Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Sam Rockwell and Hilary Swank in "Conviction"

Whether or not you believe the old Hollywood maxim “directing is 90% casting,” you do have to admit that it’s a hefty percentage of the sum of any good film. Tony Goldwyn, who directed the true story exoneration drama Conviction, now in theaters, obviously understands this. Sam Rockwell was Goldwyn’s first and only choice to play the convicted murderer Kenny Waters and casting him was a wise move indeed.  Now, signing Rockwell didn’t leave Goldwyn with only 10% of the work to do but it certainly improved the film before the cameras got rolling.

Read the rest of "Best in Show: Sam Rockwell" at Tribeca Film

...Meanwhile here at The Film Experience

I regret to inform that there's no proper review of the movie coming. (If anyone knows a good free Time Management Class in NYC, do let me know, will you?) But Conviction, which expands (maybe to your city) Friday will get some coverage here nontheless. Some words on Tony Goldwyn (writer/director/sometime actor) and the one and only Juliette Lewis are forthcoming. Many of you have already asked what I thought of the Swankster. So I shall divulge.

I would rank this as her third best performance. It's lesser than Million Dollar Baby (able work but the film / character are nowhere near as dynamic) and miles below Boy's Don't Cry. The latter is her peak, her Mount Everest if you will; her other performances can only see it with binoculars. To be fair, many Actresses could only see that particular performance with binoculars. Contrary to popular belief I have never begrudged her that first Oscar.

"It's okay, Sam. You can have one of mine."
It's interesting that Hilary Swank's best work always involves single-minded characters. As you know I've never found her particularly gifted but rather than bag on her (she's good in the film) like the haters always assume I will, I'll just explain my theory about her.

Were Swank to have stayed in television, I think she'd have proven to be a popular and fairly adept lead in procedural dramas or some such with a shelf of Emmys to show for it rather than two Oscars and pockets of haters and minor media backlash. She is undoubtedly capable of hitting her marks, carrying a film (i.e. the ability to hold audiences attention for a good long while -- which is a different talent than "acting" but mandatory for film stardom) and, most importantly, selling the important emotions of a scene. She can sometimes do this with enormous aching feeling and she's been abundantly rewarded for just that. But where I've always found her lacking, and thus the Oscar attention galling, is that she doesn't seem capable of doing that and... Which is to say that she only sells one idea about a character at a time. Were you to define the greatest weapons in the arsenal of any truly gifted big screen actor, I think you'd find that their ability to convey a multiplicity of feelings simultaneously is one of them. The great screen actors can merely look towards the camera and you get not one but two (or several) ideas about the character. They have the gift of three-dimensional sculpting. Some of them, the ones with a penchant for minimalism or an unusual facility with ambiguity especially,  can even cross over into a fourth dimension of...

But I digress. I could go on and on -- I have feelings and theories about screen acting (!) to state the very obvious -- but I do think the filmmakers (and maybe the actress herself?) who have found the best uses for Swank have understood, even if only on an instinctual level, that her limits can be used as strengths to service characters who have only ever allowed themselves one track, one purpose or one guiding emotion. (Amelia, was an interesting failure in light of this. While Earhart was engaged in a singular-minded pursuit, the woman was too complex an individual otherwise for Swank's approach). Swank's key characters,  Brandon, Maggie and now Betty Anne Waters, really have only this single-mindedness to unite them.

Swank x 3: Boy's Don't Cry, Million Dollar Baby, Conviction

Well, that and their coincidental (?) white trash childhoods. I have no explanation for the poverty stricken childhoods -- "I'm just a girl from a trailer park with a dream!" -- and I'll leave that up to your theorizing, should you want to go there.

Do you plan to see Conviction? Do you think Swank can pull off a surprise third nomination (it is a longsuffering bio) or that Sam Rockwell will finally win an Oscar nomination?
*

31 comments:

stjeans said...

I have to say I don't always agree with u but when I do, I REALLY DO!... I've never read such a Bang on piece on Miss Swank. Alléluia!

Hayden said...

You're right. She's the kind of actress people who know nothing about cinema (most of my friends) think is phenomenal, because they've seen Million Dollar Baby and have maybe heard about Boys Don't Cry.

When then they see films like P.S. I Love You, they like to think they're being gifted by a Great Actress elevating lowbrow fare. Nevermind the fact that she did it with less grace and charm than any of the leading box-office-romance actresses in the biz. I then point to films like The Laws of Attraction as an actual example of a goddess descending from the heavens to make a crappy romantic comedy.

She works the determined, tragic masculine heroine (an archetype I'm not fond of in the first place), but nothing else. She's SO determined. The determinedest. I wouldn't be surprised if her next role is Joan of Arc.

And I never bothered with her Dangerous Minds impression.

Dave in Alamitos Beach said...

Not only do I think Hilary will be nominated again, but I think she MUST be nominated again. The Academy wants to show that she is a consistently good actress given the correct part.

And let me just say that I think she was terrific in both of her Oscar winning roles.

