Alternate Best Actor 2000: Lee Byung-hun in Joint Security Area

Lee Byung-hun did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Sgt. Lee Soo-hyuk in Joint Security Area.

Joint Security Area is a terrific expectedly off beat film from director Park Chan-Wook about the complexities that develop from a friendship that develops between North and South Korean soldiers in the demilitarized zone across the border.  

Ah let's return to Lee Byung-hun once again, one of the actors it has been a joy to discover through this little endeavor of mine. An actor if you only watched him outside of South Korean cinema you'd probably not think much of, except to a minor degree in The Magnificent Seven which was the only western film that didn't ENTIRELY waste his talent. In his home country though you have one of the most charismatic and really talented actors of his generation. Two of his previous performances that I've covered have been brilliant volcanic turns, performances based on the character holding it all in until key moments. While this performance is quite a bit different, though we also still get the expected measure of internalized intensity you'd expect from him. This particularly in the film's opening, which actually what one would probably think going into a Park film based on his later efforts, this as we initial open with an investigation in a violent excursion on the border, lead by Swiss army emissary Maj. Sophie E. Jean (Lee Young-ae). There we meet initially a largely silent Lee as Sergeant Lee, who seems hesitant to reveal anything about what happened exactly. The weight of the situation though can instantly read on Lee's face with his smouldering intensity as prevalent as ever. Lee showing a man who definitely knows much, and is holding much back, yet is also holding it all back in for now. 

Eventually we flashback into a most unexpected story for a Park Chan-wook film in particular, of Lee by chance coming across to North Korean soldiers (Song Kang-ho being one of them) who save his life during a military excursion that leads to a friendship between the men. Lee's performance really just needs to be said is pitch perfect, and really there is just something so wonderful about getting to see him in these genuinely sweet scenes of friendship. This as Lee really so naturally even creates the initial moment of coming together as natural moment, by just so bluntly making the interaction what a normal person, not necessarily soldier of an enemy nation, would do. This as he warns the men of the dangers, it is so earnest and in turn you get instantly the sense of connection that the men find as just people. We then follow him as he pursues the friendship initially through traded messages. Even these scenes of throwing the messages, Lee captures in his eyes just the strikingly sweet manner of a man just seeking friendship in a rather cold place. There is something so warm as we see each message across Lee's eyes, and he shows so much of what Lee is getting out of this relationship. This just in creating the most basic need for connection, and making it feel so real between these men, because in a way it is so basic to one's human need. 

I'll admit one might get an even greater pleasure out of Lee's performance here being knowledgeable of his later work given he would go on to play such tortured characters, where here in the flashback we get such beautiful moments of levity between the three men, and later four when Lee invites one of his South Korean comrades into the group. What we then just really get are these great genuine moments between the men just hanging out and having fun. This is totally winning, and again, seeing a bright smile on Lee's face is a particularly sweet sight to see. I especially love the moments where they get to become playful with one another in their technically serious positions. Such as a moment where Lee and one of his Northern friends trade spit and stare down on the border. Lee's overly serious expression that segues to the most earnest of smiles is just sheer perfection, and is absolutely heartwarming as well. The group creates this real investment in the friendship by making every interaction for so real between these guys, and you just feel you are often hanging out with them as they try to put aside the world when together. This against moments though of rising tensions where Lee is quite effective in showing in every interaction this growing fear in the man for all the men's safety as their meetings seem less and less safe for all of them. 

