape. Second, Hunt's physicality in the role is astonishing, not simply for the fact that this Connecticut-born actress is playing a biracial man but for how far beyond such notions of type this characterization effects. Hunt's Billy Kwan is not especially Asian nor especially male; Hunt's Billy Kwan is mostly just this weird little man named Billy Kwan. On stage, I suspect the cross-gender illusion would be incredibly effective; on film, Hunt's performance creates an astonishingly idiosyncratic creature who becomes, in some ways, the most visually jarring but emotionally "real" presence in this ostensibly realistic film.
Hunt's work in the role of Billy Kwan is utterly unique and, often, marvelous. And though the role and its presentation remain ripe for easy critiques of the more retrograde aspects of the film's status as a simple-minded, post-colonial parable, it's difficult to deny the accomplishment of Hunt's work -- both in terms of craftsmanship and emotional intensity -- in the role.
Linda Hunt's performance is strange, compelling and utterly unique. A fascinating entry into the canon of supporting actressness.Labels: 1983, cross-gender, crossracial/racial drag, she's so unusual, supporting actress
posted by StinkyLulu at
11:17 AM
5 Comments
Links to this post
Labels: 1983, smackdown, supporting actress
posted by StinkyLulu at
11:59 PM
2 Comments
Links to this post
posted by StinkyLulu at
1:17 PM
1 Comments
Links to this post
click image to be routed to video
STINKYLULUA provocative, memorable and delightful performance of one of Allen's signature "difficult" women. A simply spellbinding portrait of self-absorption at its most corrosive.
MOVIEMANIAHas the qualities of a true "Allen" lady: colorful, quirky, and unpredictable. She fights tirelessly against the material she's given, but as it is, Sally is just a caricature. A planar-like pawn (and player) in a game of heartbreak.
BROOKEDavis dives into one of Allen’s nastiest scripts with talons bared, detailing a portrait of intelligence, neurosis and wide-eyed viciousness. She finds an indelible mix of comedy and pathos, propelling this into one of the legendaries.
STACIAObvious at times, subtle at others, always compelling. Davis confidently grabs a scene and refuses to let go. Her passion works with the film, not against it, and she keeps the character believable in an otherwise contrived situation.
BENOne of the most vivid and enthralling performances in any Allen film. Explosive and nuanced performance of an intellectual woman confronting emotions that can’t be rationally explained. Makes what could easily be the most abrasive character the most sympathetic.
BRADShe's great at being brittle. The subtlety is astounding. She talks herself in circles in corners, and it's painful to watch but you can't look away. I waited for her to come back on screen, and then winced in pain when she did.
ALEXA dominatix performance that I adore. Her energy and force are intimidating and her acting decisions are impeccable. I giggle everytime she’s on, as she knows how to find humor in lines that are fundamentally dramatic. Her finest piece of acting.
s
BROOKEPlowright’s shallow scenery-gobbling and indulgent tics do little to illuminate the shades of her character. In fact, her stagebound performance simply drags down the light, airy feeling of this pleasant film.
ALEXBest voice over ever. Sort of. But almost any British actress aged 60+ could’ve nailed the introductory grumpiness. As she’s warming up, her performance grows in strength, yet never excels without the help of the killer voice work.
BENDefinitely perfect for this role. She plays the dowager well, and in the later scenes there are some lovely moments when she opens up. Nevertheless, it feels like Plowright could perform this role in her sleep.
STINKYLULUA subtle accomplishment in a largely unsubtle film. Plowright deftly develops a substantial emotional foundation for Mrs. Fisher and humanizes an otherwise utterly conventional character.
BRADA very capable performance of a stock character. She imbues everything she does with honesty, but doesn't try to transmit depth that isn't there. Avoids being maudlin and insufferable, the two poles this character as scripted could've fallen into.
STACIAAnother case of a really solid actress turning a bland role into a good one. Yet despite added nuances it was largely unexceptional and by-the-numbers. Enjoyable but not special.
MOVIEMANIAUsing her chihuahua-like eyes and dour face, Plowright paints a vivid portrait of desperation and loneliness. The character's arc reveals a person who can no longer ignore what is true and real to the world, but not to her.
s
MOVIEMANIAHer scenes with Thompson, filled with reminiscence and remorse, offer glimpses of a woman getting the last drop of happiness out of life. Although Redgrave attempts to be making something of Ruth, her efforts turn out to be quite underwhelming.
