Yeah I hate it when actors want people to look at them. I want my actors to hide, so I literally cannot see nor hear them.
Just out of interest, do you have any examples of someone you do like to watch? My bet is that they're typecast...
Not much point, since you seem to have made up your mind and salt your views with sarcasm, but to give two examples from a recent movie - I very much admired the unshowy performances of Jean Louis Trintignant and Emmanuelle Riva in AMOUR.
However in a way you are right in that I do like actors who, if not exactly typecast, don't give a 'performance' but whose sheer presence on screen exudes the qualities of the characters they are portraying. So, for example, in a film like RAIN MAN, I find Dustin Hoffman's performance showy and I am aware of what he is doing and how he is doing it and it stops me believing in the character, whereas Tom Cruise simply IS the brash, flashy, shallow, selfish brother. I am in a minority in matters like this and, predictably, Hoffman was the one who won the Oscar because he makes sure everyone knows that he is 'putting in a performance' whereas I think Cruise's performance was more subtle and persuasive and convincing because he was hardly doing anything at all but just being - like the great stars of the golden age of movies.
Dustin Hoffman is playing a guy with autism. You can't play a guy with subtle autism unless he actually -has- subtle autism! The whole movie wouldn't have worked if the character had a soft case of Aspergers.
Sometimes on screen you need someone doing the big performance so that the other can do the subtle one.
The problem for me with Daniel Day Lewis is that his style is "Ooh, look at me acting". It's a style of showy acting that gets good reviews and prizes because it's so obviously 'acting' but it never convinces me. I prefer actors where you can't see the performance, they just ARE the characters.
Yeah I hate it when actors want people to look at them. I want my actors to hide, so I literally cannot see nor hear them.
Just out of interest, do you have any examples of someone you do like to watch? My bet is that they're typecast...
Didn't he get pneumonia whilst making gangs of New York and actually became an alcoholic for there will be blood. He is THE method actor in film.
He insisted on being confined to a wheel chair for the duration of the shooting of "My Left Foot" and spent so much time hunched over that he broke two ribs.
Saw Wreck it Ralph this week and quite enjoyed it. Tonnes of gaming references in there, I missed a fair few even and I play games waaaaaaay too much. The characters were good and amused me, not the best Disney i've ever seen and felt like the over-riding moral message could've been better probably but I really liked it. Kids will definitely enjoy it. 7/10
Saw Wreck it Ralph this week and quite enjoyed it. Tonnes of gaming references in there, I missed a fair few even and I play games waaaaaaay too much. The characters were good and amused me, not the best Disney i've ever seen and felt like the over-riding moral message could've been better probably but I really liked it. Kids will definitely enjoy it. 7/10
Thanks for that, LNA.
May well have a doze during the film as we have all 3 kids for the whole day ....
Dustin Hoffman is playing a guy with autism. You can't play a guy with subtle autism unless he actually -has- subtle autism! The whole movie wouldn't have worked if the character had a soft case of Aspergers.
Sometimes on screen you need someone doing the big performance so that the other can do the subtle one.
That's an interesting point, Chunes - and thanks for making it without being condescending. But, actually, I do think it is possible to play extreme characters subtly and I'd cite Sofia Helin (The Bridge), Noomi Rapace (The Swedish version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) and Rooney Mara (in the US version of the same story) as actors who have portrayed people with severe Aspergers/Autism in a more subtle way than Dustin Hoffman did in Rain Man. In fact both of the main characters in Rain Man are actually written as extreme portrayals - the career of screenwriter, Ron Bass, doesn't exactly teem with subtlety - but I think Tom Cruise (for a change) gives a restrained, seamless performance as Charlie Babbett while Hoffman's jittery, mannered performance as Raymond draws my attention to the mechanics of his acting and away from the character. I actually like Hoffman as an actor but I think he is much better on stage than he is on film - his Shylock in The Merchant of Venice and his Willy Loman in Death of A Salesman were two of the most remarkable performances I've ever seen. There are a number of actors who are better on stage than on film, in my opinion - Laurence Olivier being a particular case in point. And I haven't seen Daniel Day Lewis on stage - to get back to the starting point of this discussion - but I suspect I would prefer his performances there than on screen.
Not a latest but .. I watched 'The White Ribbon' on BBC4 last night .. masterpiece
Looks great, acted well (especially the children) and an interesting/disturbing subject matter but the pacing was far from satisfactory for me and could have benefited from a more ruthless edit imo.
Dustin Hoffman is playing a guy with autism. You can't play a guy with subtle autism unless he actually -has- subtle autism! The whole movie wouldn't have worked if the character had a soft case of Aspergers.
Sometimes on screen you need someone doing the big performance so that the other can do the subtle one.
That's an interesting point, Chunes - and thanks for making it without being condescending.