This leading to a final gathering to say their goodbyes that begins with the four at their most heartwarming in each and every interaction, but ends in tragedy as another Northern soldier walks into the gathering. It is this event that we are dissecting in the opening and as we return back to the present. This where we see Lee portraying again this very tight state of a personality, though something he slowly reveals a blistering guilt within his eyes. Again Lee is a master of the leaking of emotion with such poignancy, and this is again, when he meets up with one of his former friends again, and in his reaction we see such a palatable sadness in the man. In the flashbacks though we find the place of this guilt in an earlier interactions where Lee has a fantastic moment of just a hint of bluster in the soldier as he shows off his gun skills without actually having shot. In that moment he shows this effective arrogance of a soldier, though tempered in the moment of being challenged on it, Lee delivers this natural meekness to the moment showing this potent vulnerability related to the fear that is in the man. This coming out in the inciting incident where Lee makes some very bad instinctual reactions, and Lee wholly though makes this such a powerful moment, by playing them in showing the fear gripping the man making it this basically thoughtless reaction. This in showing the man not committing a purposeful cruelty but rather a senseless moment defined by nerves not hate. In turn, as is the case for most Lee leading performances it seems, his final moments on screen are absolutely devastating. This as his eyes wholly convey the man reliving the incident in his head, and is heartbreaking in showing the sense of shame and guilt that suddenly explode out of the man. Lee in turn giving a seemingly senseless action in the end, a moment of deeply felt personal pain wholly enveloping the man. Lee delivers yet another great performance here creating such a heartwarming depiction of a man finding friendship, but also a shattering portrait of a man facing his failure living up to this connection.

Alternate Best Actor 2000: John Cusack in High Fidelity

John Cusack did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Rob Gordon in High Fidelity. 

High Fidelity is a rather enjoyable romantic comedy about a sad sack record store owner recounting his top five breakups. 

High Fidelity marks kind of the last hurrah for John Cusack as a romantic comedy lead, after having made his bones basically through the genre, despite attempts to branch out to the more dramatic lead, which has had mixed results throughout his career. This though is basically Cusack within his bread and better, though slightly different from the young man looking for love in Better Off Dead and Say Anything, and now a less than middle age, though no longer a young man, dealing with the baggage of his relationships. Now I've always actually liked Cusack fairly well in these kinds of roles. This as he delivers on this sort of strange every man kind of charm. This as he's only kind of charming, he's more so hapless and kind of pathetic. We get that again here, but as an older man, slightly. The weird thing here is, that I think Cusack's performance is particularly essential here to the success of the film, but in a way it is a performance that is based on a kind of consistency. The consistency being that of not quite seriousness nor quite comedic in a way. Cusack is kind of this exact in-between mostly working within these kind of there between always with that state of a kind of sad sackness. And in this sense, his performance is wholly successful as I think a too earnest performance would've lost the sort of comic tone within the material, while a too comedic one would've felt too detached within the romance. Cusack some how sits between both in just the way needed for Rob.

This as Cusack portrays Rob in each of his "Top five" breakups in a very similar way, but in that similar way that works in creating the state of this perpetual kind of discontent, while also seeming pathetic, yet there is something remotely charming about him in that manner of his. This though as it is also fashioned through this recollections that Cusack presents as this ongoing narration/fourth wall break, with a lightweight annoyance that is funny, but also suggests the sense of memory of pain eased by reflection in a way. This isn't to say that Cusack is one note, because he isn't, it is rather this wavering note, that stays within a certain key signature I suppose, I mean might as well be musically inclined due to the nature of the film. Cusack though has these moments of passion, most passion is reserved for the little outbursts about music where his delivery is particularly direct and sure of himself. This against speaking of his romantic situations where that is downer, but in a way that wholly works from making the film feel like a downer or self-loathing. Really I can see this character being such a failure given the amount of self-loathing in there, but Cusack doesn't artfully so that makes it a joke, while making it feel honest, while also not piling it on too thickly. He's just right in a way, and through that I find this one of Cusack's most endearing performances honestly. 

Again there are variations within his performance as Cusack is hilarious in these switches, particularly the outbursts of anger when at his lowest points of relationships, which Cusack heightens just enough to be both funny while also not making the character too cruel seeming in these moments. Now in the relationships we get Cusack in a way making his chemistry work to the degree it needs to, though in a way by being this man of insecurities more constantly than not. Cusack though just has that enough of an endearing energy, whether the relationship is based only insecurity, a mutual desperation, or something potentially more genuine. The latter being the focal relationship with his most recent breakup in Laura (Iben Hjejle). The two do share a particularly sweet chemistry even though it is in a way in between lines, in a moment of a glance or reflection, which Cusack really so fluidly realizes here. This in that he never exactly shows Rob completely move out of that state of his, yet has these better moments, must as he has his worse moments of frustration. It wonderful rhythm that Cusack achieves and manages to pull off to create the investment in the relationship, as much as Rob consistently makes bad decisions and acts like a real jerk in so many ways. Cusack is what makes the film work actually because he makes Rob work as a character, who should really be an insufferable lead in most hands. Cusack hits that balance, and here I think gives the very best example of Cusack in the form that made him a star in the first place, even if it was for one of the last times.

