Monday 2 May 2016

Alternate Best Actor 1971: Results

5. Jon Finch in Macbeth - The film purposefully restricts his ability to explore the character, but Finch still manages to give an effective portrayal of the transformation of Macbeth particularly in the way he suggests his misdeeds age him.

Best Scene: Learning about the Lady
4. Al Pacino in The Panic in Needle Park - Pacino, unlike the film itself, creates an understanding in his character's disjointed nature effectively showing the different sides of such a man whether he's revealing an abundance of charm, or simply wasting away.

Best Scene: Bobby asks Helen to score for him.
3. Max von Sydow in The Emigrants -I apologize as I did not mean to shortchange this great actor, but I chose not to review the performance only because I felt I could not add anything to what I wrote about his work in the sequel where I felt he had a more dynamic character arc to realize since everything that's great in this performance can be seen there as well he only gets to explore the character further. This is also a very strong performance though that once again works through the sheer simple honesty he brings to the role, along with his marvelous chemistry with Liv Ullmann(who once again is perfection by the way) that works so in tandem with the wonderful vision realized by the film.

Best Scene: Watching over his sick wife.
2. Oliver Reed in The Devils - Reed gives a great performance as he stands as a needed straight man for the film, but also creates an affecting portrait of a priest devoted to his specific ideals.

Best Scene: Defending himself in court.
1. Paul Scofield in King Lear - Good Predictions RatedRStar, Michael Patison and Luke. Scofield more than proves his ability with the words of the bard, through his daring and truly powerful portrayal of the tragic king.

Best Scene: The storm.
Updated Overall (with a few extras):

Next Year: 1971 Supporting

48 comments:

GM said...

Do you feel Axberg is more of a lead in The Emigrants?

ruthiehenshallfan99 said...

Louis: Your Thoughts and ratings on Michael Jayston and Janet Suzman in Nicholas and Alexandra.

Calvin Law said...

Edward Fox/Alan Bates in The Go - Between
Alain Delon in Red Sun (if not would recommend watching for Mifune and Bronson)
Ian McShane in Villain

John Smith said...

Elliot Gould/The Touch

John Smith said...

Amitabh Bachan/Anand

John Smith said...

Dharmendra/Guddi

Anonymous said...

Eddie Axberg - The Immigrants
Art Garfunkel - Carnal Knowledge (Globe nomination)
Tom Baker - Nicholas and Alexandra (Globe nomination)
Edward Fox - The Go Between (Bafta win)
Alan Bates - The Go Between

Alex Marqués said...

Eddie Axberg is already ranked.

GM said...

Humm, I think he's lead, but taking the oportunity I'm gonna make my last winning request: Eddie Axberg in Here is Your Life (66 lead)

Anonymous said...

Ill change then

Edward Fox - The Go Between (Bafta win)
Alan Bates - The Go Between
Elliot Gould - The Touch
Ian McShane - Villain
Harry Andrews - The Nightcomers

Louis, your thoughts on Baker and Garfunkel?

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Your ratings & thoughts on Ullmann & Zetterlund in The Emigrants.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: My request is Nikolai Burlyayev in Ivan's Childhood.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Your ratings & thoughts on Redgrave, Jackson and McGoohan in Mary, Queen Of Scots.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Rating & Thoughts on Axberg in The Emmigrants.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Where would you rank Ullmann for 1971 Lead and are there any other female performances from the year that you would give a 4.5 or more to.

Michael Patison said...

Wow. The moment I give up hoping I'll get a prediction correct, I get it right. I'll hold off on my request since I don't want to further overcrowd and already incredibly crowded 2011 Lead.

I have no recommendations beyond what has been mentioned as The Railway Children came out in 1970.

Luke Higham said...

Has anyone seen Come and See with Aleksei Kravchenko.

John Smith said...

Greatest war movie ever made.

Luke Higham said...

John: Your rating for Kravchenko.

Tahmeed Chowdhury said...

Amitabh Bachchan-Anand
Harry Andrews-The Nightcomers
Alan Bates-The Go Between
Edward Fox-The Go Between

Luke Higham said...

I hope 1985 will come after this.

John Smith said...

Luke: 5

Luke Higham said...

John: And your thoughts on his performance as well.

Calvin Law said...

I think I've found my next request but I'm unsure whether I should go for it next time I win a prediction. Matthias Schoenaerts, 'Bullhead', 2011 lead. It's already packed I know and that'd leave Louis with only one choice but having just seen it, it's such a remarkable performance.

mcofra7 said...

