“As an artist, I wonder, What can I do to make the audience think differently about what good is, what bad is, who a man is, and who a woman is.” — Matthias Schoenaerts

It’s his birthday today.

One of my favorite contemporary actors. I think he blows the competition away. I can’t say enough good things about him. His versatility is dazzling. He can be so gentle. He can be so ferocious. He can be elegant and cosmopolitan. He can be provincial and practically pre-verbal. He can be 100% right-now and he can also be at home in a period piece. He’s always convincing. He doesn’t have to work to convince me that he is who he says he is in any given role. He just IS that character. He flies a little bit under the radar, all things considered. Actors should know who he is, and explore his work. Of all of my columns for Film Comment, the one I did on Schoenaerts got the least engagement on Twitter. This doesn’t seem right. Schoenaerts guy is not just the real deal. He makes other actors look show-off-y. He is not intellectual in his approach – his approach is very physical (he’s similar to De Niro). He lives in Belgium mostly. He’s a devoted graffiti artist, he’s been doing it since he was a kid.

I’ve written quite a bit about him:

First up: I put it all together when I devoted one of my columns to his career – and his interesting examinations of masculinity and its toxic claustrophobia, the damage it does – not to women, but to men. He is so so insightful about this. I picked out four roles to discuss.

Now for individual films, all of which I referenced in the Film Comment piece:

I absolutely love Alice Winocour’s Disorder – and since I reviewed it for Ebert I’ve re-watched it 4 or 5 times. It’s extremely effective, a high-throttle home invasion thriller, but also a devastating psychological/physical portrait of combat PTSD.

I wrote about 2011’s Bullhead, which is the first time I saw Schoenaerts, probably true for many of us (in the States, at least). Bullhead is deeply upsetting, start to finish, traumatizing to watch, and I don’t think I’ll ever see it again, but his performance is unforgettable.

And last but definitely not least: I went long on the extraordinary Rust and Bone, a movie I can’t say enough good things about (clearly).

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