Thursday, March 29, 2012
All Artists Agonize
I recently went to the Kendall Square Cinema for one of my Friday night movies. I was particularly excited for the film I was about to encounter being that it was Paul Dano's latest screen performance as the young self-loathing writer Nick Flynn (Being Flynn with Robert De Niro).
I have a particular fascination when it comes to Dano's acting ability. It wasn't after Little Miss Sunshine that he caught my eye, but rather after his rather alarmingly amazing performances in two polar opposite films. The former, There Will Be Blood, where he literally almost overshadowed Daniel Day Lewis until the end, and then the latter, Gigantic, where he overwhelmed the screen with his talent despite being in the midst of a ridiculously talented cast (Zooey Deschanel and John Goodman). Since then he has been on my radar as an American actor who knows his stuff, as I like to say.
I am very picky when it comes to actors/actresses. If they cannot convince me that they are versatile, or classically trained, I just can't seemed to be bothered. But Dano possesses a quality on screen that is entirely believable. He becomes so wrapped up in a characters entire psychological and physical presence that you forgot about the funny-but-charming-faced young man. In fact Dano's real personality to this day is kind of a complete mystery to me.
So enough praise about Dano, and now to reflect on his latest character. I hated Nick, but in the best way that you can hate a character. To put it this way, when Ewan McGregor is addicted to heroin in Trainspotting I hated him as well. Both characters are completely mortifying, but they are meant to be the bottom of society, they are pathetic, worn down, confused and in a rat race against only themselves.
Dano falls so easily into step with Flynn's quickly dwindling neurosis. But I find myself wondering how long did it take him to break down into this character. How far above and beyond did he go to become the pathetic hunched over strung out blitzed nervous wreck of a time bomb that eventually appears. Nowadays there are all sorts of special effects to accelerate the process of decomposing appearances, but the actor cannot rely on that alone, and I think from Dano's skills so far, it is very plainly obvious that he has not relied on anything else but his talent. He could probably convince you he was the same character even with a brighter light cast upon him.
So two things I absolutely suggest:
1. Go see Being Flynn. It is at times a lot of heavy emotional material to handle, but it is worth it to watch the collaboration between a mega-force actor like De Niro, and a rising mega-force actor such as Dano.
2. Find some Paul Dano movies and commence watching. I hope you will be as impressed as I have been.
I have a particular fascination when it comes to Dano's acting ability. It wasn't after Little Miss Sunshine that he caught my eye, but rather after his rather alarmingly amazing performances in two polar opposite films. The former, There Will Be Blood, where he literally almost overshadowed Daniel Day Lewis until the end, and then the latter, Gigantic, where he overwhelmed the screen with his talent despite being in the midst of a ridiculously talented cast (Zooey Deschanel and John Goodman). Since then he has been on my radar as an American actor who knows his stuff, as I like to say.
I am very picky when it comes to actors/actresses. If they cannot convince me that they are versatile, or classically trained, I just can't seemed to be bothered. But Dano possesses a quality on screen that is entirely believable. He becomes so wrapped up in a characters entire psychological and physical presence that you forgot about the funny-but-charming-faced young man. In fact Dano's real personality to this day is kind of a complete mystery to me.
So enough praise about Dano, and now to reflect on his latest character. I hated Nick, but in the best way that you can hate a character. To put it this way, when Ewan McGregor is addicted to heroin in Trainspotting I hated him as well. Both characters are completely mortifying, but they are meant to be the bottom of society, they are pathetic, worn down, confused and in a rat race against only themselves.
Dano falls so easily into step with Flynn's quickly dwindling neurosis. But I find myself wondering how long did it take him to break down into this character. How far above and beyond did he go to become the pathetic hunched over strung out blitzed nervous wreck of a time bomb that eventually appears. Nowadays there are all sorts of special effects to accelerate the process of decomposing appearances, but the actor cannot rely on that alone, and I think from Dano's skills so far, it is very plainly obvious that he has not relied on anything else but his talent. He could probably convince you he was the same character even with a brighter light cast upon him.
So two things I absolutely suggest:
1. Go see Being Flynn. It is at times a lot of heavy emotional material to handle, but it is worth it to watch the collaboration between a mega-force actor like De Niro, and a rising mega-force actor such as Dano.
2. Find some Paul Dano movies and commence watching. I hope you will be as impressed as I have been.
Thursday, March 15, 2012
Wednesday, March 14, 2012
Setting Sail
Well there's a very light breeze, but sooner or later this endeavor will be in full motion. By no means do I intend on pursuing this as a full fledged career, being far too busy looking for actual employment. But the intent is to share my personal art and fashion beliefs, and critique what I see on a frequent basis. It's hopefully going to get quite hectic aboard, so bear with me and enjoy! xx
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)