Post by The_Cake_of_Roth on Oct 11, 2023 7:38:43 GMT
You could maybe throw in some others here, but these feel like her “core 4” roles to me that people associate with that "persona" she's played:
Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
A Most Violent Year (2014)
Miss Sloane (2016)
Molly's Game (2017)
My ranking:
1. Miss Sloane - undoubtedly the best here imo, and one I’d put in her top 5 performances overall. Manages to transcend kind of weak wannabe-Sorkin material by being totally electrifying and magnetic throughout, playing an ambitious workhorse who after a certain point begins to reveal cracks underneath her hardened exterior.
2. A Most Violent Year – the only supporting role here, but she steals the film from Isaac, and you’re left wanting more of her because she’s absent for large chunks of the film. Kind of a subversion of the “mob wife” role, believably suggesting a backstory of someone who comes from a corrupt family and is now living a life where that dark part of her still lingers. She comes across as genuinely threatening at times with how comfortable she is taking dangerous risks and pushing morals as if it’s obvious and perfectly reasonable, believing she’s in the right, acting uncompromising, possessing resolve and a strong conviction of what is necessary, and is willing to act without hesitation. It’s a lively and spirited performance, and I love her emasculating sassiness towards Isaac, her mocking laughter and disdainful shade before she becomes fiercely fed up at the end.
3. Zero Dark Thirty – the only Oscar-nominated performance here, though I probably rank it lower in her work overall than a lot of people would (it’s just outside her top 10 for me). I think she’s quite good, but there isn’t a whole heck of a lot to the character (which I get is part of the point), so her performance kind of plateaus a bit over that 2.5-hour runtime, and it’s more the Bigelow/Boal show than it is the Chastain show. Her most interesting moments to me come at the beginning and end, like when she initially shows discomfort during the first interrogation scene, but is determined to go through with it, has to resist her compassionate impulse, and visibly pushes herself to be tough, but then appears more comfortable with torture later on.
4. Molly's Game – a cool, charismatic, snarky, sexy, movie-star turn. Sorkin’s dialogue can feel somewhat artificial at times, so it can be hard to always make it sound natural. And she doesn’t always deliver the flippant voiceover narration with quite enough shape, so it can sound mechanical on occasion. Still, very solid work overall.
Zero Dark Thirty (2012)
A Most Violent Year (2014)
Miss Sloane (2016)
Molly's Game (2017)
My ranking:
1. Miss Sloane - undoubtedly the best here imo, and one I’d put in her top 5 performances overall. Manages to transcend kind of weak wannabe-Sorkin material by being totally electrifying and magnetic throughout, playing an ambitious workhorse who after a certain point begins to reveal cracks underneath her hardened exterior.
2. A Most Violent Year – the only supporting role here, but she steals the film from Isaac, and you’re left wanting more of her because she’s absent for large chunks of the film. Kind of a subversion of the “mob wife” role, believably suggesting a backstory of someone who comes from a corrupt family and is now living a life where that dark part of her still lingers. She comes across as genuinely threatening at times with how comfortable she is taking dangerous risks and pushing morals as if it’s obvious and perfectly reasonable, believing she’s in the right, acting uncompromising, possessing resolve and a strong conviction of what is necessary, and is willing to act without hesitation. It’s a lively and spirited performance, and I love her emasculating sassiness towards Isaac, her mocking laughter and disdainful shade before she becomes fiercely fed up at the end.
3. Zero Dark Thirty – the only Oscar-nominated performance here, though I probably rank it lower in her work overall than a lot of people would (it’s just outside her top 10 for me). I think she’s quite good, but there isn’t a whole heck of a lot to the character (which I get is part of the point), so her performance kind of plateaus a bit over that 2.5-hour runtime, and it’s more the Bigelow/Boal show than it is the Chastain show. Her most interesting moments to me come at the beginning and end, like when she initially shows discomfort during the first interrogation scene, but is determined to go through with it, has to resist her compassionate impulse, and visibly pushes herself to be tough, but then appears more comfortable with torture later on.
4. Molly's Game – a cool, charismatic, snarky, sexy, movie-star turn. Sorkin’s dialogue can feel somewhat artificial at times, so it can be hard to always make it sound natural. And she doesn’t always deliver the flippant voiceover narration with quite enough shape, so it can sound mechanical on occasion. Still, very solid work overall.