I was thinking about changing my request for Jake Gyllenhaal in Source Code actually

Robert MacFarlane said...

Can you please? I like Jake, but there is nothing about that performance that warrants a review.

mcofra7 said...

Request change: Jake Gyllenhaal in Source Code to Willem Dafoe in the Last Temptation of Christ

Anonymous said...

I believe I remember Louis saying there will be no changing from now on in terms of requests, once its chosen it is stuck with.

Alex Marqués said...

Louis: can I have your thoughts on Theron in Monster and MMFR, Watts in Mulholland Drive and Cotillard in The Immigrant?

John Smith said...

Luke: I'm not good at expressing thoughts but i will try for you.

I really like the way the actor makes the charachter kind of dumb. As if he has a mental problem, but it is not in your but is instead showed with subtility. I also appteciate the lack of uneeded mannerism something that i find quite annoying in Ruffalos performance in Spotlight. He keeps his dialouge deliver in the beginning as something natural. The best part of his performance is his physical and emotional reaction to the war and his reactions consist of raw power. The turmoils we have to see him go to make this movie hard to watch. I almost wish he would die.

Sinve we saw him as the young, slightly dumb and naive child in the begginig it is startling to see him become hollow shell he is at the end of the movie.

His performance ranks alongside Hurt's performance in 10 Rillington as the hardest performance to watch.

I also quite like his chemistry with the girl and their time in the forest togheter makes us hate the war even more.

Luke Higham said...

John: Thanks. :)

Luke Higham said...

Alex:

Monster - 5 (A very haunting work where she always simply is Wuornos, and realizes the truly damaged psyche of her so well)

Mad Max: Fury Road - 5(On that same note Theron is also doing terrific work here as well. What I love is that even though she and Max are in the same vein she does not feel like his replicant. She matches Hardy in terms of intensity and bringing the needed vividness to the actions. She also is very effective in the way she quietly taps into the vulnerabilities of her character. I have to say she and Hardy here had remarkable chemistry but in their own way that was most unique, as they create a connection between two loners)

Watts - 5 (A very stylized work that absolutely works in perfect tandem with the world Lynch creates. It's a stunning piece of work that is completely captivating to watch)

Cotillard - 5(The film seemed purposefully made to be a melodrama of old, not unlike something like Carrie for example, and part of Cotillard performance is I feel an old school movie star quality. There is something so wonderfully luminous about her here and she is simply wonderful in the part. Of course that is technically subverted by what happens to her character. Cotillard gives an amazing performance that always exudes this inner beauty even as she's unrelenting in showing the psychological and physical degradation of her character. This actually might be my favorite performance of hers and is easily my win now for 2013)

Alex Marqués said...

Thanks Luke!

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Have you seen The Witch yet.

Calvin Law said...

Would love to see Dafoe get a review.

Luke: who would you like to see reviewed for 1985 lead? Besides Nakadai in Ran obviously.

Luke Higham said...

Calvin: In your opinion, is Michael Smiley Lead or Supporting in Kill List. I rewatched it recently and I'm still torn on his placement.

Luke Higham said...

Calvin: Dafoe's definitely a lock for 1988.

For 1985, I would like Klaus Maria Brandauer in Colonel Redl, Eric Stoltz in Mask & Clint Eastwood in Pale Rider to fill out the remaining slots for the Lead lineup and I'm rather hoping Louis will watch The Shooting Party for Mason's final performance.

For Supporting, Daniel Day-Lewis in My Beautiful Laundrette.

Alex Marqués said...

Luke: What do you think of Kill List?

Luke Higham said...

Alex: I think it's a very effective Thriller/Horror, with excellent acting from Maskell and Smiley (MVP) and quite like it's divisive ending. It's the best I've seen from Wheatley, yet I'm about 25 minutes into High-Rise and I quite like it so far.

Anonymous said...

I don't know about you guys, but I'd like to see Keaton for 1988.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: If there's just the 8 requests for 2011 Lead, can you implement Preferential voting for the remaining slots.

Lastly, if you think Smiley's Supporting in Kill List and review him for that category instead, can you replace him with whomever comes 3rd overall in the voting.

Anonymous said...

Louis: Rating and thoughts on Spencer Tracy in The Seventh Cross.
Edward Fox and Alan Bates in The Go-Between
Elliot Gould in The Touch
Harry Andrews in The Nightcomers
Ian McShane in Villain

Luke Higham said...

Louis: That's just a suggestion, for you to consider. :)

Anonymous said...

