Even in Death Bernardo Bertolucci Denies me Form.
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Eulogizing Bernardo Bertolucci is I think an A-typically difficult endeavor. Discussing even his unique filmography seems to escape any singular context or understanding of what he means to me both in and outside of the art he produced. What does come easy to me is that Bertolucci and his art definitely existed at the higher end of the spectrum artist. By that I mean I would consider Bertolucci the predominant stereotype of what a artist tends to look and sound like in my head. And his filmography, as well as his biography, is full of those traits that I most readily align with artistic behaviors. Contrarianism, somewhat tortured, sadistic and masochistic, aloof, stubborn, temperamental, and idealistic, but that the great bulk of these traits don’t really apply to Bertolucci himself as much as they seem to match what one would imagine the man who makes films like he did would. What’s interesting is I have very little affinity for his body of work as a whole, but the man looms so largely in my head for what I enjoy about his work . I think I enjoyed “The Dreamers” most, “The Last Emperor” (though the most problematic film not named “Last Tango in Paris”) is also his most readily accessible and typically satisfying, but the rest of his filmography “The Conformist” (A film so non conformist that it took me seven tries to actually finish it) were of the type of constitution that I had/have little to no interest in ever revisiting them. The Conformist, and it's ideas, themes and motifs so scrambled in my own head, so parted and distorted from frequently departing and then revisiting the film, from stepping outside of the headspace created, and then climbing back into it abruptly, that I don't think anything worthwhile would come out of a review of that film from me. “Last Tango in Paris” is a microcosm that becomes the macrocosm of what I think about Bertolucci the man and the artist. It's a wonderful dream like experience of Paris, and a unnerving authoritarian expression of raw desire and unbridled lust seems almost alien in its understanding of romance and connection. It's ethereally gorgeous and somewhat dream-like to the point of idealism, and yet as cynical and brutal in its depiction of it as something like Derek Cianfrance’s “Blue Valentine”. What we now know took place on that set as told to us by the actress Mariah Schneider makes any eulogy of Bertolucci that doesn't include that very fateful day incomplete, and I think, serves as a warning of the dangers of something as authoritarian as the “Autuer Theory”. The idea of which gives a sense of infallibility to something/someone inherently fallible…men. We cannot give such authority over to men because men are gonna men. The completeness of the lack of empathy involved to place ones vision over the safety of an actor. To conspire to ambush an actress into an act of simulated rape thus committing actual rape is to break every rule intended to create bonds of trust between people who have lent their power over to you. Taking this bit of real life horror and looking at the rest of Bertolucci’s films what I find, what I feel (cliché as it may sound) is that often times the same things that make us great are the same things that make us terrible. And great and terrible are incidentally the two words I most commonly associate with Bertolucci.
My "New Hollywood": 15 Actors of color that Hollywood should start casting a lot more immediately.
/With the onset of social media creating awareness, the box office success of movies like Get Out, Black Panther, Crazy, Rich, Asians, and Girls Trip Hollywood has been a buzz with talk of representation, and diversity. But as the doors of opportunity open ever so slightly, and we engage in the conversations around casting and deserving actors I'd like to encourage diversity amongst even the diversity. It isn't enough to cast actors of color if limited imagination, and an increasingly narrow focus on branding and star making allows for the same 5 actors in any group to be casted over and over again as if on a marginalized merry go round. And this doesn't just extend to casting directors. Many times even amongst pop culture commentators, and social media I see the same Michael B. Jordan for this John Cho for that type casting. A constricted bingo game with very few squares, limited chips, and the same ol numbers being called out ad nauseam. So I'd like to mention some names of a few (15 ) actors (There are many many more I could list but people have jobs) I think are either due, underrated, or breakouts that deserve recognition I've seen near no one give them.
Choi min sik
The actor - of Oldboy fame - has not only presence, but physicality, vulnerability, and truth. If the roles were there Sik would be a regular at Oscar ceremonies. He can descend into madness, I mean stare right into it and come out of it without bringing with him the slightest sense he was ever playing at being there. He is one of the most gifted physical actors I've seen since Jim Carrey and Jackie Chan - both descendants of Buster Keaton and Chaplin. His face is a map, his brow the X that marks the spot where his tension is focused and he never makes an uninteresting choice in my experience watching him. I truly consider him one of the greatest actors alive. There is no excuse I can think of not to cast this master thespian in a Villanueve, Winding Refn, Nolan, or any other top tier director film, his work speaks for and in itself.