STACIAGreat actresses give great performances, even when the role doesn't require it. Redgrave creates a complex character out of nothing more than vague illness and breathy earnestness, yet she remains too aloof to fully relate to.
ALEXI was seduced by the character. And although Vanessa’s senile ghostly take can go both ways, I call it brilliance: the expressive eyes, the voice, the grace; the delicate pace and the soft touch – an excellent portrayal of a dying woman.
BROOKERedgrave has made a career out of elevating films, this being no exception. Her performance here is a thing of delicate beauty, perfectly calibrated to the gentle rhythms of this period piece.
BENWordlessly opens the movie with her almost mystical presence. In her few scenes, she manages to play both an important symbolic role and still present as a recognizably human character. Subtle, affecting, beautiful performance.
BRADShe haunts the film, which is essential for this role, but taking the tack of a living spirit who almost seems otherworldly. Possessed, but never crazy, there is no other actress who would have a)made the choice or b) pulled it off as brilliantly.
STINKYLULUA stunning, masterful bit of actressing. Redgrave's elegantly tempered performance permits us to fall in love with the girl Ruth once was while giving a cogent (and heartstirring) glimpse into a lovely, loving woman's last moments of life.
s
BEN33-year-old Richardson is supremely miscast as a middle-aged wife and mother, and most of the movie gives her little to do. Her acting is quite powerful in her final scenes, but it can’t quite overcome the predictability of the script.
STINKYLULUA charming, sympathetic anchor for this meandering, charmless film. At her most galvanic, she's extraordinary -- intelligent, layered, nuanced -- elsewhere, though, the performance seems as sketchy as the screenplay.
BROOKERichardson has been stuck with the least interesting role in this overcooked Malle film, but she manages to turn it into something worthwhile, even compelling at moments. Still her least impressive performance from this year, sadly.
ALEXWith all her money on one big scene, Miranda gives us 3 minutes of fabulous actressing, generating both pity and fear. So although I was sympathetic, the morning after scenes left me confused and doubtful regarding the motivations of her character.
MOVIEMANIAI feel compelled to mention the parallels between Richardson and Beatrice Straight in Network, for their portrayals of abandonment and vulnerability. Richardson's explosion however, goes deeper into the mind and soul, reminding us of the darkness that's inside us all.
STACIAA fabulous actress wasted for two hours, given just one scene to really show her stuff. She improves the entire film, ironically calling attention to the surrounding blandness. Richardson deserves a hell of a lot better than Damage gave her.
BRADI can't believe she did this, Enchanted April, and The Crying Game in the same year. I had little patience for this film, and she vindicated my loathing of the main character. She got me in the last scene; she's brilliant at losing it and getting it back.
s
STACIACompetent but uninspired. Tomei is the best part of the film, but never elevates the role beyond a stock character that literally any other actress could have played. Perhaps the skintight purple dress won the Oscar for her. (Ooh, catty!)
ALEXShe’s fluent in mechanics, expressive when it comes to body language and definitely above the material. I even laughed when the deer got shot in the head. But the performance lacks deepness, real emotion and the buzz factor.
BRADShe comes off as the most interesting character in the film in work beyond what's written. Her skill is showing us the depth without throwing the comedy off balance. In fact, she makes it richer and is honestly funny.
BENSteals the movie with her pitch-perfect comic timing and portrayal of working-class intelligence. While the movie itself is pretty average, and doesn’t spend enough time exploring Mona Lisa’s character, she is able to create a hugely memorable character.
STINKYLULUTomei is charismatic, compelling, and delightfully funny. Her work elevates a negligible supporting role and, in so doing, makes the film much much much more than it might have been without Tomei's Lisa.
MOVIEMANIAA truly heartfelt, intelligent, and underappreciated performance. Tomei gives Lisa surprising depth the script doesn't, and just enough humor and heart to sustain. Her big trial scene (a knockout) justifies her as my pick for the win. Yeah, she blends.
BROOKEUnfairly maligned, Tomei’s performance is much better than this messy film deserves; a vibrant characterisation that displays the actress’ uncanny ability for physical comedy and timing.
s
But the SMACKDOWN
Labels: 1992, smackdown, supporting actress
posted by StinkyLulu at
9:53 AM
28 Comments
Links to this post
Subscribe to
Posts [Atom]
