My Top 10 Male Performances

        Very soon it is going to be the third anniversary of this blog and to celebrate, I am making various film-related lists. In this list, I enumerate some of my favourite performances by actors. The list is in random order with my absolute favourite performance crowned at the end.

Brad Pitt in Fight Club

In a way, Pitt's Tyler Durden is my least favourite character of the main trio of Fight Club. But the more I think about it, the more amazed I am by his performance. Durden is crazy, strong and charismatic, someone not dissimilar to Satan in Paradise Lost, and Pitt brings to it so much energy and danger to Durden that one cannot imagine anyone else in his place.

Favourite scene- After being bloodied by the owner of the basement in which he holds his fight club, Tyler laughs hysterically and spits blood all over the man, leaving him very frightened indeed.

Robert De Niro in Raging Bull

If you know me, you would know of my abhorrence towards sports and everything sports-related, in however big or small way. In spite of this, I could not help but be gobsmacked by De Niro's legendary turn as Jake LaMotta.

Favourite scene- LaMotta in his prison cell, punching and hitting his head against the wall and then collapsing crying.

Ralph Fiennes in Schindler's List

I have often spoken about how Schindler's List is sometimes a bad example for me for a Holocaust movie because I am so enchanted by Fiennes' Amon Goeth, in all his repulsive glory. He personifies everything that was wrong about that time and the worst acts of genocide and hatred that the world ever saw. It is a scarily brilliant performance.

Favourite scene- Goeth looks at the mirror and like a benevolent god says, "I pardon you."

Ryan Gosling in Drive

I have a thing for internalised performances. Gosling's Driver is a lonely and taciturn man who has a very lethal side to him that he keeps just under control. This underlying current of danger that is always present in his performance gives him a sort of edge that makes him one of the coolest anti-heroes of our time.

Favourite Scene- The Driver interrogates Blanche. The restrained anger is terrifying.

Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange

Speaking of anti-heroes, I am particularly partial to my favourite one, Alex DeLarge who is brought to life by McDowell. His DeLarge thrives on violence and Beethoven. I think this is a very brave performance in many ways. Not everyone would like to be the embodiment of nihilism but McDowell does it fantastically.

Favourite scene- The Minister of Interior feeding Alex while Alex artfully taunts him.

Johnny Depp in Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl

Whatever one says or thinks of his career choices now, Depp's ability to morph into a character is astounding. And his Captain Jack Sparrow feels almost like a real living and breathing person. He isn't Depp as Captain Jack, he is Captain Jack himself. Depp immerses himself in this role completely, with all the mannerisms and acting and charm, and gives us a modern hero like we've never had before.

Favourite scene- "She's safe, just like I promised. She's all set to marry Norrington, just like she promised. And you get to die for her, just like you promised. So we're all men of our word really... except for, of course, Elizabeth, who is in fact, a woman."

Al Pacino in Dog Day Afternoon

The only word I can use to describe this performance is all-encompassing. I really do not believe that there is any emotion that a human being can go through that Pacino's Sonny doesn't go through in this film and he shows it all so beautifully.

Favourite scene- Sonny talks to Leon on the phone. We get to see just how confused this man is about everything that is happening to him.

Bill Murray in Lost in Translation

Sofia Coppola wrote this part for Murray and it was really custom-made for him. While being one of the funniest men alive, Murray brings a sort of tragedy and vulnerability in this persona of him. A most nuanced and lovely performance.

 Favourite scene- When he first says goodbye to Charlotte and watches her walk away while having to take pictures with the hotel staff.

Anthony Hopkins in The Silence of the Lambs

For a character who is there for only sixteen minutes in the film, Hopkin's Hannibal Lecter pervades the entire running time because of his unforgettable menace and startling softness towards Clarice Starling. My favourite villain ever.

Favourite scene- When we finally see this "monster" in action and then him listening to music covered in another man's blood.

Which brings me to my favourite male performance-

Adrien Brody in The Pianist

Just look at the stills above. This is towards the end of the film, when Brody's character Władysław Szpilman is finally playing a piano after having witnessed the horrors of Holocaust. He starts out at peace and then after seeing one of his friends outside the recording room starts to feel happy, but soon reality hits him and all that he suffered and lost is remembered and he starts to cry, only to try to compose himself and finish his beautiful piece.

