Friday, 8 April 2022

Alternate Best Actor 1997: Takeshi Kitano in Hana-bi

Takeshi Kitano did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Yoshitaka Nishi in Hana-bi.
 
Hana-Bi is a curious yet captivating mix of beauty and brutality, about a former police inspector dealing with two major tragedies in his life. 
 
The multi-talented Takeshi Kitano stars and directs this film, building an unusual tapestry around himself, and through himself as a tale about deep humanity and inhumanity often back to back or in the same scene. Although there is a tangible narrative going on Kitano directs the film with almost a stream of consciousness approach as the scenes move between each other with almost a dreamlike pace and manner. The idiosyncratic nature of this approach is perhaps most evident within Kitano's own performance, a performance that would be best described as austere. His typical state is that of a cold stare with typically any emotion obscured by a pair of ominous sunglasses that seem to detach his inspector from any more humanity. And in this sense, Kitano seems to craft the "badass" anti-hero of a more expected revenge thriller. Kitano's presence is of that calm cool, that killer's ease with a vicious ability to commit violent acts seemingly without a second thought in the scheme of things. His performance is much like his character, brutal and exact, though with a certain curiosity within that intensity. We learn that his character is defined by his wife dying from Leukemia and his former partner having been crippled from a botched police assignment. The brief scene setting up the latter seems most important as we see a different Nishi as he plans as a far more normal and grounded man. In fact in that scene Kitano portrays him as just a normal man planning, someone who isn't caught within this certain state the rest of the time. 

The rest of the time the performance largely is of this strict consistency of that cold stare, again usually obscure by sunglasses. Those moments of Nishi killing various Yakuza who try to get money from him or threaten him in a way. Mixed in with these rather wonderful moments that break from that. There are these brief moments where we get a different tone. Occasionally it is these playful scenes, although darkly so, like when he points a gun at a random passerby, before he goes to rob a bank, just as a joke and the sort of random demented yet comical manner that comes across Kitano's face is rather striking in this strange way. Even more remarkable though are the moments where we see Nishi with his wife as he takes her on a sort of vacation with his ill-gotten gains as she approaches her death. Kitano is quite wonderful in these moments with his wife, like when he is doing a card trick with her, as suddenly there is so much warmth between them, so much love, and there is such an earned sincere sweetness in Kitano's performance. You see a man who genuinely loves his wife, but more than that, you see the playfulness the two of them share together. They are genuinely fun together and you see what is a real loving couple here, even as these very sweet scenes come between scenes of such brutal violence. The most direct of this duplicity being a scene of Nishi's wife gather water for dead flowers while a man mocks her, leading Nishi to brutalize that man without mercy. 

As much as one can label this a "director's film" where this performance is by the director, I have to say I found myself transfixed by what Kitano was doing here as a performance even if it is but a facet of his tapestry he is painting. The exactness of his performance here though is fascinating in that he manages to play in his performance what he is creating in this film, which is this extreme dynamic between love and hate, gentleness and violence, comedy and tragedy. Kitano's performance can completely switch from scene to scene in terms of what he is conveying in a given moment, yet what he is conveying never seems at odds with each other. This even as he portrays a calm sadism when brutalizing one gangster after another, yet that doesn't seem ill-fitting from the strange compassion he seems to show towards his moments of thinking of his partner or the greatest of affections for his wife. Kitano's performance succeeds in creating the sense of a man who basically is filled with emotions towards the one's he loves, a pulled in emotion that drains him, yet is filled with the opposite kind of emotion towards those he hates as intensely. Kitano's performance works in creating a man who basically is in this state of a kind of insanity. He's not within his mind in a way, he's detached from life as he fashions some final mission for himself, and in that Kitano's performance works as this strange kind of gliding along. This as he'll enjoy a random moment of violence, comedy, or of love with the same amount of ease. This is a strange performance, but one that wholly worked for me even though the beats are technically limited in terms of overall range. Yet every moment is striking in revealing these different distinct moments that define the character that his performance left still such an impression even within the limitation. It's a performance about punctuation, careful singular notes between rests, and while that may handicap a typical performance, there is something about Kitano's presence here that overrides such considerations. Kitano makes Nishi's this one of a kind mix of the most extreme emotions, and a most powerful portrait of a man with a most unusual mix of brutal inhumanity and profound humanity.

55 comments:

Tahmeed Chowdhury said...

Louis: Are performances in 'director's films' the most difficult to write about for you?

Calvin Law said...

Oh you liked him more than I expected! Expected this to be a Beau Travail situation and I suppose I guessed wrong.