Alternate Best Actor 2000: Denis Lavant in Beau Travail

Denis Lavant did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Adjudant-Chef Galoup in Beau Travail. 

Beau Travail is a film with kind of  a fascinating rhythmic quality, a musical that's not a musical basically, about a former Foreign Legion officer recalling his time in the service.

The nature of the film therefore leaves Lavant really in almost two separate parts more often than not. This as the man reflecting on the past verbally, and the most often silent man of the past. Lavant being silent is never a crutch for him as a performer. He is just so fascinating, in a way that is rather difficult to describe. There is just something about how he moves, how he looks, how he does everything that is so distinctly his own, and fascinating by itself. It is hard to really pinpoint the magic of Lavant precisely, but whatever it is, he has it. This as even as so many early scenes are either him doing physical maneuvers or really just standing pensively, Lavant is still captivating. This even running an obstacle course, or looking over people, Lavant has that way about him, that is so much his own, and so much something that you can't quite put your finger on why you can't look away from what he is doing. The man's presence just is something that creates character all on his own, you know this character is unique, just because Lavant is unique. This being particularly essential given the nature of the film that asks him to mostly be silent when we actually see him against, his voice carrying us through his personal narration of the story.

Lavant's delivery of the narration itself is this calm and similarly, I suppose, idiosyncratic way in speaking these words. It isn't zestful nor is it dour in the recounting, it isn't overly emotional, but there is rather something entirely appropriate of it at every point, whether he is recounting a death or a state of being. Lavant speaks just as it is, and that appears to be all that is needed. This is, Louis Bingo time, very much a director's film. I will say though Lavant is an actor particularly well built for such affairs because he really doesn't need much to be able to be captivating and even convey character. This as even as scene of staring off with another men later on, does speak so many more words than dialogue would've driven in just from the method of the stare down. Lavant suggesting that Galoup is going through more than just a moment of aggression or toughness. This rather a sense of the man's attraction to the other in the moment, and again this is all unsaid yet beautifully performed. The conflict here is said a little bit, this as Galoup enacts wrath against the soldier he is quietly obsessed with, a la Claggart to poor Billy Budd, and this dynamic is between most of the lines. Lavant delivers the moments that are found, even if more cursory due to the nature of the film that is not focused upon acting as much. Still even with that, Lavant is essential to the film's success by still realizing the drama within the limits allowed by the approach. Also just through a magnificent dance number at the end, that is magical in just the way it is so wholly that Lavant energy of a brute and Baryshnikov.

Alternate Best Actor 2000: Sol Kyung-gu in Peppermint Candy

Sol Kyung-gu did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Kim Yong-ho in Peppermint Candy.

 

Peppermint Candy opens with a man committing suicide via train, and flashbacks to show the episodes that brought him to this place.

Sol Kyung-gu so far has lead three films that I've seen and two of those three I found almost intolerable in their overall approach. THANKFULLY, Peppermint Candy doesn't fall into that for me, not that I love this film or even like it exactly, but even with its subject matter I found the whole film far less unpleasant than the severely misguided Oasis and Hope. Although to be fair, as much as I disliked those films, I liked Sol in both films despite that. He was never the problem, and that is abundantly clear from the opening scene of this film, that I must contend actually is quite striking on its own. This as Sol's Kim wanders about a gathering of old schoolmates having a reunion. Sol is quite fantastic in this scene in portraying in his face this man who has so much more on his mind than anything related to meeting old friends. There is just a seething depression within him and a palatable pain that you can sense even as he isn't exactly opening up to these people. That is what makes the scene so remarkable actually is that Sol shows the attempted internalization, that given the severity of the condition of his depression it is still noticeable. Even when he tries to act happy, by singing karaoke any smiles are these forced upon puppet motions of his mouth, and nothing genuine can be seen. Sol is excellent in the moments of the random outbursts, as he presents them as basically leaks from his dam of trying to internalize the despair. These outbursts being he most genuine truth of the man. This leading to when he suddenly is upon a train track waiting for his demise, Sol quite effectively drops all pretenses giving a powerful portrayal of the insanity of the man as he screams to be taken back. Sol in this moments showing a man with nothing left but his demons that he's yelling towards the world in some final act of futility. 

