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Post by akittystang on Oct 4, 2022 4:06:03 GMT
Regardless of your opinion on Blonde, Ana De Armas in Blonde is great, but I expected that. Rebecca Hall in Resurrection? Uh. Oh my god. I wasn't expecting that. I guess you haven't seen "Christine" and "The Night House" then? Oh, I have seen Christine. That was one of my most anticipated films of that year (along with the mockumentary that came out simultaneously, by coincidence). I saw her in some kinda mediocre horror flick (the name escapes me) years ago, and I thought, who is this? Despite the movie itself being so-so, I thought she was good in it. When I heard she was going to be playing Christine Chubbuck I thought she was going to win an Oscar and honestly, she should've. So I knew what she was capable of. I just wasn't expecting her to be operating at that level for this particular film. How is she in The Night House? Is the film itself any good?
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Post by thomasjerome on Oct 4, 2022 10:08:00 GMT
I guess you haven't seen "Christine" and "The Night House" then? Oh, I have seen Christine. That was one of my most anticipated films of that year (along with the mockumentary that came out simultaneously, by coincidence). I saw her in some kinda mediocre horror flick (the name escapes me) years ago, and I thought, who is this? Despite the movie itself being so-so, I thought she was good in it. When I heard she was going to be playing Christine Chubbuck I thought she was going to win an Oscar and honestly, she should've. So I knew what she was capable of. I just wasn't expecting her to be operating at that level for this particular film. How is she in The Night House (and is the film itself any good?)? Oh, great. I absolutely agree that she should've been nominated at least and I assume that mediocre horror film is "The Awakening"? If that's the one, I agree. She was a perfect lead but the film didn't have anything going on for itself other than the cool atmosphere. "The Night House" is not without its flaws but it's consistently intriguing film and I'd personally prefer it over "Resurrection" which had an underwhelming ending. Hall is terrific in both, so it's hard to pick which one is better in terms of performance but if you enjoyed what she does in "Resurrection", then I'm sure you'll be blown away by her work here as well.
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Post by Tommen_Saperstein on Oct 4, 2022 18:30:00 GMT
Rebecca Hall is outstanding in The Night House
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Post by JangoB on Oct 5, 2022 10:52:32 GMT
The release of Blonde prompted me to finally watch Dominik's Chopper and I have to say that Eric Bana is absolutely astonishing in it. Talk about an early performance peak! Somehow he manages to keep his character simultaneously chilling, hilarious and pathetic all the way through which is no easy feat. A bit of a shame that Bana's career took a dive - I feel that he could've become one of the modern greats had he kept the momentum going. But what a place to start.
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Post by stephen on Oct 5, 2022 13:39:25 GMT
I've spoken my piece on how I feel that Andrew Dominik's Blonde is unnecessarily exploitative and graphic to the point of edgelord-ness, but despite it all, Ana de Armas gives one of the mightiest performances of the year. It's hard for me to think of a performance with more naked vulnerability (literally and figuratively) in recent memory.
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Post by JangoB on Oct 7, 2022 20:56:03 GMT
Kevin Costner and Joan Allen in The Upside of Anger (which is just wonderful) is a cinematic duo for the ages:
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Post by pacinoyes on Oct 18, 2022 21:58:13 GMT
Cate Blanchett in Tár First things first : Thanks to wilcinema who completely predicted my reaction to this performance - I'll review the film later maybe - but yeah this movie and this "off the page" (into the stratosphere) turn is made for me. An extended middle finger to Woke-ism - that ends with a TWBB black humor joke extended and directed to YOU not Plainview - but that isn't afraid to turn the middle finger on our anti-heroine star either. This is one of the top 10 Lead performances in English in the modern era (post 1967) - I've listed the others at the bottom - and that's male AND female. Blanchett's Tár - like "tar" itself.......a black mass, things get stuck in it and to it -it's foundational and yet replaceable (get it?) - is ...what's the word I'm looking for ....oh yes.....unfnckingbelievable. Played with the assuredness of a man and evoking many distinctly masculine qualities - when she literally physically attacks someone it's kinetic and brutal. When she threatens a child (!) - "God sees all" I believe is the quote (suck on that MAR atheists ) - she is terrifying.......moments earlier she was sweet with her own child in a lovely scene - she's maternal in a disarming and comforting way. I've already