Word: actorly
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...difficulties of adapting a novel that consists primarily of first person interior narration. Jordan unadvisedly takes a literal approach here, employing the most drab, extensive set of voiceovers since the awful pre-director's cut version of Blade Runner. (Haven't seen it? Don't.) Fiennes, a subtle actor, is forced to explicitly identify every emotional state his character enters. Does Bendrix really need to tell us how "tortured" he feels when we can see for ourselves a miserable Fiennes gulping whiskey and slamming his fist onto a table with rage...
...strengths of the film are largely those of its great character actors. Stephen Rea, a Jordan veteran (this is his eighth film with the director), turns in a heartfelt and understated performance as Henry. Rather than playing up to traditional jilted husband clichs, Rea imbues the character with a sad dignity that ends up far more affecting than the lovers' travails. As Parkis, the detective hired by Bendrix to follow Sarah, the enormously underrated British actor Ian Hart steals every scene he's in. His Parkis is bumbling and a bit obsequious, but somehow a pervasive pathos in the performance...
...moviegoers watching is, well, Hoffman himself, embodying these down-and-outers with a skill and conviction that are swiftly making him Hollywood's most unlikely leading man since that other Hoffman, Dustin, stammered through The Graduate the year Philip was born. By year's end the 32-year-old actor will appear not only in Flawless, but also in two of this Oscar season's most anticipated offerings: as a compassionate nurse in Anderson's Magnolia and as an expatriate blueblood in Anthony Minghella's The Talented Mr. Ripley...
...that roil his sleep. So handsome, so haunted, he proves irresistible to this Katrina (Christina Ricci). Yet Depp bumbles and stumbles, just like the old Ichabod; he is the hero and the comic relief in one tightly wound package. Doesn't always work, but we've been admiring this actor's bravado and forgiving his excesses for ages. Why stop now? Besides, he ultimately makes Ichabod a truly obsessive romantic hero: Byron by Ahab...
...first three episodes but to do things never before seen on a game show. When the host began a question with the words "Venus flytrap..." I emitted a low, guttural noise, which sounded like reee. I had started to say the name of Tim Reid, the actor who played Venus Flytrap on WKRP in Cincinnati, when I realized I couldn't think of his first name, so I halted mid-syllable, fearing a partial answer would help my competition. This defensive strategy, while clever, wasn't necessary, since the question was about plants. But my noise was disarming enough...