Agreed that the film’s random drifting approach has some deeply compelling logic to it that makes it all cohere.

Calvin Law said...

Also, could you imagine Kitano collaborating with Jarmusch, because in a strange way this film feels a bit like something like Ghost Dog.

Louis Morgan said...

Tahmeed:

No "just fine" performances are the hardest to write about.

Calvin:

100% on that collaboration, and this film is indeed actually very similar to Ghost Dog in a certain sense (though far more brutal in its violent bits).

Aidan Pittman said...

Saw Everything Everywhere All At Once, which is an absolute blast. Maybe doesn't stick the landing in the way I think it was building up to but it's still so well done otherwise that it doesn't hold it back from being an entertaining and pretty moving ride on the whole.

Yeoh - 5
Hsu - 3.5
Quan - 4.5
Hong - 4
Curtis - 4

8000S said...

Louis: Your thoughts on Sven Nykvist's work in The Silence and Winter Light.

HTT said...

I am of course as hyped for Everything Everywhere All At Once as many here are, but I am also for some reason equally hyped for the new Nick Cage movie The Unbearable Weight Of Massive Talent. I went to the cinema yesterday and they showed the trailer for it, and it just seems to be the kind of b-s filmmaking that I would just love.

Bryan L. said...

Louis: Your past film roles for Jessica Chastain, and your top fifteen acting moments of hers.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Thoughts on The Dropout cast.

Mitchell Murray said...

Louis: Seeing as how they have the same rating and position within their respective line ups, who did you feel was a more "lukewarm" best actor win between Rami Malek in 2019, and Will Smith this year?

Also, given that I haven't commented on this blog spot in a few weeks, I did want to give my approval of Robin Williams' upgrade; I always thought 2 was harsh for a performance with that "park bench" speech, and Louis' current thoughts very much line with my own. Also can't wait for Forster's re-evaluation.

Calvin Law said...

Watched the pilot of Tokyo Vice and quite liked it too, I actually don't think Elgort is terrible at this point, kind of works for the character, Rachel Keller feels a bit like a weak link thiugh. Everyone else feels pretty on point though and I absolutely love the atmosphere of it.

Calvin Law said...

I think the original casting choice of Daniel Radcliffe, or say Andrew Garfield, could've been more interesting in the lead though.

Tahmeed Chowdhury said...

Louis: Your rating and thoughts on David Strathairn in LA Confidential?

Louis Morgan said...

8000's:

Winter Light is such gorgeous piercing work in every respect, and it only speaks to the strength of the year that he doesn't make a top five for it. It is a work that evokes the name itself as it is that specific light of winter that often is so powerful in an often desolate landscape. This with just amazing composition of shots with such remarkable clarity that seems to enforce that the emotions within the characters have absolutely nothing to hide. Another though where it captures landscape just as it does that emotion, and manages to be stark while also being beautiful. The Silence is very claustrophobic work in the composition of shots usually giving little in terms of view, though effective in that such, and again just such pristine lighting as per usual. Less so the focal point in that film, though still stunning work
in terms of technical precision nonetheless, and that particular eye Bergman has in framing his characters.

Calvin:

I agree he's not bad here.

Tahmeed:

I intend on re-watching L.A. Confidential (I'll take any excuse), so ask again in the results.

Bryan:

Alma Brown
Amy Lind
Ann Sinclair (The Narrow Margin)

1. In the Shelter - Take Shelter
2. "Okay" - Take Shelter
3. Physical violence - Scenes from a Marriage
4. Asking Curtis about the shelter - Take Shelter
5. Leaving - Scenes From a Marriage
6. Ending - Zero Dark Thirty
7. Trying for comfort - Take Shelter
8. Desperate return - Scenes From A Marriage
9. 100% - Zero Dark Thirty
10. Finale - Scenes From a Marriage
11. After the explosion - Zero Dark Thirty
12. Standing for herself - The Eyes of Tammy Faye
13. Meeting each other by chance - The Disappearance of Eleanor Rigby
14. Dinner fight - The Tree of Life
15. Suggesting family use - A Most Violent Year

Luke:

Well it's a pretty expansive cast so I'll start with a ranking and go from there.