I don't think she has a lot of range since she isn't really good at "lightness" or even "lying." She seems incapable of not telling the "truth" which, let's face it, is severely limiting when your job is selling something fake. But when she believes what she's saying, she's terrific.

I've told people that when Hilary wears a dress, her movie bombs, but when she wears pants, she wins an Oscar. ;-)

Orion said...

I'll be rooting for Hilary Swank this time around. There's nothing wrong with doing one thing and doing it well. Many have crafted fine careers out of doing just that. I wouldn't place her on any all-time lists, and I only think she deserved her Oscar for "Boys Don't Cry," but I'm going to give her a break and hope for the best. "Conviction" at least sounds decent, and yes, if Sam Rockwell can finally be nominated (come on already, Academy), then that'll be icing on the cake.

Andrew R. said...

I'm the opposite. I begrudge her that first Oscar (although she was good), but not her second (much better, although she wasn't the best).

/3rtfu11 said...

Why do I resent Hilary Swank? The same reason people resent Sally Field and Jodie Foster for receiving two Best Actress statuettes deep seated jealousy. When you love actresses you project yourself onto your absolute favorites. You understand the cruelty and fickleness with Hollywood’s ease in letting a great actress fall from grace: denying her access to quality scripts. Champing lesser talents because they’re younger (e.g. more appealing to the men running the studios). The general lack of boldness on their part to produce modestly budgeted – “character driven” and “female centered” pictures for the multiplex.

One thing I’d like to make clear. I don’t hate any of these women. I actually love Sally Field the most all. She’s done a lot of compelling and sometimes masterful work that hasn’t gone onto being recognized because they gave her a 2nd Oscar for the same reason men climb mountains “because it’s there” – Jodie Foster is the closest to Swank in terms of masculinity, minimal choices in acting style, and a great sense of isolation. Yes Foster is the superior actress but that doesn’t make her a superior actress – like most two-time Best Actress winners she received hers in fairly quick succession.

Maybe I hate the quick succession part of the two-time Best Actress winner. Nathaniel I have a quick question for you – Do you resent Streep’s Kramer vs. Kramer win? I believe had she never won until Sophie’s Choice there’d be less harping on the desire for her to gain a 3rd statuette.

Mirko said...

I think Academy has already been quite generous with Swank, but I will be glad when Rockwell will receive his first nomination

Mirko said...

I think Academy has already been quite generous with Swank, but I will be glad when Rockwell will receive his first nomination

mrripley said...

Hi all.

keeping me upbeat nat so a big t/you.

I found this piece from you measured and find you don't hate Swank herself just the throught roof hosannas for 2 great performances.

I did actually like her in Amelia i though she had some great scenes it was the movie and co stars who let her down,how about everyone else was she really that bad or was it her insufferable film,she made it watchable for me.

I think the academy have been 2 the Swank well enough so a globe nom is her only hope of momentum building and Rockwell is on shaky ground becasue of that reason i think.

GOOD PIECE THOUGH.

mrripley said...

oh yes my 2009 actress ballot * wins.

streep - julie and julia
pfeiffer - cheri
mulligan - an education *
swank - amelia
sidibe - precious

is that a rubbish list nat.

Aaron said...

Nat, your article on Swank was spot-on! I've never hated Hilary, but I do have similar feelings that you have about her.

I think my problem about her stems from the fact that she ISN'T a movie star. I don't mean that to sound vain, but it really irks me that many of her roles in-between her two Oscar-winning roles were efforts to prove that she was a movie star--and she's not. She doesn't have "it".

I think Hilary struggles with the same issues that faced Sally Field. Both of them are fine actresses with the right material, but neither one are necessarily full-out thespians like actresses such as Maggie Smith, or Mirren, Streep, Dench, etc., nor do they have the charisma and effervescence of a movie star like Roberts, or Kidman, etc., etc. Both of them fall in this strange limbo where they cannot fully carry a big-budget film simply on their charm, nor they can be versatile and portray a plethora of different characters like other Oscar-winning actresses such as Jessica Lange or Susan Sarandon.

Pene said...

Sally Field has done more than well in television and stage roles. She's unfairly lumped into that "two-time Oscar winners" curse, but she's had the kind of career longevity that people like Hilary Swank could only hope for. And all I've liked from Swank is Boys Don't Cry. That's a career pinnacle if there ever was one. She could excel with a cable series.

Volvagia said...

Well, I could easily predict his reponse Mr. Ripley: "See Julia."

Monet said...

I saw Conviction and no I don't think Rockwell nor Swank will be or should be nominated. I don't hate Swank like most and I like Rockewell, but this is Rockwell's 5th best performance probably. He was better in Moon, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, The Assassination of Jesse James and countless others. I just did not feel like either of them were anything other than 'pretty good'. The movie itself is all over the place, it starts off well and then digresses into a television movie and not even an entertaining one. After Betty Anne finds the evidence she needs, the movie really should have ended because it just becomes a tedious, repetitive, predictable bore.