But, actually, I do think it is possible to play extreme characters subtly and I'd cite Sofia Helin (The Bridge), Noomi Rapace (The Swedish version of The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo) and Rooney Mara (in the US version of the same story) as actors who have portrayed people with severe Aspergers/Autism in a more subtle way than Dustin Hoffman did in Rain Man.
Nadou if you think The Girl With The Dragon Tatoo displays severe autism then you clearly have no clue with regards to the Autistic spectrum. They're de-sensitised/traumatised characters, where pathetic journalists will lump them on to the spectrum: A spectrum at the Aspergers end discredited by the original psychologists who defined the diagnosis of Aspergers in DSM-IV. Rooney Mara segues into cliche, with regards to her social empathy. Both were good performances as was Dustin Hoffman's. Taking an autistic person out of their known environment, nearly always elicits a hyper version of their ticks and repetitive behavioural patterns. I'm not quite sure why subtle is an over-riding quality, when the human condition is quite broad.
I agree with you that DDL waivers into the Hopkins territory of hilarious shouty performances, but when would you ever think this would be a Lincoln performance? For me his performance is brilliant, hampered only by the time possible in film format: compared to the excellence in Jon Adams, in which TV allows more than vignettes in time.
Saw it last weekend at the Glasgow Film Festival. It is a bit bonkers and sure to divide opinion. It is great value entertainment - three hours, six story lines. The time didn't drag at all. Actor James D'Arcy introduced it - his advice was good, to let it wash over you without worrying too much about how it fits together - that will all be clear by the end. The actors playing multiple roles - incuding across gender and ethnicity - has come in for a bit of criticism, and does "get in the way" sometimes. Tom Hanks is Tom Hanks (a bit irritating in my opinion), pretty good performances from Halle Berry, rather strange cameos from Hugh Grant, but I would say Jim Broadbent steals the show. Overall would recommend it - certainly different from any film you will ever have seen. Mr W would quite happily go and see it again tomorrow.
Oh, and predictable that the critics would pan it, as one of their own kind comes to a rather sudden and sticky end!
Interested to know what others on here will make of it.
Another one for the lads on here to look out for is "Springbreakers". Would not have chosen it, but it was the "surprise" film of the Festival. Lots and lots of flesh, drink and drugs...but there is a storyline, a stunning performance from James Franco and some cult scenes - one of them involving Beyonce and balaclavas...I will say no more! Think it is out in mid March.
Lens flare. Water. Handheld close ups. Lens flare. Repeat. I don't know if anyone 'gets' Malick but personally, I don't want to! Good review here: http://bit.ly/YpBS9s
Lens flare. Water. Handheld close ups. Lens flare. Repeat. I don't know if anyone 'gets' Malick but personally, I don't want to! Good review here: http://bit.ly/YpBS9s
That review sums up very well my feelings about the film. And I can confirm that watching the film is a real 'test' for the audience. Ben Afflect is the star and I think he has about 2 lines of dialogue. But I think there are only 4 lines of dialogue in the whole film. The rest of the time he is just staring and looking wistfully into the middle distance. I saw a brief trailer and thought there would be lots of beautiful shots of Paris streets and street life. Instead it was mostly shots of desolate American mid west landscapes and towns and the ugly stupid people who inhabit these places. Obviously I have missed something or maybe it is just a case that I don't have a degree in film making.
With the Oscars tonight, I find it incredible that I saw a film this year that had half the audience sobbing and a third on their feet clapping at the end and it is likely not to win best picture.
With the Oscars tonight, I find it incredible that I saw a film this year that had half the audience sobbing and a third on their feet clapping at the end and it is likely not to win best picture.
nearly! seriously, I had stereo sobbing to contend with - my wife sobbing to my left and another lady sobbing too my right, that and an old dear singing along behind me and I still enjoyed the film immensely.
Perfect first date film for any younger types btw.
Comments
Sometimes on screen you need someone doing the big performance so that the other can do the subtle one.
He insisted on being confined to a wheel chair for the duration of the shooting of "My Left Foot" and spent so much time hunched over that he broke two ribs.
"Les Mis" on Weds evening with daughter and "Wreck it Ralph" on Thursday with 3 of the grandkids.
Wonder which I'll like best ?
May well have a doze during the film as we have all 3 kids for the whole day ....
Love the sound of the concept
I agree with you that DDL waivers into the Hopkins territory of hilarious shouty performances, but when would you ever think this would be a Lincoln performance? For me his performance is brilliant, hampered only by the time possible in film format: compared to the excellence in Jon Adams, in which TV allows more than vignettes in time.
Oh, and predictable that the critics would pan it, as one of their own kind comes to a rather sudden and sticky end!
Interested to know what others on here will make of it.
Can any film buffs explain this one for me?
http://bit.ly/YpBS9s
Perfect first date film for any younger types btw.
I watched 30 mins of Silver Linings Playbook but couldn't really get into it. Will give the rest of it a watch later on