said on here A LOT that she uses her hands better than any actress ever - well, this is now settled......this portrayal is incredible in how her hands clutch, grab and flail but also heartbreakingly become incompetent as she sees herself being drawn to (yet another) female musician. Those scenes - one in particular when the young cellist gets out of her car are masterstrokes of actorly communication to an audience...........AND it doesn't stop - sustaining an injury late in the film to make her monstrosity Richard III Shakespearean - THIS is the best Shakespeare movie of recent years actually in several ways. Amazingly current - set in the NOW - with references to presentism, current events mentioned by names, Covid - it feels absolutely NOW - always a big plus in movies and she is the catalyst - in every scene - this is tour de force - screen dominating stuff. This performance is on that "oh shit" level - see below - and I'll go one step further. It's maybe MORE involved than all of them - it's sexual (again "leontine" as I said about her in Nightmare Alley) athletic (boxing scenes - some of her conducting choices even), animalistic, arrogant, broken, funny, intelligent, not as intelligent as she thinks, musical..........she does it ALL in this role. Oh and also she is utterly convincing in her occupation and her occupation is not just a conductor but also a teacher which is crucial and conspiratorial in her portrayal as she uses her expertise in one to sinisterly elevate the other. The incredible 2nd scene - where some wackjob says he can't "get" Bach because of his personal life - is a great example of how Blanchett controls the space of the scene - the language of the scene (slyly inserting the word "masturbate" in her spiel), and stopping his fncking shaking leg with her........hand. That scene is all about her and all about how she eventually orchestrates a Harry Caul level of shattering.... An "Academy Award" would be damning what she does here with faint praise... Pacino - Dog Day Afternoon, Godfather Part II De Niro - Taxi Driver, Raging Bull Brando - Last Tango in Paris Streep - Sophie's Choice Rowlands - A Woman Under The Influence DDL - TWBB
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Post by akittystang on Oct 22, 2022 21:24:59 GMT
I've spoken my piece on how I feel that Andrew Dominik's Blonde is unnecessarily exploitative and graphic to the point of edgelord-ness, but despite it all, Ana de Armas gives one of the mightiest performances of the year. It's hard for me to think of a performance with more naked vulnerability (literally and figuratively) in recent memory. Ana De Armas is phenomenal. Totally agreed. Though, honestly, I truly think Andrew Dominik, if he wanted to make a film about Marilyn Monroe but in this particular way he does it, he really should've done it like David Lynch planned to do it in the 80s (Venus Descending was the name of the script), but have the actress at the center of it all who is clearly a Marilyn Monroe-type of figure just with a different name. There might still be some controversy but I doubt it would've been as extreme as it was. Cate Blanchett in TárThis performance is on that "oh shit" level - see below - and I'll go one step further. It's maybe MORE involved than all of them - it's sexual (again "leontine" as I said about her in Nightmare Alley) athletic (boxing scenes - some of her conducting choices even), animalistic, arrogant, broken, funny, intelligent, not as intelligent as she thinks, musical..........she does it ALL in this role. Pacino - Dog Day Afternoon, Godfather Part II De Niro - Taxi Driver, Raging Bull Brando - Last Tango in Paris Streep - Sophie's Choice Rowlands - A Woman Under The Influence DDL - TWBB Is this hyperbole? I need to see this. Holy shit. Even being mentioned in the same breath as Rowlands, Streep, DDL and DeNiro kinda seals the deal for me. I think she’s getting Oscar #3 if you’re correct. If McDormand can do it so soon after #2, Blanchett can as well.
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Post by The_Cake_of_Roth on Nov 5, 2022 21:47:53 GMT
Jessica Chastain in SaloméCan’t believe it took me this long to finally see this because I am kind of in awe of what Chastain does here. I don’t know how anybody can watch this and not come away thinking that she’s an incredible talent because this is an absolute tour de force, and has to be one of the all-time great debut film performances (that I’ve seen at least). Like Jolene, another early performance of hers, she has to act child-like, but here she’s petulant, entitled, sneering and contemptuous, with occasional mocking sweetness while ferocious and scary at other times. She’s sexually ravenous, bursting with desire, and I love how she conveys a kind of crazed, mad glee at the notion of being offered whatever she wants in exchange for her erotic dance. So many of her line readings are absolutely delicious and chill-inducing, the way she teases, dares, and provokes other characters. Unquestionably her best performance and I wish she tapped into this side of herself more often.