Shoreh Aghdashloo
Aghdashloo is a storyteller. Her magnificent voice carries the emotion, her eyes tell the tale, while her body language turns the page. She can burn you down, warm you up, or freeze your attention. She is a trained actor one can easily tell, but she is not stiff, and she is more than willing to take acting risks, and bend the rules. She is a scene thief, a character actor, and a star, and the proof is in her role in House of Sand of Fog which may have techincally starred Jennifer Connelly, and Ben Kingsley, but was most certainly HER movie. Her gravelly silk harp of a voice is as comforting as a warm wind on a cool day, and she has a pension for understanding the importance of using the entirety of a set to an actor. Watch her pour a glass of water, or walk over to a chair, look out a window, or even clean a coffee table, and give it the same intention as she would a scene partner. This is craft, this is work, this is love, this is acting.
Debbie Morgan
A veteran actor who made her name known in daytime television (a breeding ground for a lot of our greatest actors whether you want to believe it or not) Morgan's performance in Kasi Lemmon's black Southern Gothic classic "Eve's Bayou" was a the astronomical birth of a star, or at least it should've been. Morgan has been criminally - and I don't use that word in a hyperbolic sense - slept on. She has a well of shifting instincts, sentiment as deep as Julianne Moore, and the presence of Lena Horne. In a pivotal and revealing scene in Eve's Bayou Morgan delivers a masterclass in monologue delivery. It is full of deliberate movement that never seems deliberate, gravitas, and heartbreaking sincerity. It is lived in and mesmerizing. You go where she goes because you can tell she was on a journey of immense importance..to her as an actor, and to the film...I stan.. And you would too if Hollywood gave her half the chance.
Alberto Ammann
So far I've only seen him in the three seasons of Netflix's high octane cocaine tale "Narcos" as Pacho Herrera. But all he has done in that time is steal the spotlight from a lot of the more prominent figures in the show, create a deliberate evolution of character and objectives from an actor's sense of instinct, and show a magnetism that usually comes standard with stardom. Ammann possesses an innate ferocity, but he also has soft eyes and it makes for compelling viewing. Anyone watching Narcos is made keenly aware of this. Ammann has made Pacho - a cold blooded viscous killer of the highest order - relatable and sympathetic, loving and cruel all at the same time sometimes in the same scene. The actor has the looks of a leading man, plenty of charm, and the skillset of a character actor which should give him an elasticity and longevity in Hollywood if they wake up... Cast him.
Adepero Oduye
Lupita Nyong'o's performance as "Patsy" got all the recognition and rightfully so, but that shouldn't have caused Hollywood to forget the devastating and lingering ache of Adepero Oduye's performance as "Eliza" in Steve McQueen's antebellum epic "12 years a slave ". Like the movie itself it took what is a tired subject matter and opened up new chanels of humanity, expression, nuance, and frankness. And that was after she had already wowed us with her performance in Dee Ree's " Pariah ". Intelligence is not often spoken of in relation to acting, but it is vital to being great. It informs decisions and choices for the narrative pathways of a character. Watching Oduye's work it's clear she has it in spades. Because of that I think Oduye could do a bevy of varied and game changing work in Hollywood, especially as it pertains to the independent circuit, and television. Directors whose work gravitates towards the A24's of the world, and HBO or Netflix, should shape projects around this beautiful and talented woman, the receipts will reward the decision as Dee Rees and Steve McQueen already know.
Zahn McClarnon
Having seen Zahn McClarnon steal scenes in Fargo, Frontier, and Westworld, I think it's time Hollywood take notice of both his skills, and inherent likeability. For comparison McClarnon gives me Fonda vibes of various members but especially Henry. He has that magic sort of steely intelligence rooted in hardened every man values. That ability to stare a thousand yards into another person's soul, or relay several different emotions in one seemingly similar look. You want a new era grapes of wrath? You doing a film about a cold blooded assassin who slowly either deteriorates or has a change of heart (Think "The American" with George Clooney), this is your guy. I personally think "Wind River" the latest from writer Taylor Sheridan (of Sicario, and Hell or High Water fame) would've been that much better had McClarnon starred rather than Jeremy Renner for a ton of reasons. Culture just being the obvious.
