Oh Nino, Oh Nino, Wherefore Art Thou in the Canon?

I’ve studied acting for thirteen years officially and formally, unofficially I've been studying acting since I was a very young boy. Even though I loved movies in their entirety, always I had an acute focus on actors. From top billed to bottom. I was always mimicking lines, quotes, paying attention to certain gestures, walks, creases in the mouth, I’d watch Bogart smoke, Nicholson scowl, Whoopi animate a hand gesture. Once I began to actually study, it bothered me how centralized the focus was on white actors, when many of my favorites like Glynn Turman, Yaphet Kotto, Lynn Whitfield, or Diahann Carroll were black. That centralized focus continues even today. It colors the way we see the canon of acting, and harms the way actors grow up. So I feel it my duty to bring into the forefront some of the past performances of black actors that really deserve a lot more word of mouth and passing down through the ages than what they have received to this date. One such performance is Wesley Snipes work in New Jack City. Though it is most certainly well known, it is still rather underappreciated. In fact its the fact it’s so well known that informs me of its lack of true understanding as one of the all time great performances on film. Consider that the bulk of this movies power is owed to him in a way very few movies have been indebted almost solely to their lead actor. Scenes that don't include him hold the weight that they do because of the character he has created. Nino Brown is a cloud over the city, Snipes over the movie. His shadow looms separate from his body. The cold unaffected eyes pierce through objects, characters and the audience. He deploys that ferocity of the eye much the same as Pacino uses in Godfather and equally as effective. He mines every single word for its optimum value.

From the very first iconic line reading of “See you and I wouldn't wanna be you” (one of many) I was sold. I knew that I was watching someone that had that had that level of presence, magnetism, and skill that can only be called a Movie Star. Snipes was like nothing I had seen before, chiseled high cheekbones sunk into onyx saturated black skin, a resonant vocal pitch that was always floated between a threat and a charm. He was the antithesis of Denzel, eh seemed a rebuke of that kind of respectability and dignification that seemed rooted in acceptance. The scenes in New Jack City that contained him had a clarity of purpose that reminded me of Konstantin Stanislavsky talking about a class where in the teacher did an experiment to have someone just sit in a chair and look out to the audience. A student then comes up, sits in the chair, and commits to trying to act, they keep trying to do something “interesting”. Stanislavski explains that the audience was not the least bit moved by this persons actions, but that when the teacher goes up himself and sits - they were transfixed on him, mysteriously unable to move their attention. The teacher first showed them, then explained to them the difference. Stanislavski goes on to say ..

“What is the secret? He told us himself. Whatever happens on the stage must be for a purpose. Even keeping your seat must be for a purpose, a specific purpose, not merely The general purpose of being insight of the audience. One must earn one’s right to be sitting there. And it is not easy. ”

Specificity, a clear-cut understanding of who you are, and what you are doing in at any moment is vital to performance, because many times you may not be very sure about where it is you're going or where you're headed, so the purpose of the moment gives you a Northstar. Wesley Snipes clearly has one in New Jack. Cagney, Pacino, Bogart, you can see their influence all over the role. Its embedded in the DNA of Nino Brown and Wesley gives life to that so that this…

Is alot like this …

And this at about the 2:45 mark …

Bears similarities to this at around 1:17 ..

Nevermind outright call outs to who Nino and thusly Snipes is embodying like this…