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Post by pacinoyes on Nov 9, 2022 21:33:27 GMT
Colin Farrell - The Banshees of Inisherin -Farrell is the performance that makes this movie work - and how well it works depends on your ability to buy some pretty far-fetched behavioral developments ......but Farrell's character - by far the most well written here has a genuine and full arc not just writer's affectation: From regular guy to a rightful (?) avenger - he is very much a son of the land from which he comes - and he suffers a Job-like litany of suffering for it too - that physically show themselves on his countenance. Farrell has at least 3 or 4 scenes here that are unforgettable - the nervous energy before getting decked by the cop , the heartbreaking "maybe you were never nice" speech, his funny (and gentle) interactions with the animals too - and shattered please come back line to his sister... There is a moment in this movie where a character tells him "I thought you were different" and the director Martin McDonagh shoots a single bird flying away - that's a great double tinged touch and it's a great directorial choice....but that scene only works because of Farrell's memorable face..........he achieves a kind of visual poetry in his close ups......
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Post by pacinoyes on Nov 11, 2022 11:23:59 GMT
Andrea Riseborough - To Leslie (2022) -
I had never heard of this but saw it get a rave for the performance from World of Reel (they do good stuff on there too sometimes people, come on!) and the performance is actually not only great - I found it has several connections to other things I talk about or know:
.......Bob Stinson for one who lucked into meeting Paul Westerberg..........and had the unfortunate luck of meeting Paul Westerberg too......several people I know irl......and as a performance - one that reminds me of one of my favorites of recent years: Azura Skye in The Swerve (2018 / 2020 On TUBI) and another one I JUST raved in our "Current Obsessions" thread Anna Thomson in Sue (1997 On TUBI).
Utterly real and unflinching it never once winks at you or tries to manipulate you ..,..a lot of her best scenes involve staring into a void, that is staring back at her......and a lot of her line readings are double edged swords that aim both outward and inward....
One of the better examples of "losering" I've seen in recent American movies - and once you get beyond Blanchett in Tár (or Comer in Prima Facie - on stage) or Goth in Pearl - I can't think of a much better or more interesting English language turn this year to talk about for the actress specifically - NOT the role - but the actress in the role and how her playing of it is an amazing amount of small choices.
A superb, calibrated and vanity free performance .....everybody on MAR should see it - it's streaming now:
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Post by pacinoyes on Nov 12, 2022 7:31:32 GMT
Yoshino Kimura in Confessions (2010) -I've talked a lot about this notorious cult movie in the IMDB days - about how it is in conception and execution one of the meanest films of a serious nature I've ever seen......and it is mostly successful too - it is much too good to just dismiss........but not quite good enough to deserve its often complete raves.... But rewatching it again for the millionth time I was struck by the set-piece sequence set to Radiohead's Last Flowers - one of their best songs btw - of a fake student joviality intercut with a perverse darkness of a student's mind unraveling. That sequence and how Kimura as the boy's mother is astonishing in how specific and on target it is.........the horrible and the banal interweaving in something so pathetic it's funny and so funny it is somehow beyond pathetic. Kimura is great at walking this line FOR her son too - when she has her "The Usual Suspects" moment reading the drawing on the fridge - she's aching and gutted which describes how she is for the almost the entirety of this walking on eggshells turn. She gives the best performance in a movie that a lot of people (still) always talk about...........but more for its machinations than its acting......