1. Amanda Seyfried
2. Stephen Fry
3. Naveen Andrews
4. Michaela Watkins
5. Alan Ruck
6. William H. Macy
7. Sam Waterston
8. Josh Pais
9. Elizabeth Marvel
10. Michael Ironside
11. Kurtwood Smith
12. Bashir Salahuddin
13. Bill Irwin
14. Michael Gill
15. Kate Burton
16. Camryn Mi-Young
17. Ebon Moss-Bachrach
18. Dylan Minnette
19. Mary Lynn Rajskub
20. Laurie Metcalf
21. Rich Sommer
22. Hart Bochner
23. Andrew Leeds
24. James Hiroyuki Liao
25. Lisa Gay Hamilton
26. Nicky Endres
27. Anne Archer
28. Utkarsh Ambudkar

Mitchell:

I mean both honestly make me ponder if I'm getting soft...Will Smith though I think was the "worse" choice, as Cumberbatch gave career best as the alternative, where while Dafoe and Cooper were better than Malek it wasn't as obviously *the* performance they should've been recognized for.

Tahmeed Chowdhury said...

Hoping Pearce takes the Lead win, he's always been my MVP of LA Confidential.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Thoughts on the performances that really stood out to you.

Bryan L. said...

Louis: Your past film roles for Benedict Cumberbatch, and your updated top twenty acting moments of his (the previous list is in the Alternate Best Actor 1983 lineup page).

Marcus said...

Louis: Your top 5 ranked South Korean actors?

Louis Morgan said...

Luke:

Seyfried - (Well Jennifer Lawrence has her work cut out for her, even more so given that she will be directed by Adam McKay, which I imagine is going to be the bad version of this show, which was overall quite good. Anyway Seyfried's a funny case here in that in a way she gives a much more believable fake performance than the real Elizabeth Holmes, this as her deep voice is actually far less ridiculous than Holmes's. I think Seyfried made the right choice there actually, by more so evoking the idea with her performance, still making it something that is constructed but not as obtuse that would've been hard to take or believe for more than a minute. It is still ridiculous, but Seyfried makes it so you can actually buy into the character. Beyond that this is just a terrific portrayal of someone completely self-absorbed and built upon an intensity of ego. Seyfried wields this brilliantly throughout in creating this sort of self-help guru motivator energy to her whole performance that manages to be comical and sinister. Her moments of the purest manipulations are highlights every time as she is so exceptionally convincing in these moments in playing different angles each time in her repertoire of deceit essentially. This while still giving a performance where I wouldn't say she humanizes Holmes, but she at least makes you understand in a tangible her state of extreme self-delusion and active deceit of others. She's fantastic in creating this dynamic quality of her work as someone willing just to lie, but with this intensity of lying that is selling herself as this brazen warrior for "good" in the most fake way possible. I will say once again, I'm glad I was proven right about Seyfried.)

Fry - (An absolutely heartbreaking performance from Fry as he gives really the opposite of Seyfried's performance by showing someone who is just earnestly true and his actions are that of just a man who is trying to do good. In turn he is devastating by so earnestly creating this delicate soul who has an honest belief in the idea behind Theranos, and there is this potent power of that simple belief. In turn it is rather painful to watch Fry's reactions as his goodness is basically misused and abused consistently. What makes these moments particularly powerful though is that Fry shows the good nature of the man even in these moments, showing a man more confused than mad at his mistreatment, and showing the disbelief in the way his dream in Holmes was that of a faulty lie.)

Louis Morgan said...

Andrews - (An interesting performance in terms of his chemistry with Seyfried in particular, in that they do have good chemistry in a most odd way, an odd way of two terrible people kind of finding each other in this strange way. The two of them together though are fantastic in portraying this kind of mutual joy in the admiration of their egos but also even the way they begin to try to attack each other in a way that could only exist in a peculiar type of toxic relationship. Beyond those scenes though Andrews is terrific in a way portraying the more expected villain at times of the corporate overlord type, though he balances that well in moments of just a fool trying to plug holes in a dam filled with them, and even finds just the smallest hints of humanity in some of the moments of reacting to just how far Holmes will go to avoid blame.)

Watkins - (Quite effective in playing a variation on a single note, this being the rather inhuman sort of corporate lawyer who speaks with these smiling threats and sinister glee at encouraging people not to get sued by her. It's a consistently striking performance actually through the consistency in portraying the person projecting a corporate image even as they do some serious hatchet job work.)

Ruck - (He's just hilarious at playing a proper dolt. He's a lot of fun though by making his dolt just so earnest and eager in his foolishness. This at every turn he portrays such a perfect kind misguided optimism and desperation to try to be on some kind of cutting edge of his industry.)

Macy - (Almost a reprise of Jerry Lundegaard, this in portraying a character who does the right thing basically by accident and through his own sleazy selfishness. Macy though is terrific in portraying that same type sweating bullets desperation, and brings the right comedic sensibilities in the character's unique drive to try to get his strange kind of revenge. A revenge that is deserved, but not quite coming from him.)