In many ways Wesley's performance as Nino Brown ( and its subsequent nuanced lack of appreciation) mirrors Kobe Bryant's career in the NBA. He followed memorable performances by masters and crafted them so well in the image of those things (escpecially one, but not only one) that the greatness of it is taken for granted, or maybe everyone feels this way and just doesn’t say so. All I know is that Snipes didnt even seem to be considered for an Oscar. The Oscar's have never been a trustworthy barometer of taste or quality, but add that to the fact that a google search of Nino Brown produces not a single article or piece on Wesley's performance, that Wesley didn't get nonstop calls from some of the greatest directors of the time (Including Scorcese whom he really wanted to work with) and it says to me a role iconic exactly because of its actor, with an undeniable cultural residue is not receiving its due. For some it may be the movie itself that hurts the weight of Snipes performance. Though I still think New Jack City is better than it’s been given credit, its certainly not Goodfellas or the Godfather, though I’d argue as a film its better or equal to Scarface. You can never discount racism, and for others the mimicry may be a discrediting factor. Context matters though, and considering who Snipes character is and what he worships, it’s a spot-on and intelligent approach. Never mind the way Snipes never lets a word escape his mouth without first adding to it some additional power or importance through a number of gymnastic-like changes in cadence, speed, or pitch. “Dont nobody know nothing” changes pitch quickly to “Whatup with this ?” a much higher pitch. “Somebody gotta know something of whats going on, seewhatImsayin" (the latter which he says so fast it smashes altogether. This is not only the acute understanding of vernacular, but an understanding of what someone like Nino wishes to accomplish by and through language. Snipes breaks up the words to “Sit yo five dollar ass down before I make change” in such a way that the words obtained eternal life in the minds of almost every viewer who has ever seen the film. It’s a line that could've easily went left, but Snipes brings it up, and elevates it into the realm of classic. And less than a minute later follows it with another “I never liked you anyway..pretty muthafucka”, which is indicative of Nino's arrogance, and his unwillingness to be ashamed. There is not much of an oral history of this movie, a failing of the critical community as a whole, but I deeply suspect this might’ve been improvised, and even if it wasn’t snipes gives it the air of something off the cuff rather than planned.

Snipes is still not finished though, he sits down, exhausted from 5 minutes of a tyrannical dressing down of his subordinates, relaxes in his chair and in royal fashion lets the words “Now..leave me” fall from his tongue as if they were apart of the ragged air he'd been holding onto during the duration of his tirade. It’s the cherry on top of a very dark but delicious sundae of a performance where every beat is exactly where it is supposed to be, even when it is almost absurdly grandiose. Snipes, (beyond the aesthetics of everyone being dressed in black in this knights of the round-like environment makes this scene iconic which it most certainly is. Not only with his vocal acrobatics , but his movement, (who can forget his jump roping the dog chain?) pointing the cane with a potency that is again indicative of the precision of his invention. He is holding court and his subjects are not only there in the meeting, but behind the camera, and in front of the screen. The meeting scene is the crown jewel of a monarch performance that is far and away the most memorable thing in a movie that though uneven is quite memorable itself, whether that memory is in reference to the soundtrack, Chris Rock's greatest acting achievement, Mario Van Peebles unique camera choices, or Bernard Johnson’s costume design.

Snipes flourishes to the performance are legion. There is the toxic “Future-ness” (The Atlanta rapper) of the line “Cancel this bitch , I’ll get another one” and rebellious schadenfraude of watching him purposely butcher and reupholster Italian dishes (Skingilli?? Lol) when talking to the extremely racist Italian mob members, (Which reaches even outside the confines of the screen as a punch back for all the black and racist jokes made in Italian films ) and the “meeting's" only rival for best scene - the court scene, where again Nino's Ted Bundy like narcissism shines through Snipes visceral menace and coiled smugness. The signature work continues right up until his death where Snipes employs the agile physicality (we would all later find out came from martial arts training ) to provide at the time maybe the most memorable fall to ones death since Hans Gruber left his Tag Huer behind on his way down in Die Hard.

It may be Snipes filmography after New Jack City that keeps people from talking about this performance in the volume it deserves, (which would be indicative of the genre bias I’ve written about before amongst cinephiles) but maybe it’s one of those where it’s not talked about, but if you mention it everyone recognizes it’s an all time great performance, but this does it a disservice. Actors need to hear about this performance, it needs to be reference point not only for what Stanislavski mentioned , but as a template for how to significantly vital an all-in performance can be to a movie, and thusly why its important to give your best no matter the material. Its important because far more black actors be added to the canon of discussion around all time great performances beyond the few we bring up time and time again. Nino Brown in the movie may never have revieved the legacy he so ambitiously sought after, but Wesley Snipes work as the Iconic gangster most certainly should.