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Post by JangoB on Nov 15, 2022 17:00:16 GMT
Cate Blanchett in Tár First things first : Thanks to wilcinema who completely predicted my reaction to this performance - I'll review the film later maybe - but yeah this movie and this "off the page" (into the stratosphere) turn is made for me. An extended middle finger to Woke-ism - that ends with a TWBB black humor joke extended and directed to YOU not Plainview - but that isn't afraid to turn the middle finger on our anti-heroine star either. This is one of the top 10 Lead performances in English in the modern era (post 1967) - I've listed the others at the bottom - and that's male AND female. Blanchett's Tár - like "tar" itself.......a black mass, things get stuck in it and to it -it's foundational and yet replaceable (get it?) - is ...what's the word I'm looking for ....oh yes.....unfnckingbelievable. Played with the assuredness of a man and evoking many distinctly masculine qualities - when she literally physically attacks someone it's kinetic and brutal. When she threatens a child (!) - "God sees all" I believe is the quote (suck on that MAR atheists ) - she is terrifying.......moments earlier she was sweet with her own child in a lovely scene - she's maternal in a disarming and comforting way. I've already said on here A LOT that she uses her hands better than any actress ever - well, this is now settled......this portrayal is incredible in how her hands clutch, grab and flail but also heartbreakingly become incompetent as she sees herself being drawn to (yet another) female musician. Those scenes - one in particular when the young cellist gets out of her car are masterstrokes of actorly communication to an audience...........AND it doesn't stop - sustaining an injury late in the film to make her monstrosity Richard III Shakespearean - THIS is the best Shakespeare movie of recent years actually in several ways. Amazingly current - set in the NOW - with references to presentism, current events mentioned by names, Covid - it feels absolutely NOW - always a big plus in movies and she is the catalyst - in every scene - this is tour de force - screen dominating stuff. This performance is on that "oh shit" level - see below - and I'll go one step further. It's maybe MORE involved than all of them - it's sexual (again "leontine" as I said about her in Nightmare Alley) athletic (boxing scenes - some of her conducting choices even), animalistic, arrogant, broken, funny, intelligent, not as intelligent as she thinks, musical..........she does it ALL in this role. Oh and also she is utterly convincing in her occupation and her occupation is not just a conductor but also a teacher which is crucial and conspiratorial in her portrayal as she uses her expertise in one to sinisterly elevate the other. The incredible 2nd scene - where some wackjob says he can't "get" Bach because of his personal life - is a great example of how Blanchett controls the space of the scene - the language of the scene (slyly inserting the word "masturbate" in her spiel), and stopping his fncking shaking leg with her........hand. That scene is all about her and all about how she eventually orchestrates a Harry Caul level of shattering.... An "Academy Award" would be damning what she does here with faint praise... Pacino - Dog Day Afternoon, Godfather Part II De Niro - Taxi Driver, Raging Bull Brando - Last Tango in Paris Streep - Sophie's Choice Rowlands - A Woman Under The Influence DDL - TWBB
May this performance also feature the best hand acting... of all time? Obviously I'm being a bit hyperbolic here but what she does with her hands just kept gluing me to the screen in its own fantastic way. There were times when I had to keep switching my focus between her face and her hands because all sorts of wow-worthy things were happening on both fronts. And I don't just mean the conducting scenes, of course.
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Post by MsMovieStar on Nov 15, 2022 21:13:11 GMT
Cate Blanchett in Tár First things first : Thanks to wilcinema who completely predicted my reaction to this performance - I'll review the film later maybe - but yeah this movie and this "off the page" (into the stratosphere) turn is made for me. An extended middle finger to Woke-ism - that ends with a TWBB black humor joke extended and directed to YOU not Plainview - but that isn't afraid to turn the middle finger on our anti-heroine star either. This is one of the top 10 Lead performances in English in the modern era (post 1967) - I've listed the others at the bottom - and that's male AND female. Blanchett's Tár - like "tar" itself.......a black mass, things get stuck in it and to it -it's foundational and yet replaceable (get it?) - is ...what's the word I'm looking for ....oh yes.....unfnckingbelievable. Played with the assuredness of a man and evoking many distinctly masculine qualities - when she literally physically attacks someone it's kinetic and brutal. When she threatens a child (!) - "God sees all" I believe is the quote (suck on that MAR atheists ) - she is terrifying.......moments earlier she was sweet with her own child in a lovely scene - she's maternal in a disarming and comforting way. I've already said on here A LOT that she uses her hands better than any actress ever - well, this is now settled......this portrayal is incredible in how her hands clutch, grab and flail but also heartbreakingly become incompetent as she sees herself being drawn to (yet another) female musician. Those scenes - one in particular when the young cellist gets out of her car are masterstrokes of actorly communication to an audience...........AND it doesn't stop - sustaining an injury late in the film to make her monstrosity Richard III Shakespearean - THIS is the best Shakespeare movie of recent years actually in several ways. Amazingly current - set in the NOW - with references to presentism, current events mentioned by names, Covid - it feels absolutely NOW - always a big plus in movies and she is the catalyst - in every scene - this is tour de force - screen dominating stuff. This performance is on that "oh shit" level - see below - and I'll go one step further. It's maybe MORE involved than all of them - it's sexual (again "leontine" as I said about her in Nightmare Alley) athletic (boxing scenes - some of her conducting choices even), animalistic, arrogant, broken, funny, intelligent, not as intelligent as she thinks, musical..........she does it ALL in this role. Oh and also she is utterly convincing in her occupation and her occupation is not just a conductor but also a teacher which is crucial and conspiratorial in her portrayal as she uses her expertise in one to sinisterly elevate the other. The incredible 2nd scene - where some wackjob says he can't "get" Bach because of his personal life - is a great example of how Blanchett controls the space of the scene - the language of the scene (slyly inserting the word "masturbate" in her spiel), and stopping his fncking shaking leg with her........hand. That scene is all about her and all about how she eventually orchestrates a Harry Caul level of shattering.... An "Academy Award" would be damning what she does here with faint praise... Pacino - Dog Day Afternoon, Godfather Part II De Niro - Taxi Driver, Raging Bull Brando - Last Tango in Paris Streep - Sophie's Choice Rowlands - A Woman Under The Influence DDL - TWBB
Oh honey, such a great review. May I just add (to her hand greatness) that there's a hypnotic sonorous quality to Blanchett's voice that just lulls you into her performances. She has great vocal control as well as being technically masterful with accents. I could listen to her read names from a phonebook.
