[sad now]
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It occurred to me recently that I still hadn't seen all of his work. I wasn't a convert to his gifts until Monster's Ball (2001) so I missed a few performances here and there. What's your favorite underseen or early Ledger turn? Brokeback Mountain and The Dark Knight won't need any help in maintaining their regard as the key works in his career but what are we missing when the conversation continually centers around only two films?
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Monster's Ball.
ReplyDeleteCandy was an underrated film I thought, even if it is a bit thin and done before. Heath gave a superb, un-self conscious performance, and there were some strong emotional moments every now and then.
ReplyDeleteOther than that i'd also list Monster's Ball, and he was of course dreamy in A Knight's Tale and 10 Things I Hate About You.
10 Things I Hate About You will always be my favorite Heath performance. I mean, The Joker is the best, but 10 Things is my favorite, bar none. Shame he didn't do a musical.
ReplyDelete"Candy" is my favorite unsung performance of his. Heartbreaking, in retrospect.
ReplyDeleteHaven't seen it in a while but I remember that his performance is THE SIN EATER was great. Actually I remember liking him much more for THE SIN EATER and MONSTER'S BALL than for The Dark Knight.
ReplyDeleteBut again, I saw those films way before while repeat viewings of Brokeback make his performance clearer in my mind. (He's absolutely fantastic)
Heath was great in Candy. I fell in love with him in A Knights Tale. He was incredibly charismatic.
ReplyDelete10 things I hate about you!!!
ReplyDeleteHe was so lovely!!!
Candy. For sure. He and Abbie Cornish were sublime.
ReplyDeleteCAN WE PLEASE STOP ON THE LOSS OF HEATH TOPICS HE WAS GOOD IN BBM AND EFFECTIVE IN MONSTER'S BALL BUT HE DIDN'T INVENT THE WHELL BEFORE HE DIED,I WAS SAD AT THE LOSS BUT MY LIFE NEVER CHANGED!! it would've been nice just to put a pic and say he would've been 30 my god you aren't putting up posts saying oooh river would've been such an age or judy would've been this or jim belushi or brad renfro would've been or chris farley etc etc
ReplyDeletehe was a promising talent WE KNOW!!
he died to young WE KNOW!!
he never got the RIGHT accolades for bbm WE KNOW!!
the dark knight would have been nothing without his perf WE KNOW!!
HE IS DEAD WE KNOW!!
MOVE ON AMERICA HE WASN'T PAUL FUCKIN NEWMAN FOR GODS SAKE!!!!
but he could've been, mrripley. and i believe that is the point. We will never know what else he could've done when he had done so well in the genres that he did tackle. he was able to go from comedy to drama, mainstream to indie, likable to hero with impressive ease, and that is why his death is still a shock and he is revered by so many.
ReplyDelete...thumper taught me life's greatest lesson: if you don't have anything nice to say, don't say anything at all.
mrripley... trust me when i tell you that if blogs existed back when River Phoenix died... and i was writing about movies i would have typed about him a lot. Loved his work.
ReplyDeleteand it's weird to claim i never mention Judy ... talk about her all the time :) can't get enough.
Agree with Paul Outlaw, found him charming in "10 Things I Hate About You" but "Monster's Ball" made me notice him. His character's interactions with Hank really break your heart.
ReplyDeletei just want to say leave the hosannahs to the rest concentrate on the good up n comers we have now,let it all rest now intil the imaginarium of dr parnissus!
ReplyDeleteHe had me at 'A Knight's Tale' (which I actually watched for Paul Bettany, who had my at 'Gangster No. 1', which I watched for Malcolm McDowell).
ReplyDeleteoh for my penny's worth monster's ball is agrest supporting performance you feel so sad after he has died.
ReplyDeleteFor me, the holy Heath trinity is completed by his role in 'I'm Not There'. His story line with Charlotte Gainsborough is the heart of the film, and both their performances are incredibly moving and subtle.
ReplyDeleteHe really was on his way to being one of the greats.
can't wait for parnassus.