Rinko Kikuchi
Like McClarnon, and Aghdashloo on this list before her, Rinko Kikuchi is a performer whose eyes form the centerpiece of a lot of her work. She may be the person on my list that deploys them with the most skill, communicating a wide variety of unique combinations of complex feelings in a stare, glance, or averted look. She can stand still, move barely a muscle on her face and tell you everything you need to know. She can snatch your soul, gut your heart or render you tearless, and she can do it with either her eyes or her concise use of her body. After her hard to miss break out performance in Iñarritu's Babel, much of the American material she's appeared in has not been on par with her talent, but it's nonetheless shown off her range. From rom- com, to horror, action, and prestige drama this actress can do it all, and appeals to a wider audience than I think most would give her credit for.
Lennie James
I first took note of Lennie in Guy Ritchie's kinetic gangster romp "Snatch" as Sol. He was funny, in possession of some great timing, and magnetism. Sol in his hands was cool, but moronic, and it was James's patent earnestness that made you root for Sol despite his criminal and general ineptitude. Later he appeared as a dirty cop in the short lived Mark Strong vehicle on AMC "Low Winter Sun". The show wasn't much but James was impressive, and it was a complete turn around from my first introduction to him. But it is in the wildly popular AMC series The Walking Dead as Morgan where James has made a mark. Morgan is a tragic character, and James imbued him with a quiet dignity, and a weighted sadness born of his trauma, and survival instinct. A madness rooted in an empathetic understanding of where Morgan had been. And when Morgan climbed out of his pit of grief, James provided a living breathing fire bathed in a distinctive honesty that propelled Morgan to a series fave. Get Out could've used James, as the Gardner maybe. Tarantino could use James, his gift for monologues and language clear in both Snatch and TWD, or really anything with a clever comedic angle, or any number of character centric pieces. James has an instictual moodiness that is ever present in his acting and when I think of the way old Hollywood made use of Joseph Cotton, I think "Lennie James could be that in this era".
Narges Rashidi
Under the Shadow was one of 2016's best kept secrets and Narges Rashidi had a lot to do with its hold on those of us who saw it. It's a small movie with a limited focus so so much of the movies success depended upon her. What Rashidi did was supply the under current of urgency and subtle defiance that acts as the bedrock for so much of the films underlying message and effectiveness. She hung on to even the most minor of details, allowed her terror to come both deliberately and suddenly, and she had an intent focus, that allowed and communicated her objectives without ham fisted telegraphs. Desperation, loneliness, courage, and fear, dispensed throughout the film as if on a time release to create a relatable, unforgettable portrait of motherhood, bravery, and determination not unlike that of Essie Davis in "The Babadook". It was a performance as immersive, and gripping as the movie it was featured in, and a break out performance that should earn her more attention than she has received thus far.
Colman Domingo
I may already be too late on Coleman, as he has upcoming roles in Barry Jenkins " If Beale Street could talk" and “Assassination Nation” but as it stands he is a highly under-appreciated thespian. Besides AMC's Fear the Walking Dead, ( Which I must admit I haven't watched) I have not seen Domingo in much or for very long but I remember him and that says a lot. Whether as Ralph Abernathy in Ava DuVernays Selma, or as a Soldier far too enamored with the presence of the president, and anchored by respectability in Spielberg's "Lincoln" or a concerned wrestling coach in Olivia Newman's Netflix gem "First Match"...Domingo brings the kind of work that is rooted in professionalism - knowing your job and executing it with skillful precision - and god given talent. Spike Lee, DuVernay, Spielberg, and now Jenkins... Obviously some of our greatest directors see this man as an asset in some shape or form and I think it's a testament to his work, maybe it's time Hollywood see it too, and for some director out there to offer the actor - who has a Portier like assurance, and awareness - something he can really sink his teeth into.