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Post by pacinoyes on Nov 22, 2022 5:30:41 GMT
Gene Tierney - Leave Her To Heaven (1945)
Do not watch the clip below if you haven't seen it - but when is the last time a scene in an American movie genuinely shocked you? I watched this with my gf - who had never seen it - and couldn't believe how much this scene got to her.......and this scene is nearly 80 years old......
In the 40s this happened A LOT - and Tierney here is impossibly, chillingly placid .......there are several 40s female roles like this that I never get tired of Stanwyck in Double Indemnity, Joan Bennett in Scarlet Street, Jean Gillie in Decoy (covered in this thread) .......we could use characters like them on our screens right about now tbh.......
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Post by pacinoyes on Nov 24, 2022 8:49:21 GMT
Michel Serrault and Isabelle Adjani in Deadly Circuit (Mortelle Randonnée) (1983) - rewatch This bizarre, intriguing, illogical abd quite good movie - remade as Eye of the Beholder with Ewan McGregor (apparently just awful) evokes nothing so much as De Palma's - Obsession played for laughs but a kind of grotesque inevitable tragedy too. Directed by the often great-ish Claude Miller as a preposterous, broad black comedy - Carla Bley's trash jazz score set the tone pretty early - there's no way the detective - nicknamed "The Eye" could literally "see" or be there for all of these events......which is part of the point.......he's quite mad isn't he (?), quite awful as a storyteller, a detective, a father, a living person. The movie ........and he........are a joke.......but....... I once reviewed a movie I kind of loved with Serrault and Charlotte Rampling - He Died With His Eyes Open (1985) a sort of Columbo with Faye Dunaway precursor. This movie is similar, even better integrated and better acted too (!) - 7 / 10 on IMDB, 3.4 on Letterboxd - and it should be a bit higher actually......and I think Chan Wook-Park saw this ........and really likes it too.... Adjani is incredible here - your heart breaks gazing into her eyes - she must have 20 hairstyles, aliases and wardbrobe changes and you get to see her briefly topless and as a hot af bisexual...... so what's not to like (?) ........the two leads are gifted comic actors but they balance the tragedy that is always at the heart of this "game" they are playing in their own lives....... Serreault is particularly adept at hairpin turns between buffoonery and gravity..... Serrault transfers these events into his own failings - and missed chances in Life........ Adjani aches for unspoken connection to make her lies make sense......often they complete each others (internal) dialog....... Adjani is literally a stand in for every life you've fantasized living but ......have not ........could not....... Serreault is the "father" who wants all those things for his child......yet wants to protect from them Fascinating movie - fascinating detective movie especially actually - that many would find tiresome but I'm telling you, that's a mistake and an exceedingly surface read of it......fine supporting cast too: Guy Marchand, Stéphane Audran, Sami Frey etc. Audran is playing the ugliest girl - it's literally said IN the film - have you ever seen her? - THAT'S how perverse the movie is - put the gorgeous Audran in bad false teeth and a bad hair cut and you can pretend anything in movies.....can't you? How about in Life?
