Culture Snob has a good piece up on Natural Born Killers that I'd suggest reading if you've ever wrestled with that particular movie. If i ever get a handle on all of the "projects" that I'm always struggling with (the canon, fundraiser requests --those reviews coming this month, and various time consuming one-off writing whims) I'd love to do more performance reviews of overlooked but highly successful star turns. And NBK is right where I'd start. Juliette Lewis was a major actress in the 1990s and the failure of her career to be properly reborn after personal problems derailed it (circa 95/96) is still sad to me.
Since that article got me thinking of Ms. Lewis here is a music video by her band The Licks ("Hot Kiss") as well as a charismatic time-capsule Guess commercial from the 90s. Younger readers may not know this but Juliette Lewis was once an "it girl", occupying something comparable to the current Scarlett Johansson spot in media fascination.
Monday, April 09, 2007
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12 comments:
i always liked her.....it's a shame that her career died and now she's a Scientologist
I agree with the criticism of NBK; except that I hate the movie and it made me sick. But the analysis of how it fails as a satire and what Stone did versus what he intended to do is dead-on
It's been years since I've seen that commerical - I've forgotten how brilliant it was.
Thanks for the link!
I loved Lewis in Cape Fear -- a movie that caught her at the perfect awkward moment. Since then, I fear she's become the female Crispin Glover.
In NBK, both she and Harrelson are nothing less than credible as violent psychopaths, and their performances are perfectly in-tune with Stone's filmmaking.
Nat:
If you like the Little Mermaid than you will LOVE this video...just watch for 30 seconds and you will be hooked!
http://youtube.com/watch?v=MZtifGayo0o
It's Ursula rapping...
Culture Snob is right. I remember seeing Juliette in Cape Fear and being amazed by her performance. To hold her own and even surpass DeNiro is really saying something.
And let's not forget she got her eyelids frozen open in Christmas Vacation.
I'm obsessed with that commercial now
Like Deborah, I also hated "NBK", but not due to the actors; it was a typically bloated, self-important, Oliver Stone misstep. As good as he can be, he's as subtle as a brick.
As for Juliette Lewis, she was also wonderful in "Husbands and Wives" and "Hysterical Blindness", and I thought that she was the perfect choice to update the character of Debra Winger's little girl in the "Terms of Endearment" sequel (the not-quite-THAT-bad "Evening Star").
The fact that she is a Scientologist disheartens me, but she still has a ton of goodwill in my book.
Btw, just to clarify...it's not that I look for subtlety in Oliver Stone's work, but without a certain degree of it, his "satire" is nothing but a farce.
misty valuable clarification there. since Stone can't deliver in that regard ;)
'Younger readers may not know this but Juliette Lewis was once an "it girl", occupying something comparable to the current Scarlett Johansson spot in media fascination.'
Didn't know this about Juliette Lewis - always thought she was some C-lister, one-time ok actress.
It's weird to think that in 10 years time, the next generation might be thinking the same about the luminous ScarJo - I've just assumed she's always going to be around.
yeah, it's never certain who will stick around and who won't. winona ryder probably didn't see her current status coming.
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