Waterston - (An interesting performance from him in that you get his more typical role for him in his later career that of the respected older man of note type, and Waterston portrays that sort of particular kind of grace in his presence quite effectively. This though is brilliantly shattered in his performance in the moment of hurriedly trying to negotiate for both his grandson and for his corporation he can't quite admit he was wrong about. Waterston portrays well this sort of wavering front of the man who can't quite break his "record" but is frustrated by needing to.)

Louis Morgan said...

Bryan:

Cumberbatch:

1. Cigarette scene - The Power of the Dog
2. Reacting to the hides being sold - The Power of the Dog
3. Right before the fall - Sherlock
4. Revealing his past trauma - Patrick Melrose
5. Entering into the restaurant - The Power of the Dog
6. Talking to Pete about his dad - The Power of the Dog
7. Almost dying - Sherlock
8. Mother's funeral - Patrick Melrose
9. George suggesting party manner - The Power of the Dog
10. Listening alone at night - The Power of the Dog
11. Best man speech - Sherlock
12. Any figuring it out moment - Sherlock
13. Late to the dinner - The Power of the Dog
14. Seeing Joan the Last time - The Imitation Game
15. Gathering his father's remains - Patrick Melrose
16. A spent Phil - The Power of the Dog
17. Suicide attempt - Patrick Melrose
18. Infiltrating the Circus - Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy
19. Attacking the horse - The Power of the Dog
20. Returning to rehab - Patrick Melrose

Count von Bulow
Mitchell Braddock
Lt. John Chard
Claggart

Louis Morgan said...

Marcus:

1. Lee Byung-hun
2. Choi Min-sik
3. Song Kang-ho
4. Steven Yeun (Technically counts)
5. Lee Jung-jae

8000S said...

Louis: Thoughts on Ironside and Smith?

Anonymous said...

Louis: Thoughts on the bottom 5 performances.

Matt Mustin said...

Louis: What are your thoughts, if you can remember, on Woody Allen in Curse of the Jade Scorpion?

Louis Morgan said...

8000's:

Ironside - (He's pretty good in bringing this goofy sort of energy to the man who is a frustrated businessman yet brings out kid gloves when dealing with Holmes. He brings this natural switch of the man looking for any excuse to believe and accept her manipulation, while still portraying a seemingly more sensible man outside of those moments.)

Smith - (Mostly for the moment of bringing that more typical Smith menace he can bring with this sort of assured privileged sort of confidence, against that moment where it is dashed into frustrations of realizing just how weak the case for his client actually is. His breakdown into giving everything up is beautifully done by revealing the rest of the manner really just being all the weakest of fronts of so called confidence.)

Anonymous:

No reason to, they're not bad or anything, just okay in limited parts.

Matt:

I mean it is Allen doing his typical thing, the problem is here that approach doesn't feel at all appropriate for the role of the classic style gumshoe. This isn't in a comedic way, just makes a lot of his scenes a bit awkward, not only in terms of his age difference against his leading ladies here, but just seems out of place. It isn't too much of a surprise that he stopped casting himself in the lead regularly shortly afterwards.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Since Mirror got moved to 75, where would its cinematography rank in the top 5.

Luke Higham said...

Calvin: Are you seeing The Northman this weekend.

Marcus said...

Louis: What do you think separates the humor in the Deadpool movies from the MCU? Many people attribute it solely to the R rating, but I don't think it's just that.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Any thoughts on The Northman reviews.

Louis Morgan said...

Luke:

Well all I'm looking for is some raves to peak my interest, and I see that, so I'm still in (probably would've been in even if it completely divisive reviews however).

Marcus:

It's not just that, Deadpool is fashioned as a comedy, with the comedy being an overall aspect of the film throughout and not mainly just distilled down to a series of quips that has become the case for Marvel films. The comedy in Deadpool can be within the action, within the story and more so within the characters. With the worst of Marvel, in that regard like Eternals, it feels very much like "Okay time for the quip", though the better films at least naturally segue to the quips though they are used in more or less the same way.

Luke Higham said...

Even though I've heard his vision was somewhat compromised, I hope Focus/Universal allow Eggers to release his own cut in future.

Louis Morgan said...

Luke:

Well we ought to see the current cut first before making any such judgments, while studios are usually wrong, they're not ALWAYS wrong. Haven't read into it at all, as I'd prefer to just see the film as it currently stands.

Luke Higham said...