Veronica Falcón
It takes about five minutes to become fully engrossed with Veronica Falcón in the Alice Braga starrer "Queen of the South". And though Braga presents her own case for being on this list as well, for my money Falcón is the main reason to watch USA's Scarface like gangster opera. She gives her character Camila Vargas a lion like regality and much like that same lion a viscousness that is made all the more awe inspiring and impressive by how little she has to do to convey it. It's a performance steeped in confidence, intelligence, and that rare "It" factor many of the actors on my list share. Falcón can play rage, compassion, sincerity, and sexy, and play them to the hilt. She has a built in sort of hinge that allows her to swing an emotional door in any direction she wants and audiences will want to open their doors to her almost immediately after watching a few scenes featuring her capable skill set.
Lee Byung-hun
A jawline from the Gods, chiseled abs, a thousand yard stare, and talent for potent but unbridled emotional release. Korean actor Lee Byung- hun should be Hollywood's dream come true, but he has yet to break through to the states. This despite roles in big box office smash action films like G. I. Joe, and The Magnificent Seven. The american roles so far have been well beneath his level of talent but he makes the most of it. BUT it is in his work in Korea where you see the depth of his quality as a leading man. Lee possesses the exact kind of tacit vulnerability, and capability for visceral emotional outburst American audiences love in their action heroes, but the sentimental heft to be much more and this was never on display more than in 2010's I Saw the Devil opposite another actor on this list Choi Min-sik. He held his own with an actor of tremendous skill and gave us one of the most effective and memorable crying scenes of the past two decades.
Indira Varma
I first took note of Indira Varma when she played the estranged wife of Idris Elba's Luther in the titular show. And the aptitude was on display immediately. I would see her next as Ellaria Sand in season four of Game of Thrones. What became evident in seeing both of these entirely different characters was Varmas range. She went from long suffering, but loving wife, to scheming queen vixen, from perpetually frightened (an emotion she is quite adept at), to vengeful, and domineering and she did it with an uncanny ease. Varma has power and presence, but she is also gifted at giving up that power to any complex combination of disappointment or fear, as was the case in Luther, or to abject horror as she displayed in one of the most memorable scenes in GOT's run whew boy.. .
Irfan Khan
Warm, dignified, an intent listener, and yet another actor who does a lot with his eyes, Irfan Khan is one of my acting heroes. His style is poetic, he tends to move in slow purposeful waves, theres an almost rhythmic cadence to his speech but he will go off beat and throw you off, but his eyes are always on you. He gazes through you and into you and it's both unsettling and beautiful. It never ceases to anger me that he's not everywhere, omnipresent in tinsel town. An absolute craftsman of rareified air, he's more than adept at playing almost anything you ask of him. Hero (The Namesake, Life of Pi) Villain ( The Amazing Spiderman) and everything in between (Jurassic World, and Slumdog Millionaire). While he has definitely seen more action in Hollywood than other actors on this list his roles have been far too limited and when they're not, roles only someone of his ethnicity could play. This should not be the case with an actor this great. I recently learned that Khan was diagnosed with cancer and I couldn't be more crestfallen. I pray for his quick recovery, and that when he does it's to a Hollywood open to the idea of casting him in the light he deserves as one of the finest actors on the world.
Dominique Jackson
At least as on display in FX's pose there is a ferocity to Dominique Jackson as an actor. Her opening scene in the show is the stuff of legend, and it set the tone for the operatic, but skillfull nature of the rest of the show. Many of the shows best scenes featured Jackson displaying heart, betrayal, narcissism, or cruelty, sometimes subtlely, sometimes dramatically, all the time with a first rate nuance, and formidable assuredness. There was a key difference in how Ekektra carried herself in and amongst her family, and how she presented with her lover and it was that body language that informed us that audience of the double mindedness of her existence, and allowed us to feel the importance of her own revolution. Jackson - much like her character Elektra Abundance - knows she deserved to be there, and she deserves to be in as much as she is willing and available to be in, and Hollywood has. In truth I should just place the entire cast of Pose in here, especially the trans actors because they especially were in such command of their individual skill sets as to rip asunder the idea that trans actors and any marginalized actors are any less talented, deserving, or capable of leading and carrying entire narratives as any other actor. Along with the other actors on this list as Hollywood is awakening to the box office power of representation, identity, and blind casting in spaces where it is appropriate- these are just a few of the actors I feel are lost in conversations that too often are limited to off screen charisma, social media presence, and excessive visibility, and not skill and work. Their niches may very from Star, to leading men and women to character actors, but what they have in common is presence and well honed craftsmanship that will never go out of style, and IF properly employed can carve out permanent spaces in the firmament of Hollywood's best and brightest.
