Alternate Best Actor 2013: Domhnall Gleeson in About Time

Domhnall Gleeson did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Tim Lake in About Time.

About Time follows a young man's romantic adventures through life after he discovers the men in his family have the ability to travel through time.

I won't hesitate to state that I found this film to be easily the best film associated with writer/director Richard Curtis on any front. Mind you I feel that Love Actually, is a crime against humanity, but I did find this film to be mostly delightful, if just teetering on causing one to overdose on sugar occasionally. A man who must be given a great deal of credit for this is Domhnall Gleeson. Much like Paddy Considine, Domhnall Gleeson is another actor who've I've taken a long time to get to on here with an actual review, though I feel my affection for him as a performer is fairly evident. The younger Gleeson, fitting to his lineage, has shown a notable range in genre and tone. This is as much as Gleeson can handle the ennui of duplicitous android, and their creators, he is as apt for the far lighter tone of a work here. This is as his character of Tim is just an average "below average" chap just going about his life. This is not a stretch as Richard Curtis lead characters goes, though this idea is typically deigned to Hugh Grant, who while I don't dislike those performances, was always perhaps a bit too confident to be genuinely awkward. Well with the younger Gleeson this quality you might say feels a bit more earned.

Domhnall Gleeson in fact seems perfect for this role as his natural presence is one of being a little naturally awkward while also being charming. This is ideal for Tim whose life is changed through time travel primarily as a form of dealing with life's little awkward moments, and getting a chance to make them work just a bit better. Well, Gleeson therefore needs to do two things quite often in this performance. This is to be awkward first as we see Tim go about his first tries, whether that be failing to go in for a kiss at new years, failing take a romantic chance or two, and of course fumbling his way around his first sexual encounter with his love. Gleeson is wonderful at doing just the right touches of stilted speech, and inability to place himself physically in the right position, to be just the right sort of completely out of place in the moment. This of course is against his scenes of going back to "fix" things for himself, by now taking the chance, saying the right thing, or making the right move. Gleeson makes this method actually particularly endearing because while he carries a sense of confidence in his manner he does wholly lose that awkwardness that he makes a natural part of Tim.

These ole switcheroo's may be the sort of gimmick the film has to pull you in, however the film is more in general about just Tim living his life with his strange group of friends, his father (Bill Nighy) and his eventual love in Mary (Rachel McAdams). Well in each segment of these various vignettes, pieced together by the little time travel moves, we always have Gleeson as the rock center. Now that might sound like a criticism against the film, but it honestly isn't as it works in this largely breezy approach to the matter. It is of course helped by Gleeson's work though which just sort of maneuvers around the film with the effortless of someone living a life, even if technically a most unusual way. This actually is all helped by Gleeson's overarching approach which is to never overplay a single facet of the character. This is as the comedic moments are just as natural in his work as are the romantic ones. Gleeson keeps a light but never weak touch with the material. Gleeson rather finds just the right approach for any given scene, and in this sense very much makes the film by creating such a strong anchor.

Take the more hapless moments of the time travel, which are the most humorous of the film, Gleeson brings just a low key hilarity in his little reactions in a given moment. This is whether it be of enjoyable frustration and confusion when he has to take excessive effort to set things right, such as getting all the lines to some forgetful actors for a playwright acquaintance, or his knowing reactions when not so quietly figuring out his situation in front of others. I especially love the way Gleeson delivers his lines so directly in the sequence where he attempts to find a way to woo Mary again, after time travel shenanigans have technically caused more problems than they solved. Gleeson though is as good in the quiet romantic moments with McAdams where the two do develop just an absolutely splendid chemistry honestly based upon a mutual awkwardness essentially. Gleeson though just makes the moments work by playing every moment so honestly and quite affectionately, that makes it quite the sweet if certainly unassuming romance. The film of course has some slight detours towards the dramatic, initially through Tim's sister who has a less than pleasant experience in life. This isn't given too much depth but I'll credit Gleeson with making them work quite well, through his earnest work that grants the weight of his inability to help. Gleeson's terrific in this low key way though in that he avoids any melodrama yet grants enough gravity to not make it feel slight. The highlight though of the film, that in way combines all these elements, are his scenes with his equally time travel able father. He and Nighy are great together. Gleeson excels in his early befuddled elements, but where they really the most of the material in their moments of a mutual empathy that comes from two fellow time travelers. This eventually builds towards something more when his father is going to die and Tim can't do anything about it, accept use the time he has with him. Again what actually keeps this from a tonal problem is how light both actors keep these moments. Gleeson still grants the right earnest pathos within his eyes reflecting the loss, however he keeps that subtle, emphasizing instead the joy in their shared moments that captures the thematic spirit of the film beautifully. That is of course the entire performance of Domhnall Gleeson's here. It is not some earth shattering work but rather pitch perfect by being so charmingly average.