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 is not just the real deal. He makes other actors look show-off-y. He is not intellectual in his approach – he “gets inside” via the physical (he’s similar to De Niro in this way). He lives in Belgium mostly. He’s a devoted graffiti artist, he’s been doing it since he was a kid.
The column I devoted to him in Film Comment focused on his interesting insightful examinations of masculinity and its toxic claustrophobia, the damage it does – not to women, but to men. (Again, this is similar to De Niro, who doesn’t so much have a “take” on the dangers when men isolate isolate themselves, but insight into the condition).
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 so effective, a high-throttle home invasion thriller, but also a devastating psychological/physical portrait of a man struggling with combat PTSD. This is one of his mostly-wordless roles.
I wrote about 2011’s Bullhead, the first time he was really introduced to American audiences. Bullhead is deeply upsetting, and traumatizing to watch. 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, one of my favorite films of the last 10, 15 years..
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