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Post by pacinoyes on Nov 29, 2022 9:59:18 GMT
Isabelle Adjani - One Deadly Summer (rewatch) (1983)......... and her 1983 in general tbh with Mortelle Randonnée / Deadly Circuit (reviewed above in this thread) - Having a single year 1-2 punch that is so unbelievably sexy on screen that she rivals..........um.........well nobody because she is almost off the charts - Isabelle Adjani is a tour de force here - as a physical presence and in her acting choices. Making walking and sashaying her hips an act of felonious obscenity and an invitation to ruin your life - she mesmerizes right at the start.......and ruins lives....... Full nudity - a lot! - lesbianeering sorta (again, both roles) in one of her many Cesar winning parts in One Deadly Summer btw - so that's a recommendation right there - but when she takes over this film's narration for a bit at a little past 30 minutes - her performance kicks into a whole other star level. Taking brattiness to a deranged high point - referring to a hard of hearing woman as "broken hi-fi" and later mocking her - riotously - Adjani must often act out what she is speaking in her interior monologues (the narration switches across characters) - she pulls this off to a tremendous degree - and some of her silent expressive moments are pure cinematic iconic imagery (eating a piece of chocolate, bathing, playing solitaire under a Marilyn Monroe poster etc) The movie - sort of a very entertaining, soap opera deep, precursor Pop Art dumbo version of Jean De Florette / Manon of the Spring - ha! as if! - is a showcase for everything Adjani - her facial expresions, her glorious eyes - popping or deeply subdued depending on what's conveyed, her incredible sexuality and sensuality, her deftness as a comic actress too - rarely on film has a knockout actress had such a deft comic touch as her...... .........and in her last scene an Adjani specialty - lost, waif-like, child-like and childish simultaneously, and appropriating a perfect actor tic ......here its the movement of her feet while standing still.....which is metaphorical to the character and not merely affectation She's a marvel here .....in every way really......
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Javi
Badass
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Post by Javi on Dec 2, 2022 20:21:24 GMT
Isabelle Adjani - One Deadly Summer (rewatch) (1983)......... and her 1983 in general tbh with Mortelle Randonnée / Deadly Circuit (reviewed above in this thread) - Having a single year 1-2 punch that is so unbelievably sexy on screen that she rivals..........um.........well nobody because she is almost off the charts - Isabelle Adjani is a tour de force here - as a physical presence and in her acting choices. Making walking and sashaying her hips an act of felonious obscenity and an invitation to ruin your life - she mesmerizes right at the start.......and ruins lives....... Full nudity - a lot! - lesbianeering sorta (again, both roles) in one of her many Cesar winning parts in One Deadly Summer btw - so that's a recommendation right there - but when she takes over this film's narration for a bit at a little past 30 minutes - her performance kicks into a whole other star level. Taking brattiness to a deranged high point - referring to a hard of hearing woman as "broken hi-fi" and later mocking her - riotously - Adjani must often act out what she is speaking in her interior monologues (the narration switches across characters) - she pulls this off to a tremendous degree - and some of her silent expressive moments are pure cinematic iconic imagery (eating a piece of chocolate, bathing, playing solitaire under a Marilyn Monroe poster etc) The movie - sort of a very entertaining, soap opera deep, precursor Pop Art dumbo version of Jean De Florette / Manon of the Spring - ha! as if! - is a showcase for everything Adjani - her facial expresions, her glorious eyes - popping or deeply subdued depending on what's conveyed, her incredible sexuality and sensuality, her deftness as a comic actress too - rarely on film has a knockout actress had such a deft comic touch as her...... .........and in her last scene an Adjani specialty - lost, waif-like, child-like and childish simultaneously, and appropriating a perfect actor tic ......here its the movement of her feet while standing still.....which is metaphorical to the character and not merely affectation She's a marvel here .....in every way really...... Listen to Pacinoyes, people... Watched this a couple of days ago - I second every word Pac said - she's my "win" for the year (1983). Who knew Adjani had this in her?? Yes, she was all-time great in The Story of Adele H. (1975), but this is completely different, the opposite of that earlier great internal turn in many ways... we're talking Garbo-like levels of seduction, star appeal, control of the camera - it's also a deeply funny perf... just the way she walks is an artform (satiric and not). She embodies Sex and is also way past it. Bit of a bummer that the movie turns less funny, more tragic as it goes... oh well.
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Post by sirjeremy on Dec 2, 2022 21:48:32 GMT
Samantha Morton in She Said (2022). Samantha Morton is as good as I'd hoped in her one scene, simmering with anger and an underlying vulnerability. It's a short yet perfectly detailed and commanding performance that's hugely affecting.