After all this time maybe it's time we stop acting like Tom Cruise isn't really good at acting.
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After watching the sheer insanity that was Mission Impossible: Fallout, one thing kept running laps around my brain the entire time, and it wasn't any particular stunt, or action sequence (though they were nothing short of legendary) no. It was this....Tom Cruise may be one of the most underrated actors living. Yes I said underrated. After over 30 years of making movies, a net worth of over 400 million dollars, and a procession of memorable films I still believe as an actor Cruise is underrated.
Of course there is all the weird Scientology stuff, which in an era where your star is heavily maintained by the cult of personality you build around yourself is well...earned. But I'm not talking about Cruise's possibly waning Star power, I'm talking about Cruise as an actor. I've sat in on far too many conversations dismissing Cruise as an actor (these are usually the same types who dismiss John Wayne as being himself..sorry dad I love you though! ). Most of us by now have heard of Anne Rice's reaction to Cruise's casting as Lestat, and I definitely believe you could trace the root of that reaction in an ideology about what kind of an actor Tom Cruise is. Google Tom Cruise and acting and you get this...
Or this by Christopher Hooten at the independent...
The last acknowledges both that there is a hatred for Tom Cruise's acting (again I think his off screen persona has some part to do with that) and what I think is a common mistake in this conversation...prizing one characteristic of acting over another to the point you dismiss the importance of others. It reminds me of the scene in Gladiator (one of the few where you empathize with Commodus) when after being told he will not be emperor, he explains to his father Marcus Aurelius that though he did not possess any of "the four chief virtues" Aurelius wrote to him about, he did have other virtues it seems his father outright dismissed or hated because they were not his. We often do this, and as I have said before in conversation - "who and what we praise often tell us a lot more about ourselves than any objective idea of greatness". As an actor and a lover of film and storytelling, I feel Cruise's range, (See Interview with a Vampire, Magnolia, Born on the fourth of July) depth, and craft are consistently underappreciated. Intensity is the word I most associate with Tom Cruise. It's what embodies and encompasses his films, and his performances, and unlike Mr. Hooten at the Independent I think it's very interesting if you're not placing acting in strict objective absolutes. I would argue that both Cruise and Reeves - who Mr Hooten calls "horrible" -could not possibly be around for thirty plus years and be uninteresting. For Reeves I'd need to do another piece to argue what he brings to the screen, but thankfully Anjelica Bastien wrote THE PIECE on Keanu Reeves talents. As for Cruise, the physicality, radiancy, and mentality he brings to every gesture, facial expression, and objective is ever present in his acting. Energy is also a core tenant of acting it's importance stated in almost every method from Stanislavsky to Lessac. And Cruise understands, and very naturally harnesses his energy to convey to the camera any number of potent emotions. It's there when he plays the piano and utters the lines "Claudia you've been a very very naughty little girl"
It's there in his eyes alone as he tries desperately to fend off an emotional breakdown on stage...
It's there in the many times Cruise gives himself over physically to the point he's literally seconds away from what could end in possibly horrific consequences that are caught right on camera like in this collateral scene...
Or in this scene where it's clear that his energy threw his balance off near the end, nearly causing him to fall as he trashes the table.
I don't think you could be as vulnerable as Cruise consistently makes himself physically, and have that leak out nowhere emotionally. But more on that later. The potency of the energy Cruise brings to any part of his acting extends even to the way he sells punches. Outside of Jackie Chan and maybe the other underrated talent in Hollywood - Keanu Reeves - no one sells a punch like Cruise... pay attention to what Cruise is doing and when being hit, what he adds to it, how he captures how the shock of a throat punch registers not only to the face but to the entirety of the body ( especially nice, since both he and Cavil are hit there so that we get to see both in scene) in this clip from his latest Mission Impossible Fallout...
Now compare that to a scene in the Bond series with Daniel Craig, a magnificent actor himself. But look how little he puts into taking the hits, all of his energy is put into giving out punishment, but the reactions to receiving it?...Not so much. They aren't bad, they're just not necessarily good or great either...