Louis: Thoughts on this.
https://theplaylist.net/david-lynchs-rumored-new-secret-project-with-laura-dern-tipped-for-cannes-20220411/

Mitchell Murray said...

So, this is little off base, but "Death Battle" released a new episode today - Scarlet Witch Vs Zatanna. Needless to say, as someone who's yet to watch "Wandavision" - both characters are WAY stronger than I ever imagined. Also, I'll again say Zatanna is somewhat underrated in general, so this was a great oppertunity to learn more about her.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=doj9RiGWiWM

Anonymous said...

Louis: Your thoughts on Mads Mikkelsen's comments on method acting, and how much would you agree/disagree?

Louis Morgan said...

Luke:

No comment until we have proof that's a feature film. Knowing Lynch it could be he and Dern announcing the weather.

Anonymous:

I don't agree or disagree, and of course Olivier famously said basically the same thing. There's been great performances with the method and without the method. That doesn't mean that it is worthless, perhaps those actors need it to tap into their talents fully. People often take different paths to the same objective and there's nothing wrong with that. What is more tiresome is the media putting so much focus on method antics.

ruthiehenshallfan99 said...

Watched Titanic: The Legend Goes On recently. It truly is amazingly bad. There's really nothing I can add to give an idea of just how bad/offensive it is, but what I will say is the rapping dog is the least of its issues.

8000S said...

Louis: If I recall correctly, what he took issue with was people calling it THE Method, when he said that everyone had their own method of acting.

8000S said...

Louis: Olivier I mean.

Louis Morgan said...

8000's:

There's the oft repeated line from Olivier of "Why don't you try acting" to Dustin Hoffman, though Hoffman himself clarified that it was more so a jape from Olivier than an earnest attack on his acting style.

Matt Mustin said...

Louis: We should also consider that, considering that "clarification" is coming from Hoffman himself, that he may just be trying to cover his ass so people stop mocking him.

Tony Kim said...

Ethan Coen is making a lesbian road-trip sex comedy with his wife Tricia Cooke: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/ethan-coen-road-trip-movie-1235123552/

"The Russ Meyer-inspired action sex comedy was initially to have been directed by Allison Anders, who made the 1992 indie hit Gas Food Lodging. The story centers on a party girl who takes a trip from Philadelphia to Miami with her buttoned-up friend. Along the way they cruise the bars and encounter, among other obstacles, a severed head in a hatbox, a bitter ex-girlfriend, a mystery briefcase and an evil senator."

What are people's thoughts on this? Me, I couldn't be more excited.

Louis Morgan said...

Matt:

Well the original story also came from Hoffman, so you either believe Hoffman...or Hoffman.

Tony:

We talked about it a few posts ago.

8000S said...

R.I.P. Gilbert Gottfried. :(

Luke Higham said...

RIP Gilbert Gottfried

Ytrewq Wertyq said...

This one hits especially hard.

RIP Gilbert Gottfried.

Tahmeed Chowdhury said...

Louis: Your thoughts on Vincennes's death scene + the Rollo Tomasi reaction in LA Confidential?

RatedRStar said...

RIP Gilbert Gottfried

8000S said...

Louis: Your thoughts on Yuharu Atsuta's work in Late Autumn. I don't think I have mentioned this before, but it's said that Ozu chose Agfacolor over other processes like Technicolor and Eastmancolor because he felt Agfacolor captured red better than those other processes.

While you're at it, thoughts on his work in Late Spring.

8000S said...

*thoughts also on his work in Late Spring.

Aidan Pittman said...

R.I.P. Gilbert Gottfried

Maciej said...

RIP Gilbert Gottfried

Louis Morgan said...

8000's:

Late Autumn is a very beautiful film, and I feel like what Ozu wanted to explore with the cinematography was capturing human skin tone, which would include the red of lips fittingly, and he succeeded in doing such. People themselves are vibrant here, which is also fitting for Ozu's whole style. A low key beautiful film, where there is such a depth and vibrancy to what are such simple seeming shots and settings.

Late Spring is quite a bit different again building on contrasts of light and the shadow. A film though that very much thinks about the sun and the setting sun so often, and the power of spaces. There are further drawn shots that really are remarkable here, that go along with the inner spaces expected shots from Ozu. There is such a control of light that in a way seems to lend us into the intimacy of so many moments, most notably I'd say the apple peeling accentuates this as it focuses us in on the apple and Ryu's face. A gorgeous low key accentuation.

Louis Morgan said...

Tahmeed:

Again hold on just a bit, as I'll be fresh pretty soon.