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Post by Viced on Dec 2, 2022 21:53:26 GMT
Luca Marinelli in Martin EdenEqual parts sympathetic and kind of scary. He's great from the start, but it's the time jump in the final 30ish minutes where he's truly remarkable. He sells the uniquely abrupt passage of time and devolution in character in such an eerily authentic way... and the film would've faltered in that closing stretch if not for him doing all that herculean heavy lifting. One of the very best performances in recent years.
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Post by stephen on Dec 2, 2022 21:57:58 GMT
Luca Marinelli in Martin EdenEqual parts sympathetic and kind of scary. He's great from the start, but it's the time jump in the final 30ish minutes where he's truly remarkable. He sells the uniquely abrupt passage of time and devolution in character in such an eerily authentic way... and the film would've faltered in that closing stretch if not for him doing all that herculean heavy lifting. One of the very best performances in recent years. Marinelli's soooooo good in this. I'd love to see him get a Matthias Schoenaerts-esque breakthrough someday.
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Post by Pittsnogle_Goggins on Dec 3, 2022 2:01:32 GMT
Mickey Rourke in Sin City. If there was any justice Rourke would have won Supporting Actor here or a least his snub would be considered as egregious as his loss for the Wrestler to Penn. Just pure raw magnetism in every single frame. Never felt like you were watching anyone else but ‘Marv’ at any point.
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Post by pacinoyes on Dec 8, 2022 18:48:09 GMT
Jeremy Pope The InspectionAn utterly average film that is elevated by a sharp, smart piece of acting that fills in things not in the script......... Jeremy Pope here works against the film's built in button pushing - at times here he suggests a whole other film that is in the same key as his performance. A big deal double Tony nominee a few years back for The Temptations musical and a straight drama in the same season and this performance looks like a star performance already.......next up : Jean-Michel Basquiat on stage soon AND on film in 2023....... He should be on everybody's radar........ if he's not already.....
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Post by pacinoyes on Dec 10, 2022 8:44:14 GMT
Isabelle Huppert Merci pour le Chocolat (2000)There is a breathtaking several minute close-up on Huppert's amazing face in this movie - when you realize this has not been a suspense film but rather an act of of self-immolation. Huppert is not fully the lead here but she dominates this movie and more so your recollection of it - Claude Chabrol - shoots her just slightly behind the frame - so she must always catch up to everything - to her past, present, future. It's a masterful little device - and Chabrol drops 2 movie hints at what he's going after (Fritz Lang's Secret Beyond The Door and Renoir's Night At The Crossroads - both mentioned specifically)......and his actress is a perfect realization of that kind of "hidden mystery". Huppert is in effect - in a way - the poisoner of her own life - and the metaphors run deep and right throughout but you may need to see it many times to restructure the events - chocolate as a fleeting happiness, consumed and moved on from.......fathers and daughter and mothers and sons .....time passed and never regained....doubles, photos and mirrors........and illusions vs. reality..... I can hardly think of a more masterful film or performance that achieves this effect with less fanfare or showing off than Merci pour le Chocolate - it's understated (almost) to a fault and to a (nearly) fully realized extent... ....and Huppert is maybe the only actress who can do this, like this - when she plays hot it's red hot......when she plays cold .......it's ice......
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Post by pacinoyes on Dec 11, 2022 6:31:23 GMT
Charlotte Rampling Under the SandRampling was in her mid-50s here - and she was still one of the sexiest actresses ever - at this age even.....and her looks, mystery - her very presence - lend the movie a crushing gravity. The hardest thing for an actor to play is JUST the emotion - usually you dramatize the text.......very few actors can "play sad" or "play scared" 0r anything removed from text itself ......... Anthony Hopkins and (his American version) Al Pacino built big reputations among actors out of playing just emotion when the text wasn't there - and Rampling does it to a degree here of those 2 heavyweight actors. The difference is she isn't playing individual scenes - she's playing just emotion(s) in a whole movie and connecting the scenes herself.........and often - very often - doing it alone, acting opposite no one. Francois Ozon shoots Rampling as the central figure in an isolated and spiralling nightmare sequence that repeats - without husband, then without her emotional grounding, and finally her mind. She enacts the same scenes - cooking, asking about the alarm clock, buttering toast in a new, sad context and when ths gets to the end - a sort of reverse Story of Adele H. - your heart breaks for what she's lost.......and is in the process of losing.....right in front of us......
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