| Five 2008 Performances That Were Never Allowed A Chance To Say "Shotgun!" (Nov 24) |
| Commentary - Featured |
| Written by Nelson Carvajal |
| Monday, 24 November 2008 10:00 |
 As of this week, The Envelope Awards Insider—that predetermined Oscar buzz website from the Los Angeles Times—has listed the so-called “frontrunners” for this year’s Academy Awards. There were some names mentioned that I anticipated, like Penelope Cruz’s smoldering turn in “Vicky Cristina Barcelona” or Angelina Jolie in “Changeling” - a performance that stands out in her much-observed career. But the category that caught my eye was for Best Supporting Actor. The Envelope listed the following five actors as the leading contenders: Josh Brolin in “Milk”
Robert Downey Jr. in “Tropic Thunder”
Ralph Fiennes in “The Duchess”
Philip Seymour Hoffman in “Doubt”
Heath Ledger in “The Dark Knight”
And of course, the publication has predicted Ledger as the winner.
In my original review of “The Dark Knight” I said the following of Ledger’s performance:
“Ledger is wonderful and fully deserving of any superlative coming his way, but it's a predetermined, showy role. It's pure spectacle; no origin or character growth. Just misguided revelations (the Joker is always changing his background stories). In fact, by the end of the film, the actual fate of the Joker is literally upside down.”
I still stand by that claim. So much so, that I felt compelled to write about 2008’s real Best Supporting Actors (so far). And this isn’t to discredit any of the above nominees. 2008 may not have been a great year for film (so far) but it has boasted some wonderful and colorful supporting turns.
In a perfect world, one where The Envelope wouldn’t be the TRL equivalent of awarding proper merit to the cinema, this would have been the more appropriate list of Best Supporting Actor nominees:
Richard Dreyfuss in “W.”
Aaron Eckhart in “The Dark Knight”
Jason Butler Harner in “Changeling”
John Malkovich in “Burn After Reading”
Mark Strong in “Body of Lies”
I know, I know. Faithful readers and avid lovers of the cinema will ask. “Where’s “In Bruges”?”. The reason I omitted Ralph Fiennes’ wonderful turn in that film is due to the fact that I believe he still is very much in the actual race. The Envelope made a misstep by claiming “The Duchess” would be his bid. The problem with that is it conflicts with another Fiennes supporting turn in the upcoming “The Reader.” If “Reader” and “Duchess” cancel each other out with their seasonal proximity, watch “Bruges” sneak into the race as a dark horse.
Back to the five nominees.
 First Richard Dreyfuss. Although Josh Brolin dazzled as the absentminded 43rd President, his Oscar glory could very well come with “Milk” so let’s pay tremendous credit to Dreyfuss’ icy cold portrayal (could you blame him?) as VP Dick Cheney. For an Oliver Stone flick that’s surprisingly thoughtful toward its not so popular main subject, Cheney slithers through his scenes with the kind of unforgiving precision that many of earlier Stone screen characters (Tommy Lee Jones in “JFK” or Willem Dafoe in “Born on the Fourth of July”) did with an untouchable finesse. Key Scene: Watch Dreyfuss’ delivery of “We don’t” during an executive meeting concerning Iraq. I feared that Aaron Eckhart’s work would be overshadowed by Ledger’s in “The Dark Knight” and of course, now that we’re on the cusp of December, he certainly is being put in the back of the class. So here’s Eckhart’s moment: His portrayal of DA Harvey Dent is the significant achievement in “Knight,” in both exceptional acting and providing a vibrant, effective realization of a comic book character. It’s safe to say that Eckhart shares as much screen time as Christian Bale, and it’s Harvey Dent’s storyline that serves as a catalyst for the narrative. Key Scene: After Eckhart endures horrible facial injuries he wakes on a hospital bed to find his lucky coin. The natural sound then goes away and is replaced by an eerie ringing noise; the visual of Eckhart having an emotional breakdown is the film’s most thrilling and hard earned moment. Jason Butler Harner in “Changeling,” as time will show, is 2008’s true depiction of unnerving evil—not the Joker. Harner makes the Joker look like Bozo and even makes Hannibal Lecter just look like an old fruitcake with an accent. The fact that most of you who haven’t seen “Changeling” are scratching your head at Harner’s name is even better. Wisely downplayed in the trailer and promos, Harter’s murderous role cuts right into the film with no mercy. Much like the bloody axe he wields. Key Scene: Every scene he’s in. Oh, and he actually has a complete character arc (in other words, ambiguity is out the window here). A performance to treasure and if Harner does score a nomination I’m going to get alcohol poisoning celebrating. Now “Burn After Reading” is minor Coens. And the best thing about that film is that it won’t be stealing any Oscars from a far worthier auteur like say, Paul Thomas Anderson. Anyway, “Burn” is hugely imperfect and borderline mediocre. But the cast excels and John Malkovich steals the movie by simply wearing a funny robe and uttering the word “memoir” with devilish delight. The third act gets pretty bloody but Malkovich is so good at playing believable hopelessness that he lends a sort of engaging demeanor to his character’s ultimate demise. Key Scene: His opening bit. CIA man Cox (Malkovich) is laid off for his drinking and he doesn’t go quietly. It sets the mood for the absurdness to follow. Mark Strong. I can’t say enough about Mark Strong. Forget Downey Jr. It is Strong’s year! Pulling what Philip Seymour Hoffman did in 2007, Strong churns out not one, not two but three awesome performances with “RocknRolla,” “Body of Lies” and “Good” (which I was fortunate enough to see at the closing night of the Chicago International Film Festival). Out of the three it is “Body of Lies” that stands out the most. Why? He’s not the marquee name but it’s his performance that resonates with audiences on their way out to the theatre parking lot garage. And when that means stealing the show from heavyweights like Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe—well, that’s saying something. Key Scene: After bringing a possible informant to the endless desert, Strong places a black bag over the unlucky fellow’s head and allows him to call his mother before Strong has his way with him. Simply badass.But hey, who am I right? Now go to theenvelope.com and see what Hollywood is already deciding for Oscar night. And then watch TMZ. It’s okay—we did this to ourselves.
Set as favorite
Bookmark
Email This
Hits: 414 Trackback(0)TrackBack URI for this entryComments (1)
SUPPORTING Nominees
I found CHANGELING to be generally underwhelming, and Harner to be a bit too giddily eccentric in that role. He seemed like he walked off of an ep of SVU or something. I found Malkovich to be more interesting in that than in BURN AFTER READING.
You are right, however, to single out BAR for it's performances. In that case, I nominate Brad Pitt. However, David Rasche and JK Simmons stole that entire movie, but I would feel bad about nominating one over the other. Also to consider: *Bill Irwin- RACHEL GETTING MARRIED (Heartbreaking and subtle. He buries all his pain when everyone else screams it) *Ralph Fiennes- IN BRUGES I know you put a big aterisk by this, but I think he'll be forgotten. He created one of the most morbidly moral villain I've ever seen. *Robert Downey Jr.- TROPIC THUNDER Brilliantly plays the character filtered into another. The duality he achieved was astounding. And man was he funny. *Brady Corbet- FUNNY GAMES *Eddie Marsan- HAPPY GO LUCKY *Jay Baruchel- TROPIC THUNDER
,
November 24, 2008
Write commentThis content has been locked. You can no longer post any comment.
|
Show/Hide comment form