I was stunned by Brody when I first saw The Pianist. He is alone throughout a major part of the film, barely talking to anyone... in a room, living, surviving. His character goes from being a sprightly attractive man at the beginning of the film to someone who is can barely walk straight and is almost ape-like by the end . There is so much pain and guilt and fear in this performance that it just breaks my heart. I have never seen a more deserved Oscar winner.

Favourite part- Szpilman walking down pillaged streets, crying, and when he plays a piano at the command of a German soldier.

MY FAVOURITE CHARACTER INTRODUCTIONS

        I had been thinking of making this for a while now and Alex's fantastic list provided me with the impetus that I needed. Some characters just blow you away from their introduction themselves. Brilliant intros often leave an indelible mark in our minds and here are ten such picks that did so for me.

Honourable mentions- Everyone in Alex's list, Marla Singer in Fight Club, Earnest Hemingway in Midnight in Paris, Gilda in Gilda and Isabelle in The Dreamers.

10.

Dr. Hannibal "The Cannibal" Lecter in The Silence of the Lambs

After having been warned by her superior Jack Crawford and the director of the Baltimore sanitarium about Lecter, the latter describing him as a monster and a pure psychopath, Clarice Starling goes to meet this man in his cell. She walks past the other inmates there, especially the loathsome Multiple Miggs, and finally comes Lecter who is just standing there in his glass cell, and we know, just know, that he is the craziest and most dangerous of them all. The music, Anthony Hopkins's eerie-tastic smile, Jodie Foster's subtle fear, everything  just sets this scene to be one of the most memorable introductions and first meetings in cinematic history.

9.

The Plastics in Mean Girls

I would call this scene a piece of pop culture history. Here we see for the first time, the Plastics, the reigning queens of a high school, the mean girls of all time. Also how they are described to new student Cady by the dry-witted duo of Janice and Damian is priceless. Karen Smith- "She asked me how to spell orange", Gretchen Wieners- "That's why her hair is so big, it's full of secrets" and finally, "Evil takes a human form in Regina George. Don't be fooled because she may seem like your typical selfish, back-stabbing slut faced ho-bag, but in reality, she's so much more than that."

8.

The Joker in The Dark Knight

If this scene isn't the best way for a director to set up his villain, I don't know what is. I have often said that I watch the Batman films for the villains, and the moment Heath Ledger's unparalleled incarnation of the Joker took off his joker mask, I just knew that I will love this film forever. A bank heist that keeps you at the edge of your seat, followed by that face- ah, Christmas. 

7.

Marie Antoinette in Marie Antoinette

Love Sofia Coppola's cheek in this scene. With Gang of Four's "Natural's Not In" blaring, our first look at Marie Antoinette is exactly how we have always imagined it would be. Grand clothes, excessive feathers, servants, boredom, and obviously cake! It is a perfect set-up for this movie and character, because it is unconventional as hell, yet an honest look at this young, naive, fashionable girl who just happens to be the queen of France.

6.

The Tenenbaums in The Royal Tenenbaums

Even though I am not the biggest fan of this film, I just adore its opening that introduces us to Royal and Etheline Tenenbaum and their three gifted children. It sets the film up excellently as we already know what kind of people they are, especially the kids, and then we can understand them better as their grown-up troubled selves. Plus the tune of "Hey Jude" and Wes Anderson's unique quirks make this scene quite unforgettable.

5.

Alex DeLarge in A Clockwork Orange

The first shot we see is of Malcolm MacDowell's face, with his trademark eye-makeup, bowler hat, and an expression that is both disturbing and enthralling. Then the camera starts to zoom out and his narration begins and we see him with his droogs, his drencrom, the impossible Korova milkbar- this whole world where ultraviolence is the way, and no one revels in it more than Alex. 

4.

Romeo Montague in Romeo + Juliet

Wasn't Leonardo DiCaprio the prettiest thing ever? I say this because this scene does owe a lot to that. This brooding, lonely, beautiful Romeo, writing down his thoughts, "Why then, O brawling love, O loving hate, O anything of nothing first create. Heavy lightness. Serious vanity. Misshapen chaos of well seeming forms" with the music from possibly Radiohead's sexiest song, "Talk Show Host" playing in the background. And then he turns and looks, and my heart swoons every time. How can it not? He is Romeo.

3.

Eve Harrington in All About Eve

If you are like me and did not know a thing about this film before watching it except that it stars Bette Davis and has the line "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night!" the introduction of Eve Harrington, as the film is all about her, was quite interesting. We see how all the other characters react to her name, how her happiness brings joy to few yet she is said to be a great star and we already want to know all about this woman.

