5 Films #2: Jake Gyllenhaal

I started a new blog series, listing 5 important films in an actor's career, ones which somehow changed their career for better or for worse. For the second entry in this series, I've chosen Academy Award nominee Jake Gyllenhaal. Because of his boyish good looks and affable persona, I'm not sure if Gyllenhaal ever gets the credit he deserves (or if he does, it's always with a hint of surprise or shock). And as much as I like him, I've never really thought about his career on a grand scale so here we are. 

1. Donnie Darko (2001; Richard Kelly)
Of the films in Gyllenhaal's early career, Donnie Darko is perhaps the best example of his "troubled teen existentialist" roles. As a perfectly normal yet alarmingly disturbed young man, Gyllenhaal strikes a nice balance between the two and his portrayal of adolescence remains free of cliche. After this movie, Gyllenhaal would do a string of typically sensitive but troubled performances. But Donnie Darko teases what a compelling and charismatic actor Gyllenhaal would become in later years. 

2. Brokeback Mountain (2005; Ang Lee)
2005 was a transitionary year for Gyllenhaal because he released three films (Brokeback Mountain, Jarhead and Proof) which successfully took him from teenage roles to more adult fare. Not surprisingly, Brokeback Mountain was the most critically acclaimed of the bunch and earned him an Oscar nomination. As Jack Twist, the closeted cowboy who begins a torrid affair with another man, Gyllenhaal applied his sensitive teen persona to this role. By doing that, he created one of his most mature and complicated performances. Brokeback Mountain officially brought Gyllenhaal to the big leagues (though I'm not sure if this movie will hold up in the future because of the ever-changing landscape of gay politics). 

3. Zodiac (2007; David Fincher)
Playing obsessed true crime author Robert Graysmith (who wrote the book upon which Zodiac is based), Gyllenhaal gives a more subdued but effective performance. Robert, introduced as a well-meaning, curious, Boy Scout cartoonist, firsts interacts with the mystery by solving a coded letter. As the film goes on, his curiosity becomes more dangerous and he puts everything on the line in pursuit of the killer's identity. Zodiac shows his boyish innocence being tainted by something horrific and it subtly conveys the consequences of journalistic obsession. 

4. Source Code (2011; Duncan Jones)
Jones' thriller is perhaps one of the most sophisticated modern science-fiction films and I really liked Gyllenhaal's performance in it. It plays into all of his strengths as an actor: the charm, the determination, the good-boy need to make things right. As Colter Stevens, he is relentless in his pursuit but also still figuring things out as the audience is. And that relatable quality to the performance is what grounds what otherwise would have been an outlandish Groundhog Day meets Inception narrative. No one will really mistake Gyllenhaal for a tough guy, but he uses his boyishness to great effect. 

5. End of Watch (2012; David Ayer)
End of Watch provided Gyllenhaal with the best opportunity to really sink into a character without any sort of hook or plot device (like the time travel element of Source Code or the gay cowboy aspect of Brokeback Mountain). This is a straightforward cop drama where Gyllenhaal and Michael Pena are partners on-duty and friends off-duty. Gyllenhaal's work here is naturalistic and authentic and his chemistry with Pena is almost electric. Together they years of history through body language and speech patterns. This is truly a lived-in performance, capturing the nuances of being an LA cop: boredom, terror, camaraderie with your partner, rivalries with other cops, questions that don't have answers. 

Other remarkable films starring Jake Gyllenhaal:
1. Love & Other Drugs
2. Brothers
3. The Good Girl
4. Jarhead
5. The Day After Tomorrow 

I hope you enjoyed this second entry of my new series. Look out for part 3 even though I'm still figuring out who is going to be in the spotlight. Feel free to leave comments below. 

5 Films #1: Nicole Kidman

I've decided to start a new blog series, highlighting five important films in an actor's career. These films will be ones which mark a turning point in the actor's career or perhaps their Oscar winning role or maybe even an infamous role, a blemish on their resume.

For the premiere entry in the series, I've chosen one of my favorite actors: Academy Award winner Nicole Kidman. The main question I want to explore in this blog is: what's been the main theme of Nicole Kidman's career if there is one?

1. To Die For (1995; Gus Van Sant)
While Kidman gained recognition during the beginning of her career with films like Days of Thunder and Billy Bathgate, To Die For was really the first time she was the protagonist. As Suzanne Stone, the dangerously ambitious news anchor, Kidman began her lifelong goal to deconstruct her own porcelain beauty and inhabit characters on the verge of breakdown. Her performance in this media satire/dark comedy is biting and menacing. It's a clear indicator of the quality of work Kidman would be giving out in the future.

2. The Hours (2002; Stephen Daldry)
This was the film which won Kidman the Academy Award and, while she's done better work since, it's still one of her most riveting performances. The Hours finds Woolf writing her classic novel Mrs. Dalloway while battling depression and suicidal tendencies. Kidman plays Woolf as desperately trying to cling to mental stability and living in fear of what her disease will do to her. But this performance is also about the intertwining demands of mental illness, maintaining a family and pursuing a creative career, something I bet really intrigued Kidman.

3. Moulin Rouge! (2001; Baz Luhrmann)
Considered by many to be one of the best musicals in modern times (and earning the #25 spot on the AFI Best Musicals list), Moulin Rouge! has also become one of Kidman's most iconic roles. She plays Satine, the star courtesan longing for love and a better life. Playing Satine gave Kidman another opportunity to find the hidden turmoil beneath her beauty and status as an A-list movie star. Men all around Satine desire her and desire to possess her when in fact Satine is succumbing to tuberculosis. But it's at the end when Satine finally experiences reciprocated true love and her death is its own act of self-defiance against societal expectations.

4. Bewitched (2005; Nora Ephron)
While Bewitched is probably not the shining achievement of Kidman's career, it deserves a spot on this list. Nicole Kidman and mainstream cinema don't really mix all that successfully. Sure, Moulin Rouge! found mainstream success but its manic-jukebox-living collage aesthetic separates it from other musicals. Bewtiched is one of many examples when Kidman has tried to make films like a true movie star and the formulaic Hollywood system failed her. Of course, Kidman does her best with the material and certainly looks the part of the perfect 60s wife Samantha Stephens. But there's no opportunity for her to dig deep and find the flaws and the cracks of the character like she's done in the past.

5. Rabbit Hole (2010; John Cameron Mitchell)
For the maiden film out of Kidman's production company Blossom Films, she chose the Pulitzer Prize winning play Rabbit Hole. She plays a mother grieving over the lost of her child. Kidman plays Becca as icy, biting and sarcastic, distancing herself from her loved ones by refusing to grieve in their approved ways. For me this is Kidman's finest performance, as she shows incredible restraint and subtlety, letting her eyes and body language convery her despair and longing.  It doesn't hurt that Aaron Eckhart and the rest of the cast support her tremendously or that the script and direction are wonderful as well.

Other remarkable films starring Nicole Kidman
1. Cold Mountain
2. Eyes Wide Shut
3. The Interpreter
4. Margot at the Wedding
5. The Others

I hope you enjoyed the first entry of my new blog series. Please look out for the next one with Jake Gyllenhaal (probably!).