That opening scene is great, and from that I thought this might be among director Chang-dong Lee's superior works like Burning and Poetry, however the film then falls into a little bit of a repetitious state for the first two flashbacks. This as the first we see him attempting suicide with a gun and failing, while leaving in a state of destitution. To Sol's credit his performance is effective in portraying in a way a variation in the depression. This as he's not quite at the end that we see in the opening, and in a way he denotes this by making it more expression. This as Sol almost showing the man's anguish as still a cry for help, albeit futile, rather than his final state where his fatal purpose has realized itself within his more internalized state. We do have a slightly different moment thrown in where Kim is brought to his hospitalized and in a severe state old crush by her husband. We get a little bit of tenderness from Sol as he offers Peppermint candy. Although the scene overall didn't quite come together for me, Sol's performance is affecting in showing the man putting aside his own despair for a moment in order to try to provide comfort to another. His eyes still reflecting his own pain, but at the same time there is that attempt at tenderness. We follow that again through a different depressing scene of an earlier past where Kim is in a failing marriage defined by adultery. Although one instantly can question Lee's choice for misery upon misery, Sol's performance does deliver once again. This however in another alternative state of depression that he vividly realizes. This more so now a man in denial of it. This as he wears a face of contentment but his internalized manner suggests otherwise. A particularly potent moment being when he randomly says that life is good essentially. His delivery being forced and labored, and most of all with this intention of emphasizing the idea in his own mind, when the opposite is the truth. 

What proceeds then is largely Lee depicting more brutalities of life as we flashback to Kim's further time as a police officer which mostly involves brutalizing suspects, mixed in with further circumstances of the failures of his romantic life. These segments though do at least allow for us to see Sol's performance that has an understanding for his character. We see the less jaded man, though still in a perpetual state of not quite being able to achieve happiness. Sol is effective though in playing with kind of the weight of his life in these scenes a bit. This showing a bit more overt anguish at some of the brutalities he deals with, and a greater passion of the moments that border on potentially a better life for himself. Still negativity seems to intercede at every point, until we flashback again to his time as a soldier, where again his life seems defined by unpleasantness. Sol again though does impressively show a troubled, but less jaded man. This in reflecting how scared he is in the situation, and his lack of conviction in the violence involved. A situation that ends in a tragic point, but at this point in the film, one can't help but almost roll their eyes by how much you feel Lee's going for the most obvious of manipulations. Which, actually even that scene might've worked if the execution of it didn't feel so melodramatic in terms of the method in which the tragedy occurs. We only find contentment in the man as he is a realized student, and Sol's performance is impressive in showing the weightless man compared to the deeply troubled soul of the first scene. I wish though I cared as we find that Lee wants to make that unbelievably original point that it "was the system man!". Which honestly I'd be fine with if this whole thing felt more honest. The film though I feel struggles to escape the artifice of the presentation, in part because of how unrelenting it is in making its fairly obvious point. That theme, even the structure, and even with the exact same opening scene, which would be an amazing short film on its own, this could've been something special as film. Lee's choices in his writing though always feel contrived to create the situation, rather make it seem a natural reflection of life and in turn the power of the scenario is lost. Having said that, Sol's performance is one element that felt genuine in the film. While he seems trapped in the scenario, Sol's performance does create something remarkably in revealing a man mentally wasting away in reverse.

Alternate Best Actor 2000

And the Nominees Were Not:

John Cusack in High Fidelity

 

Denis Lavant in Beau Travail

 

Sol Kyung-gu in Peppermint Candy

 

Lee Byung-hun in Joint Security Area

 

Sean Connery in Finding Forrester

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1964: Results

5. James Mason in The Fall of the Roman Empire - Mason delivers the expected gravitas, but gets to go further with a remarkable scene of compassion under torture essentially.

Best Scene: The test.

