Sunday, January 02, 2005

Grace, Laura, and Gene

So... I don't turn over my Netflix stuff quick enough. But in the past two days I've watched:

We Don't Live Here Anymore (2004)
Which I saw entirely because of Laura Dern's rave reviews. Good performance but the whole thing is so minor and so artistically dwarfed by the similar couple swapping drama of Closer that it's easy to ignore. And though it's unpopular to say... I grow less and less impressed with Naomi Watts the further away from Mulholland Drive that she gets.

The Conversation (1974)
Excellent. But you probably knew that... Francis Ford Coppola sure did have a great run in the mid 70s, didn't he? Everytime people argue that the Academy knows best because they're actually filmmakers...I'd like to point out that this film did not win Sound Editing.

The Country Girl (1954)
Speaking of Oscar blunders --this Histrionic but interesting psychological portrait of three people under enormous stress won Grace Kelly the Oscar at the expense of Judy Garland. Having now seen both films I can say that there really was no comparison. That Oscar shouldabeen Judy Garlands for one of the best performances in movie musical history. What she was doing could only have been done by her. What Grace is doing in The Country Girl could only have been done by every beautiful actress with a modicum of talent -it's really no contest.

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Dan's gonna get you for that Watts' comment.

Anonymous said...

Do you think it's possible I liked We Don't Live Here Anymore because I didn't see Closer? I wish I could see Closer, but my parents won't let me see it. I'm 16, though, and can pass for 17, so...is it worth it to just go anyway and not tell them?

Anonymous said...

Agreed on Watts, Nathaniel. I thought she was the weakest link in "Huckabees" and she's not much better here either.

-Ali

adam k. said...

I also agree on Watts. Although I thought she was good in Huckabee's... I thought the role suited her, despite my friend saying she wished Gwyneth had gotten Watts' part. But all her other stuff since Mulholland hasn't looked too impressive. I feel like she tries too hard or something. She's like the actress equivalent of what Road to Perdition was as a film.
I think it's become clear that Watts' phenomenal Mulholland performance was mostly David Lynch's fault. She basically admitted as much on Inside The Actor's Studio... that she was basically Lynch's puppet during the shoot, and that he even tricked her into one of her more visceral moments in the film. I think if she learns from Nicole and starts working with primo auteurs again, she can pull out more great stuff, but I'm still waiting...

par3182 said...

let's not forget '21 grams' was after 'mulholland drive'; surely that's an impressive performance.

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