It seems that Liv Ullmann always gives a great performance, which is great.

Anonymous said...

*It seems like

Anonymous said...

Just watched Brute Force (1947). Brilliant noir prison drama IMO. Lancaster was good, and I even liked Bickford. However, the MVP of the film is Hume Cronyn.
Ratings:
Lancaster: 3,5/4
Bickford: 3,5
Cronyn: 4,5/5

Louis Morgan said...

GM: He had his own scenes but I still felt his moments were supporting the more central story provided by Ullmann's and von Sydow's characters.

ruthiehenshallfan99:

Jayston - 4(I rather liked his performance as I found he captured the right dynamic with Nicholas. That being in his scenes where he attempted to be a leader he presented a plain pigheadedness, and complete lack of depth in every breath he took. There was not a moment of genuine command, but always instead an awkwardness as he tries to be the great leader. I especially loved his moment where he simply breaks down over his incompetence. Then with his family Jayston brought only such genuine affection and warmth that only suggested a good man. Jayston naturally creates the distinctions between the two sides, by showing someone who could have been a great man if he never had been in a position of power)

Suzman - 4(She also was very good in portraying the two sides of her character in again bringing such a considerable warmth, and a possibly overbearing concern when she was specifically only acting as a mother for her children. However again in the moments where she was Rasputin or trying to be any sort of figurehead I liked how she presented simply a plain foolishness of someone ill-fitting of her position.)

Baker - 3.5(It should be noted first that his death scene is just amazing, and lover everything about that scene. Any way another performance of two sides. Baker in his scenes as an advisor though he brings the gravitas of a true holyman, and seems to exude such conviction in every word creating the charisma that could sway others. However out of Alexandra's view he's just the perfect hedonistic lout, as he plainly shows a man just loving every minute of fulfilling his lusts which his position allows for)

Garfunkle - 3(He's just fine in the role in that I had no real problems with what he did as a prototypical shy guy. He does not really go anywhere with his performance and is overshadowed by Jack Nicholson, who is not exactly giving his most magnetic performance from the seventies either.)

Louis Morgan said...

Ullmann - 5(Perfection truly and I may have to give her the win twice in a row. I love her work again as she manages to be almost other worldly in how luminous she is while still being absolutely of this world in the honesty of her portrayal of a younger mother. I found her she was truly effective in performance by subtly conveying an arc of a certain maturation of her character as she deals with the hardships of her life while dealing with the conflict she feels between her own religious beliefs against those around her. I particularly love her scenes with Zetterlund in this film as she so believably develops the change in their relationship throughout the first film, to what it is by the second. There is not a moment where she does not seem absolutely in touch with the vision of the film by her beautiful one of a kind portrait of just a normal woman.)

Zetterlund - 4.5(Again her scenes with Ullmann are great. I really liked the way she developed the free spirited nature of her character with a lack of cliche to it. The sort of fire is there so to speak but without any bland simplification. Instead she reveals an intense defensive quality that she maneuvers well from being understandable to egotistical sometimes as well.)

Redgrave - 3.5(The first half of her performance I found a bit strange as she almost played Mary as simple. Of course this all changes when she becomes a power player herself and I rather liked her portrayal of in Mary's scenes. However I did not feel she really made an effective transformation, nor was there really scene to make it understandable otherwise. Still once she's playing the game she's quite good.)

Jackson - 5(I loved her performance so much that it improved the film as a whole experience for me. I really loved her approach to Elizabeth in that she does command such a presence in her scenes while carrying such a powerful incisive quality in every one of her words. When you see her scheming oppose to Mary, Jackson presents someone who is absolutely in her element. On the other hand I also like how she found the weaknesses and vulnerabilities in the moments where she was forced to acknowledge that she's far less appealing than Mary. Jackson handles these moments brilliantly as she rushes through them as though it is Elizabeth trying to push through her own frustrations, and go past her weaknesses as quickly as possible)

McGoohan - 3.5(Interesting to see him play a Scot. McGoohan brings the expected gravitas to the role, and plays the quiet and subtle manipulator particularly well.)

Axberg - 4.5(Same thoughts as von Sydow)

Anonymous:

Tracy - 2.5(Rather unremarkable work from him as almost every one else he comes across is more interesting than he is. He's not bad, but he really does very little with his characters reactions throughout which is where the power of his performance should have come from. He fails to realize the transition of the character which unfortunately wholly depends on his nearly silent performance. It's not obviously bad, but it's not very good either)