4. Shailen Mukherjee in Charulata - Mukherjee gives an effective portrayal of a mistaken though good husband, and a moving depiction of the man figuring out then trying to amend his mistakes.

 

Best Scene: Figuring it out. 

3. David Tomlinson in Mary Poppins - Tomlinson gives the most mature aspect of the film, while an entertaining portrayal of English properness, also a moving portrayal of a man figuring out what is most important in life.

Best Scene: A long walk to the bank.

2. Christopher Plummer in The Fall of the Roman Empire - Plummer is the properly entertaining mad emperor you'd expect, but with the right nuance to create depth as the son who was always a disappointment in his father's eyes.

Best Scene: Hearing the truth of his parentage.

1. Hume Cronyn in Hamlet - Cronyn gives a masterclass in not only how to make Shakespeare seem as fresh as possible, but how to make the create greatness out of a good, but traditionally not great, role.

 

Best Scene: With Hamlet in the library. 

Updated Overall

Next: 2000 Lead

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 1964: James Mason & Christopher Plummer in The Fall of the Roman Empire

James Mason did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Timonides in The Fall of the Roman Empire. 

The Fall of the Roman Empire falls into the middle of sword and sandals epic for me, doesn't hit the heights of Spartacus or Ben-Hur, but is superior to something truly dull like Quo, Vadis or Cleopatra. 

 

One of the assets to "Fall" is its star studded cast that features a slew of notable performers to grant gravitas to the proceedings. The greatest deliverer of such gravitas comes from James Mason himself, whose regal presence is always welcomed, and his voice itself makes any words come from it seem somewhat justified to begin with. Now that is largely Mason's role here and he provides for it as you would expect. That is Mason delivers on the role of the benevolent advisor to the  elderly Marcus Aurelius (Alec Guinness). Mason grants that innate dignity to the part and any line that needs a bit more emphasis Mason is more than eager to deliver. This with his calm assertiveness and here also bringing this engaging empathetic manner to the part. Mainly though I'm talking about this performance in part to fill this lineup as a proper five, and just to talk about his one major scene. This being when Timonides must negotiate with a barbarian tribe for their surrender. That which they take it upon themselves to torture him in some test that he be tortured with a flame that will be pressed against him until he touches the statue of their deity. Mason is great throughout the scene first in portraying a natural loss of usual dignified manner just to quietly and urgently try to speak the men out of the test given with such brutality. It is then some remarkable physical acting from Mason as he writhes in pain while doing so in a silent scream, and infusing within his delivery this sense of compassion for the men actually who are torturing him. It is notable, as he manages to show the goodness of the man even as he faces a theoretical enemy creating a believable scene of victory in seeming defeat. It is Mason's one major scene, but a strong one. Otherwise though he brings his always reliable presence as usual to give this film just a bit more credence by his mere existence. 

Christopher Plummer did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Commodus in The Fall of the Roman Empire. 

Christopher Plummer now gets the most important roles it seems in these Rome adjacent epics, that being the typical best part of any of them, that being the dastardly Roman fiend of one kind or another. Here playing the role that would eventually be played by Joaquin Phoenix, in this film's remake that doesn't call itself a remake in Gladiator. This as we even get the same introduction to his character as Commodus is noted as a bit of a disappointment/loose cannon by his wise father as he joins the Roman army at the edge of the frontier where barbarians await. While I praised his turn as Hamlet the same year I did note the degree of theatricality in his work, there really are no worries here related to that, not because his performance isn't theatrical, rather less of an issue, though actually Plummer is remarkably quieter at times. A part that opens less as a mad emperor actually though and slightly more closely to Stephen Boyd's work as Messala in Ben-Hur, which is fitting as this time Boyd plays the heroic role here as the commoner turned general Livius, who like Ben-Hur is friends with the chief villain in Commodus. This appears to be directly referenced as we get a cross arm mutual cup drink between the two friends in this film too, although really one, even don't watch the whole film, needs to watch this scene for the sheer insanity of it. This as they don't just have a drink they gulp down sack full as a kind of strange contest. It is such a bizarre scene that does need to be seen to be believed in a certain sense. Plummer makes a statement early on though in the demented glee of it, though with it creating a similar kind of Messala kind of affection towards Livius, as a man who seems to truly enjoy their friendship to say the least. 