I saw 10 Things I Hate about You when I was thirteen years old so I was a fan of his since then. He was brilliant in Lords of Dogtown. He was completely unrecognizable in that film.
ReplyDeletemrripley today is the man's birthday. Some people would like to remember him once a year, you know.
Major love for 10 Things I Hate About You. He was so charming.
ReplyDeleteYes...Candy. And I still love Ten things I Hate About You.
ReplyDeleteI got to admit, I really adored his alluringly goofy creation in THE BROTHERS GRIMM. An uneven performance, sure, but a fascinating and creative one all the same. In terms of less discussed gems, I’d have to recommend his fine work in TWO HANDS playing a naïve, would-be crook in way over his head. The film is essentially a black gangster comedy but has a distinct tone that Ledger fully understands and helps maintain throughout.
ReplyDeleteNathaniel… I remember you once mentioning something about how our relationships with certain actors tend to be defined by our very first encounter with them. I couldn’t agree more and Ledger is a perfect example; I will never forget my reaction to his short, but pivotal performance in “Monster’s Ball”... the first time I ever saw him on the big screen. As a lonely prison guard, he completely pulled the rug out from under me.
The one specific moment that kills me dead every single time is his wordless response to a nasty blowout with his father (“Do you know what you did!) in a prison locker room. As a fellow guard tries to lend a helping hand (“You got, uh, blood on…”) Ledger’s gives a wordless, masterfully devastating response; a slight buff of his head—telling the guard to let him be— along with a defeated, crumbling expression that achieves unnerving depth. Just watch the tidal shifts going on underneath the skin of this man’s face; vulnerability, humiliation and even resignation are unearthed there in such a subtle, nuanced way.
Despite the size of the part—and co-star Berry’s more “loud” approach-- he still manages to provide the film’s most devastating moment. And while I’ll always be married to his lovelorn ranch-hand, “Sonny” still left an indelible imprint on my movie-going heart.
Sigh. We miss you Heath.
His best work is in TWO HANDS.
ReplyDeleteI second the person who said I'm Not There.
ReplyDeleteI like his performance in Casanova, an underrated comedy.
ReplyDeleteDude, he is a.maz.ing in "Lords of Dogtown". Completely unrecognizable (in a good way). But yes, it's Monsters Ball and beyond where things reall got interesting.
ReplyDeleteThe patriot is another of his great movie :).mrripley, you have no idea what you are talking about, he would have been better then Paul Newman, who lived to over 80, NOT 28! And Judi Garland ( I Assume that is the Judi you are refering to) was a drugged out weirdo.
ReplyDeleteCasanova. It was (understandably) overshadowed by Brokeback Mountain, b/c I think it came out at about the same time, but it was so much fun!
ReplyDeleteI must say, that in my opinion there is NO bad performances by Heath Ledger.
ReplyDeleteBut to mention few "conversation missing" performances I have to say that in "Candy" Heath was great, also in "I'm not there" and why not in "Two Hands".
Honestly I think that more or less all his performances are magnificent.
A Knight's Tale and 10 Things I Hate About You. Great films!
ReplyDeleteTwo Hands. Black comedy/ gangster flick/ romance. He swims at Bondi Beach in his underpants. Directed by Gregor Jordan. Also stars Rose Byrne and Bryan Brown. See it Nat!!!
ReplyDeleteIn agreement with Jake M.: "Lords of Dogtown" (a forgotten gem in its own right) features Ledger in a loose, shambling, and altogether marvelous performance. He provides the movie with its stoned-out wit and mellow soul, and really gives the "punk-skaters-go-corporate" plotline extra heft by allowing us to see the disappointment and disillusionment of his keeper-of-the-skater-ethos character. I really liked him in "I'm Not There," but that's ultimately other people's movie (Haynes, Blanchett, etc.). "Lords," on the other hand, is enlivened and lifetd up by Ledger, and both he and the film deserve re-discovery.
ReplyDeleteHeath was riveting in Two Hands.
ReplyDeleteDon't forget about his performance in Four Feathers. That was a great movie.
But of course, the movie I'll always love the best is Brokeback Mountain.