I watched Nosferatu recently, for the first time. I’ve been wanting to see it for years. At first I wasn’t sure I would be able to get into it – the acting is very much pantomime and very different than what I am used to (the actor playing the hero in particular). And then Max Schreck showed up, and the whole movie shifted. I kept looking at him and thinking, “what the hell is happening here?” I don’t know what he was doing, but it didn’t seem like acting. It’s the only time I’ve ever watched a vampire movie and felt like I was looking at something genuinely inhuman.
Meryl Streep is that kind of actor. You watch her and think, so this is actual magic, right? Her performance can change the tone of a whole movie. Like in Sophie’s Choice – not actually a great movie, except that she makes it one. She’s a giant freak, and I mean that in the best way possible.
What a lovely post. Alex is an excellent writer.
I watched Nosferatu recently, for the first time. I’ve been wanting to see it for years. At first I wasn’t sure I would be able to get into it – the acting is very much pantomime and very different than what I am used to (the actor playing the hero in particular). And then Max Schreck showed up, and the whole movie shifted. I kept looking at him and thinking, “what the hell is happening here?” I don’t know what he was doing, but it didn’t seem like acting. It’s the only time I’ve ever watched a vampire movie and felt like I was looking at something genuinely inhuman.
Meryl Streep is that kind of actor. You watch her and think, so this is actual magic, right? Her performance can change the tone of a whole movie. Like in Sophie’s Choice – not actually a great movie, except that she makes it one. She’s a giant freak, and I mean that in the best way possible.