Plummer is really excellent in these early scenes actually to create a dramatic baseline, for what will be a rather showy performance overall, this in creating that eagerness to see his friend that is genuine, and actually is followed up by genuinely rather powerful scene from Plummer as he hears that his father wants to give Rome to Livius not Commodus his actual heir. Plummer's initial reaction actually is great in its initial subtlety of disbelief but also real sadness, that illustrates a sense of a son realizing the lack of care his father actually has for him. This before going a bit more theatrical, though quite effectively so, as he giggles to himself with a mad laughter that Plummer denotes with pain of the man almost cracking at attempting to come to terms with his father's view of him, yet failing. Plummer does show a mad man here, but with that mad man there is a potent sympathy he actually does elicit in the moment to show that Commodus for his flaws did wish to believe that his father could've believed in him, and in his view love him. Plummer in his following scene, where Commodus wants to take the vanguard of the attack, he conveys the sense of a despairing conviction, a man who wants to risk his life to prove himself, but also seems almost to wish to die as though it is a fruitless effort in his view. The moment allowing Plummer to express a lot more than you might've in this role, and does really create a sense of depth to Commodus. He isn't just the bad son of the emperor, he does actually make you bother to see the tragedy in a son trying and failing to live up to his father's expectation. And unlike the later depiction, Commodus is far less active in his father's demise, and perhaps even only indirectly even unknowingly so. His final scene with him, there is no spite, rather Plummer delivers his last words of the son pensively of the son genuine still trying to understand his failure. 

Of course when he is made Caesar, we get what we were expecting to have from a performance like this, in the vein of Jay Robinson in The Robe, Peter Usitnov in Quo, Vadis, that being in the truly mad emperor, and this sense Plummer does not disappoint. Plummer giving a great indication of this from the scene of being declared ruler, and a most magnificent grin falls upon the face, that can only be described as a man glowing in the powers he will most readily wish to abuse. Plummer is magnificent, and this is where one does not mind Plummer throwing in that theatrical power of is for all its might. His grand voice, and just his impressive presence being ideal in creating a force of a man in his Commodus. Plummer beautifully playing this up in his physical language in just posturing in every step of a man loving his power, and loving the show of it. Plummer then speaking of his tyrannical demand with complete abandonment for shame, literally dancing on his map of the world, and Plummer prancing around in such a delightfully demented way. His casual and just bright way of mentioning that he will simply "destroy" his enemies without a hint of shame. Like Robinson, and Ustinov, it is just fun to watch Plummer every time he appears, as he is having so much it seems, that it is hard not to have it with him. He's incredibly entertaining in playing up these moments for all their worth, but also wholly realizing his character. When speaking with his sister (Sophia Loren), Plummer's grin couldn't be more perfect as he reminds her of his unlimited sway in the empire, however Plummer still successfully segues to a moment of emotional desperation as he questions the lack of affection ever shown by his sister. Plummer consistently finds this though as when he tries to get Livius to run his armies, Plummer's eyes bring forth a striking desire, of camaraderie perhaps to put it too lightly, while still realizing the ferocity and derangement of his ambition at the same time. Plummer doesn't waste a juicy line, in fact he basically is the one that makes them juicy in just portraying the increasingly evil state of the man, but again as fun as this is, he doesn't lose a bit more to the characterization. This found in the last act twist where he learns he is in fact the son of a gladiator (Anthony Quayle, in a role I can only assume had deleted scenes) and not of the emperor. Plummer hits just the right tone of camp in the writhing around of the emperor as he confronts this truth, while also actually finding some real emotion in showing the break in his voice of a man, who was already on an edge, wholly losing his grasp on reality. Through this I have to say Plummer created more complex feelings in me than just a "kill the bastard" in the final duel with Livius, (again Gladiator is definitely a remake) that is the climax of the film. This as much as Plummer is an enjoyable fiend, he does find the degree of pity for a man who was broken by circumstances that by right were never meant for him. I expected Plummer to be fun here, and that he doesn't disappoint in, but he doesn't stop there, creating a far more tragic villain than I would ever have expected.