This could be editing but I have a feeling if Craig did something really fantastic it would be left in there to enhance the visceral nature of a fight that seems to be going for that very thing. But Cruise's reactionary prowess ( a by-product of being a good listener as an actor) is one of a kind, and it's not only relegated to those of a physical nature. Cruise is vulnerable on camera in a way that vibrates off screen, no hes never been truly revelatory in that sphere, because there's always something he holds onto, some darkness abd light he keeps for himself, but even in that space he does reveal things about the men he plays, about their and maybe his worship at the altar of masculinity and the masks we wear in service, and he is not fake when he does. One of my favorite scenes ever is representative of this ability. It's in the wildly insane aquarium scene in the first mission impossible. Starting from about the 1: 40 mark cruise has a great cascade of reactions to Kittridge (played by the great character actor Henry Czerny) that range from "Wait a minute" to surprise, to incredulousness, revelation, and then finally anger. It's a natural, organic, purposefully deliberate progression that manages to rise as the mask melts perfectly along with Elfmans score matching Cruise beat for beat until both explode simultaneously along with the actual events in the scene.
It's a wonderful case of collaboration, and my case for why Cruise is a movie star that understands his craft as well as his brand. There are actors who understand their brand but not their craft (The Rock, Will Smith, come to mind) and actors who understand their craft but not their brand (Idris Elba, Bryan Cranston) and then there is the rarest actors who know both (Meryl Streep, Denzel, Btad Pitt, Emily Blunt, Angela Bassett) and of course Cruise. And when you have a brand most times you have a signature, and for Tom Cruise that's running. A cinematic hallmark or signature of a Cruise film as much as a Spike Lee dolly shot, or a Godard jump cut, it's also again indicative of Cruise's singular focus and drive. There's no half assing it in a Cruise scene and whatever he may not have in a natural ability to morph into characterizations, or convey a seemingly endless myriad of emotional nuances he makes up for with the jolting intention he applies to any action be it great or small. It's the reason why Cruise like Denzel (albeit for different reasons) doesn't really have what people might call a terrible movie. He's always a joy to watch and has lasted this long because we always appreciate that kind of effort, that love for what you do. In every Tom Cruise film you will find an actor who is dedicated to entertaining us and pushing himself, and after almost 30 years of doing just that I think it's high time we stop hating and start congratulating.
George Sanders: Tiger, Tiger Burning Bright.
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George Sanders...If I was to start counting down from the top of my most favorite on screen actors, I'm sure he'd end up in my top 20 somewhere. For the better part of 40 years he worked in Hollywood -at his height sometimes unavoidable - as one of the best if not the best character actor around. He had preternatural presence, self awareness, a misanthropic wit, and a voice to die for. As a kid, it was his voice work as Shere Khan in Disney's the Jungle Book that stood out more than any other because it was so alarmingly polite and yet every word, every enunciated vowel, spoke to a peril and an impending danger just beneath. Later on as I began to study acting, and the still underrated tactic of finding a - for lack of better word "spirit animal" - to encompass your performance, I put together that so much of Sanders work (especially as a villain) bore a physical, and spiritual resemblance to a tiger. Sanders many times seemed to stalk his co stars Male or Female. He stared intently watched them, and then encroached upon their space. His voice registered at a low growl, but his accent often purred. He pounced unexpectedly often going for the jugular of whomever his current prey is at the moment with his razor sharp wit, or compressing cruelty, holding the victims throat until they surrender.
The broad stroke of Sanders career in my opinion was playing mostly nefarious characters who weaponized charm and manners. He was a poster boy for mannered vitriol. If watching any one actor taught me that civility can be a bedazzled Iron Maiden it was George. His threats were always mostly veiled, his smugness just beneath his congeniality, he was entitled, strident, and he had a sexual energy that was unnerving, uncomfortable, and captivating, which was part of what made him the silver screens foremost cad. He was usually a society man on the outskirts of society. A man with little to no scruples because he was contemptuous of society in general, but particularly of those better off than he. Sadly these qualities did not seem to be born of invention with little or nothing to do with the actual man, as Sanders had an atrocious record with women, often quoted leveling a similar brand of vitriol at the women in his life and to people in general as his characters did, ditto for his contempt for society. On his death bed after battling depression Sanders checked into a hotel and committed suicide, leaving behind a letter that said
"Dear World,
I am leaving you because I am bored. I feel I have lived long enough. I am leaving you with your worries in this sweet cesspool. Good luck."