Swank isn't awful, but she's just not that great either of an actress. Boys Don't Cry is her best performance, but she has not impressed me in anything else. You know, people who commonly do romantic comedies, whether it be Meg Ryan, Julia Roberts or Sandra Bullock are always criticized for only playing the same type of characters - but that is more of a problem with Swank than anyone. If you want a tough/tragic less-than-feminine female protagonist, Swank is your girl, but if you want anything more complex, softer, more vulnerable, sexy than that - you should probably look elsewhere.

cal roth said...

I think you theory is good, but really doesn't apply to Boys Don't Cry. She is fully tridimensional, and handle a lot of things at the same time. It's not only determination of suffering. I love her shades of sensuality in the movie, and they she pulls it off is very intelligent. Her masculinity is not only a question of identity, mas is very carnal, too. Just see all her scenes with Chole Sevingy (terrific, too) to realize how they both can sell a romance within that painful journey. It's chemistry with Sevigny, but it takes two to spell such a magic.

I think she was absolutely great in Million Dollar Baby, and yes, she had the plain part. It's Frankie who makes that movie that deep and complex, not Maggie. She is the object of his affection, a Lara, let's say, an icon of a daughter. She slam dunks her icon, anyway.

What I don't get about that Oscar race is that the most complicated and fascinating performance of the year, landed by Julie Delpy, doesn't even get into consideration. If we replaced Bening - the weak link, sorry - for Delpy, it'd be one of the best Best Actress lineups ever, and all of them would be deserving winners.

I haven't seen Conviction, but I'd like to defend her again in The Black Dhalia. She really understood the pulp tone of a noir directed by Brian de Palma, and went even further than him. She acted in Paul Verhoeven movie. But your theory is right in this movie too. She was selling an icon, one more time.

JohnJay said...

Did @Aaron say Julia Roberts can't carry a film solely on her charm? Isn't that what she did in Pretty Woman, Runaway Bride, Notting Hill (though I think her performance in the film is quite underrated) and My Best Friend's Wedding?

ferdi said...

Great piece Nat. You understand and can talk about movie acting like no one else.

cal roth said...

Julia lands her best performance in Notting Hill. I mean it.

mikhael said...

she’s actually better in this movie than Million Dollar Baby, but somehow in this movie the ones the we focus on are Sam Rockwell who really rocks in this and the short scene-stealer Juliette Lewis.

Bryan said...

I LOVE Hilary Swank in Boys Don't Cry, but her win for Million Dollar Baby rubbed me the wrong way. Part of my resentment stems from the fact that I think Kate Winslet should have won that year for her stellar work in Eternal Sunshine (and in my opinion, she should have already been an Oscar winner for either Sense & Sensibility or Iris).

Plus, not only do I think Winslet should have won, but I would have placed Moreno, Staunton, and Bening ahead of Swank, too.

mrripley said...

I saw julia and swinton did not impress me at all.

MRRIPLEY said...

Since she won an oscar and became more high profile swinton mania has excalated,those who proably knew little of her before have started jumping on the we love her bandwagon,not nat though.

joy said...

A GG nom for Swank is still possible, but a Oscar nom is definitely not gonna happen. I would rank Conviction as the 4th best performance of her, the 3rd being Iron Jawed Angles. I thought she was very good and quite womanly in it.

NATHANIEL R said...

mrripley -- i hope you mean that nat didn't jump on because he was already on it. ? I've loved Tilda since 1992!

Alex said...

I kind of want her nominated if only to get rid of that awful 2 for 2 statistic...

Jon Foerster said...

Nate, this is a freaking EXCELLENT analysis of Swank's strengths and weaknesses as an actress. Really well done!

MRRIPLEY said...

Nat,i know you've loved her from the orlando days and nick from this is england.

I mean others who are talking about her now 'cos it's cool too.

Ivan said...

I lost the focus about Rockwell & Swank...I´ve been so distracted with Jon Foerster photo! He´s such a hootie

James T said...

I just love that analysis of what, partly, makes a great actor. I wish you had ended that last sentence and written some more.

Would you like to provide an example (or more) of a four-dimension actor/actress?

No Bad Movies said...

However you feel about the film should not sway from being inspired by Betty Anne's story because something like that in life mostly do not happen. It's an amazing story.

Anonymous said...

BTW, Mr. Ripley I love Tilda since I saw her in Female Perversions, so she was my fave in 2009 for Julia. Actually this is my lineup:

01. Tilda Swinton - Julia
02. Penelope Cruz - Broken Embraces
03. Abbie Cornish - bright Star
04. Shohreh Aghdashloo - The stoning of Soraya M.
05. Yolande Moreau - Seraphine
Alt: Catalina Saavedra, Carey Mulligan and Charlotte Gainsbourg.

Excellent Analysis Nat and I agree with you. I think the only big award for Swank's is the Golden Globe. Also, for me, she was always an average TV actress with only one excellent performance and two good performances (MBM & Insomnia) but the rest for mediocre to really bad...