2.

Mia Wallace in Pulp Fiction

Just like quite a few entries in this list, by the time we actually do meet Mia Wallace, we have formed an opinion of hers in our head. She's the mob boss's wife because of whom a man got thrown down four stories onto a glasshouse, just for giving her a foot massage. And then she is introduced. I love the way she talks to her date Vincent over the intercom, her voice, her cocaine snorting and the way she says "Disco", Dusty Springfield's "Son of a Preacher Man", and this first meeting of theirs that ends with a shot of those very feet. What's amazing is that don't actually see Mia Wallace during her introduction, but we have already been put under her spell.

1.

Trip Fontaine in The Virgin Suicides

This is one of my favourite scenes period. Why? Because there is a Trip Fontaine in every school, and there always will be- that one guy who is dreamier than the rest, who makes the hearts of his female peers flutter and who all the girls gush over, and this scene captures all of that. So he isn't a big character in the film, but he is a character that has been there in every girl's life. This intro makes me giddy with an odd sense of nostalgia, especially with Heart's ever appropriate "Magic Man" accompanying it. Love Josh Hartnett's 70s hair and swag. 

So there you have it. Disco!

Thoughts

     Yes, this was supposed to be posted two days ago. Sorry for the tardiness people. Downton Abbey had taken over my life. It's pretty fun. I want to be Maggie Smith in my next life. "What is a weekend?"

1) I meant to write about this last week but my memory has become shite now. Anyways, what is with all these television shows being adapted from famous films?! So far I am only excited for Hannibal, which is based on the Thomas Harris books on Hannibal Lecter. Hugh Dancy will play Will Graham, the role that Edward Norton played in the grossly under-viewed Red Dragon. The role of Lecter, made famous by Sir Anthony Hopkins, will be played by Mads Mikkelsen in the show. The best thing about it though is that it has been created by Bryan Fuller, who made my darling Pushing Daisies. Another show is Bates Motel, which is a prequel of Psycho. I got a little warmed up to it when Vera Farmiga took on the role of Mrs. Bates, but then it was announced that Freddie Highmore will play her son, Norman Bates. That's goddamn ridiculous. He's Charlie from Charlie and the Chocolate Factory for crying out loud! And his total blandness in The Art of Getting By is making me terrified of watching this show, and not in a good way. Norman Bates is one of my two favourite cinematic villains (coincidentally, the other is Hannibal Lecter) and he is just going to get butchered in this show. Ugh. And then, shows based on Heathers and The Apartment are in production as well. The Heathers one will apparently be about the daughters of the characters in the cult classic, called the Ashleys. As Heather Chandler would say, "Well, fuck me gently with a chainsaw."

2) Silver Linings Playbook won the top prize at TIFF '12. Who would've thought? Okay so now my most anticipated films of this year are: 10) Silver Linings Playbook, 9) Beasts of the Southern Wild, 8) Much Ado About Nothing, 7) Argo, 6) Skyfall, 5) The Master, 4) Perks of Being a Wallflower, 3) The Hobbit, 2) Seven Psychopaths, 1) Django Unchained. One more film that has caught my eye is Noah Baumbach's Frances Ha. It just looks like something I would like. 

3) Posters- The new Hitchcock biography named Hitchcock (what else?) has caught my eye too, but I am not adding it to the list till a trailer comes out. Which will not be long, I presume, since the absolutely delicious poster has been released. It has the right amount of Hitch's signature cheeky, morbid humour. Also it will be cool to see if Sir Anthony Hopkins can come in the way of Daniel Day Lewis's Lincoln for that much wanted Oscar (I am on the side of the former presently). Skyfall has a number of posters out. There are two main ones. I like the cool blue one more than the more classic one, but both are good. I just think the former is what we would expect out of Craig's Bond, and I like how minimalistic it is. There are a character posters too, like that of the baddie, played by Javier Bardem. Finally there is the surprisingly brilliant poster of Michael Bay's next, Pain and Gain. Have we misjudged him? :O

