But good ol'fashioned line delivery and screen presence - wtf happened to that? Daniel Day Lewis remains one of the truly great actors, because in addition to pulling off all that exaggerated character shit, his acting is fresh and vital. Someone once mentioned on the AV Club that when you watch a grandiose performance twice and find it tiring, then it isn't great acting. They were referring to DDL's "There Will Be Blood" performance, because they were still impressed by him upon reviewings - that's because he has killer delivery "as for you, Mr. Tamany-Fucking-Hall, you come down the Five Points again, and you'll be dispatched by mine own hand" (rewatched GONY on a spree the other day and replayed the line over and over again) and subtle nuances in addition to rip-roaring rages. Dicaprio's straining performances in "Blood Diamond" and "The Aviator" on the other hand, makes me exhausted just thinking about it.
But Deniro and Hoffman - in addition to absolutely tearing everyone down when they were going to the extremes (i.e. Raging Bull and Rain Man) - they were just as good, probably better, when they were playing normal people. "Kramer vs. Kramer" was a revelation for me, just because I never knew how outstanding two actors could be playing normal people without huge Oscar scenes - Hoffman and Streep's tussle at the beginning in the movie is just heartwrenching, impossible to take your eyes off, and restrained. Good lord, what a concept. You think future actors will ever learn any restraint? It's all about extremes. It's either all about "going retard" or dead-eyed monotonous "subtlety", without a flicker of life.
I watched a 2008 interview at an Oscar roundtable when nearly all the actors dismissed the need for rehearsal, which nearly broke my heart, because I had seen all these "Inside the Actors Studio" episodes where Pacino talked about rehearsing for two weeks straight on Dog Day Afternoon, where Jodie Foster told of how Deniro took her out for lunch and rehearsed their scenes everyday, again and again and again and again until one day, they broke through the mold and began improvising in addition to the script lines.
Even my beloved DDL dismissed rehearsing, but it's fine because DDL is a genius and whatever works for geniuses. But George Clooney, who said that rehearsals don't help at all - just shut the fuck up. I laughed when Ellen Page, Marion Cotillard, and DDL at the oscar roundtable talked about how sad it was to leave their characters behind at the end of shooting a film, and Clooney and Angelina Jolie remained silent, because they've never played another fucking character! They've only played themselves. What losers.
But oh, lord. Christopher Walken and Harvey Keitel's brilliant, brilliant line deliveries in Pulp Fiction (*watch* monologue, and "So pretty please. With a cherry on top. Clean the fuckin' car.") As an actorphile, those lines and movies like Glengarry Glen Ross are such turn-ons. And after salivating over these, I am forced to think back to all the winners of the acting Oscars of the 2000's, and pull my hair out. Let's take a look back:
2000 - Kevin Spacey - Spacey's a child of the old-fashioned formal training, "delivery and presence come first" acting school, and American Beauty's just a gorgeous example of that.
2001 - Russell Crowe - ditto. His quiet moments in Gladiator are just as intense as the bombastic ones.
2002 - Denzel Washington - Yay, naturalism. And Crowe was the runner-up which is also fucking brilliant.
2003 - Adrien Brody - beginning example of the "accent" orgy.
2004 - Penn at his Oscar-whoring worst. I'm not even talking about "IS THAT MY DAUGHTER?" The part where he's shaking violently in the quieter scenes is just not subtle at all.
2005 - Jamie Foxx - *groan* I mean, does anyone even like Ray or Jamie Foxx in Ray anymore? Loved Depp in Finding Neverland, on the other hand - I barely noticed the accent after awhile, and what shone through was his tenderness and presence.
2006 - Phillip Seymour Hoffman in Capote - bletch. Heath Ledger was also guilty of the overacting, though he redeemed himself - today, no one talks about Ledger's distracting mumble, but rather, his near-silent, exquisite moment at the end of BBM. Silence, people, SILENCE! One of my favorite things about great actors is that they're supremely gifted at communicating through inarticulacy - not just the loud, bombastic moments. Don't modern actors KNOW why Robert Deniro's mirror scene in Taxi Driver is so iconic? Not for a lengthy monologue or jerking limbs, that's for sure.
2007 - Forest Whitaker - I have nothing to add. It was charismatic, sure, but points off for prolonging the actor addiction to foreign accents. Ben Stiller, we need more of your satire.
2008 - Daniel Day Lewis - it's deservedly great, but again it worries me about how many knockoff performances this is going to produce. Actors should realize that very, very few can actually pull off a Daniel Plainview-ish character like DDL.
2009 - Sean Penn - Again - the Oscar preference for affectation over Mickey Rourke's dazzling, natural role. I'm admittedly fond of Penn in Milk, just because of how sweet he is in it - but again, the accent, the accent! Fuck accents!
2010 -??
The race is shaping up to be
Jeff Bridges
George Clooney
Colin Firth
Morgan Freeman
Jeremy Renner
God has mercy, after all. Except for the obligatory "character accent" nomination for Morgan Freeman (for chrissakes, please nominate Damon in The Informant, haven't seen it, but all the praise for how well Damon pulled off a nonshowy, enigmatic character is just gratifying). Fuck Clooney, but whatever. And I've swelled with pride to hear the love for Jeremy Renner in THL (note to Dicaprio, watch the shower scene. THAT's how you pull off a difficult moment. No need for face-wrenching and girly screaming). Of course, none of the five nominees, in my opinion, even matches the average Harvey Keitel performance, but ah well. Accent backlash is welcome for the rest of the century.
Matt Damon in The Informant! was terrific. A subtle performance of a man spiraling out of control and trying to keep it together. Jeremy Renner still gets my pick for performance of the year though.
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