There are a couple of gaps in my movie-going this past season. I missed “Far From Heaven”, despite numerous raves from well-trusted friends. I have to see it. I love all 1950s sexual torment and angst, drowned in martinis. I mean, it’s depressing as hell, but I find the subject matter fascinating.
So that’s a gap. Julianne Moore was good in “The Hours”, but I don’t think she’ll win. It’s not that type of role. Someone once said that it’s not the actor who wins the Oscar, it’s the ROLE the actor plays. My acting teacher, Sam Schacht, says, “Just play someone with a limp or a mental defect, and you’ll probably win the Oscar.” Julianne Moore’s part in “The Hours” is subtler, quieter, and doesn’t reach out to the audience.
Best actor? All I know is Daniel Day Lewis’ performance in “Gangs of New York” was so masterful and so spectacular that I hesitate to even call it acting. The man is NUTS. And he commanded the screen in a way you just don’t see in modern-day actors, who tend to be more interested in “kitchen-sink realism”. His performance is phenomenal. However, Nicolas Cage, in “Adaptation” was wonderful. I believed that he was both of those characters, completely forgot that he was working with a body double as his twin. Beautiful work.
I don’t think Diane Lane will win for “Unfaithful”, but she should. Completely unpredictable, and courageous. Absolutely truthful. The scene on her train ride home, where she is sitting by herself, reliving her afternoon with her lover, should get her the Oscar all on its own.
I’m feeling like “Chicago” might win for Best Picture … and even though “Gangs of New York” was way too long, and the storyline did not grip me as a really great story-line should … I wish Martin Scorsese would just win one of those stupid statues. He deserves it.
However: after all of this discussion, let me also say: there’s something weird and not altogether pleasant in trying to say “this was the BEST performance”, in something as subjective as acting. To my taste, Daniel Day Lewis’ acting in “Gangs of New York” throws down the gauntlet before all other actors. It is a performance that SHOULD make every other actor realize how safely they have been playing it. And the same is true for Diane Lane’s work in “Unfaithful”. A more established movie actress might have held back, might have protected herself a little bit more … but Diane Lane doesn’t have as much to lose as a big ol’ superstar. She acted that part with no holds barred.
To me, that KIND of acting just LOOKS different than, say, Julianne Moore’s acting in “The Hours”, which was lovely, heartfelt, specific, etc. But … there was something safe about it. Something predictable.