4) Trailers- The new Hobbit trailer is all kinds of pretty and has re-bumped the film to nearly the top of my most-eagerly-awaited list. This book made me happy, and I adore both Bilbo Baggins and Martin Freeman. Also I am guessing Peter Jackson will try his best to justify the three movies, so maybe he'll make them super-awesome. There is the trailer to the Ethan Hawke starrer horror movie, Sinister. It does look a bit creepy, but it will strictly be a DVD watch for me, if anything. The new Skyfall TV spot has reassured me that Bardem will be a truly scary villain indeed. Also I promise you that I am going to hoot in the theatre when Daniel Craig fixes his suit after jumping on an exploding train. I must. Another TV spot that has coloured me impressed is Park Chan-wook's Stoker that has three actors I really love- Nicole Kidman, Mia Wasikowska and Matthew Goode. A proper trailer will come out later this week, but I think this film has the fucked-up family/ lots of awesome violence thing down. The extended look at Les Misérables is impressive, but I'm still not all that buzzed about this film. Except for Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway of course. I will probably sell my left kidney to see Jackman sing, and that part in the video when he does gave me goosebumps. Finally, the trailer of the week is Jab Tak Hai Jaan, which has Shahrukh Khan, Anushka Sharma and Katrina Kaif and looks like what a Bollywood film should look like. I have missed those kind of films. Let's hope it is good, in spite of how weird SRK and Kaif look with each other.

5) Finally, Parks and Recreation has returned! Woo hoo! "Meet the meat" has to be one of the funniest things that has ever been said. Anyways, here is Adam Scott speaking about my philosophy in life when it comes to sports-

Well said sir.

Toodles.

"People will say we're in love." ~ Sir Anthony Hopkins as Dr. Hannibal Lecter

I always knew Sir Anthony Hopkins was a hottie. Now, many would find it rude that I'm putting only one character of his in this list, but honestly it's just because I love him so. Hannibal Lecter is considered the number one movie villain of all time, and if hadn't been for this absolutely magnificent man, we would not have gotten such an unforgettable portrayal of a brilliantly diabolical character.

I salute you Mr. Hopkins. Without you, there would never have been Hannibal Lecter. And that would have been a crime.

A look back...

The Silence of the Lambs (1991)

"Closer, please. Clo-ser..."

"A census taker once tried to test me. I ate his liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti."

"Quid pro quo, Clarice. Quid pro quo."

"We begin by coveting what we see every day. Don't you feel eyes moving over your body, Clarice? And don't your eyes seek out the things you want?"

Hannibal (2001)

"Your job is to craft my doom, so I am not sure how well I should wish you. But I'm sure we'll have a lot of fun. Ta-ta, 'H'."

"Now you're being rude, and I hate rude people."

"Could he daily feel a stab of hunger for her and find nourishment in the very sight of her? I think so. But would she see through the bars of his plight and ache for him?"

"You see, the brain itself feels no pain if that concerns you, Clarice. "

Red Dragon (2002)

"Remarkable boy. I do admire your courage. I think I'll eat your heart. "

'A robin red-breast in a cage, puts all of Heaven in a rage. Think to yourself that every day is your last. The hour to which you do not look forward will come as a welcome surprise. As for me, when you want a good laugh, you will find me in fine state... fat and sleek, a true hog of Epicurus's herd."

"Have you seen blood in the moonlight? It appears quite black."

"You stink of fear Will, but you're not a coward. You fear me, but still you came here. You fear this shy boy, yet still you seek him out. Don't you understand, Will? You caught me because we're very much alike. Without our imaginations, we'd be like all those other poor... dullards. Fear... is the price of our instrument. But I can help you bear it. "

"And be grateful. Our scars have the power to remind us that the past was real."



       Doesn't he have the most amazing face? I feel like writing sonnets and odes on his piercing eyes, his devilish smile, and everything else that is Anthony Hopkins.
       Well, these were a few screencaps from the Hannibal films and some of my favourite Hannibal quotes. I don't own Hannibal and have only seen it once because frankly, I thought it was kind of disgraceful. I thought they made it especially gruesome to match the other so-called horror movies of the late 90s, and they had no need to that. Also I never thought that I would hate to see Julianne Moore in a film, but seriously Jodie Foster IS Clarice Starling, not Moore or anyone else. Similarly Anthony Hopkins IS Hannibal and not Gaspard Ulliel. Yes he is gorgeous and brilliant, but not the same type of adorable menace that Hopkins' Hannibal is. Thank god they made Red Dragon, which saved Hannibal from being remembered as a farce. I really love that film too, but obviously The Silence of the Lambs is the best and holds a special place in my heart and life-influencing films list.
        My absolute favourite Hannibal Lecter quote is the one I'm putting after this. The census taker one is a close second.

"Well, Clarice - have the lambs stopped screaming? "

This was part 5 of Favourite Actors who play Villains/Anti-heroes.