Alternate Best Actor 1986: Roberto Benigni in Down By Law

Roberto Benigni did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Roberto aka Bob in Down By Law. 

Down By Law is a wonderful Jarmusch about the interactions between three unique inmates. 

If there's a director to find a place for an idiosyncratic presence it is Jim Jarmusch, and even before we get to the subject of this review, this film opens first with Jack played by John Lurie, musician and the lead of Jarmusch's previous film Stranger Than Paradise. A pimp who gets set up and arrested. Follow that by one of my favorite idiosyncratic presences of cinema Tom Waits, playing Zack a wannabe DJ who too is set up by agreeing to a seemingly innocuous job that ends up being much worse. We come into those two becoming friends while jailed together and forming a low key bond that could only be in a Jarmusch film, from two unexpected performers. But the film lives on the last lead to enter the cell, though he has a brief appearance earlier in the film as we see Benigni randomly come across Zack where he recites a phrase he likes, only to disappear until he too is thrown into their cell. And this is where context of performance matters so much, because I have in no way hidden my lack of love for Benigni's Oscar win, and this is not some completely unrelated performance by any means, however in this instance Jarmusch found Benigni a just about perfect fit here as Bob the inmate, who makes Zack and Jack looks like just a couple of typical guys. 

Benigni's performance is one of pure energy here, a chaotic energy that is going about in every direction in every scene, as even the way he speaks here is a kind of riffing though this a particularly unique riffing where he is just switching between Italian and English constantly. This is not an instance where it is this flawless swapping of a man completely adept at both languages, rather like a musician struggling to find the right note, Benigni performs it as Bob struggling to frequently find the right word. It is all in the delivery though and that is the magical part of the performance. Benigni specifically doesn't hesitate with his verbal delivery, as even as he's stepping over words and lines, he always captures this forward momentum within every phrase that he comes out with confidence even as what he says is at least a little broken in translation. The thing is though is it is a big ole' who cares, because Benigni's energy here just is that endearing in the way he pulls us into his ramblings with a curious sense of discovery, just as the other two men come to feel the same way. It is difficult not to be fascinated by what Jarmusch is capturing which is so perfectly within itself, in a performance that probably wouldn't work in many contexts, but in this specific context it just sings. 

Benigni pulls off something quite fascinating here as he very much turns us into Zack and Jack, in trying to decipher what wisdom is within his ramblings to find out the truth of the matter. As Bob himself has this innate purity about himself where Benigni even explains how Bob killed a man in self-defense as just this matter of fact way, though as just the same potent energy as he explains how to cook a rabbit later. It is all just part of his experience and therefore relates it with as much ease as he would anything else. Benigni succeeds in a way by not really setting apart moments of his performance but rather succeeding in being this purity as Bob. What that really means is that Benigni isn't trying to create this intense character arc where Bob grows, nor is he trying to make Bob this extremely complex person, rather he is just making Bob just so truly and only Bob, as Bob can be, where you just need to listen in a follow whatever random thing he's off on to find out exactly what Bob is talking about. As when Bob suddenly gives notions of escape, then does, it is just as it would be explaining less concerning matter again, yet it all makes sense as this is just Bob being Bob, and for Bob to help his new friends escape is simply a why not just as he does anything else. 

You can't control what Benigni is doing here because just as his delivery is so specifically his own, as is his physical manner here which is performed like Benigni simply is ignoring any traditional blocking for how to maneuver a scene and any sense where the camera is. Frankly Benigni frequently seems lost in a specific space, or at least out of place because of just how light and floaty he can be whether they're stuck in their cell, running down a sewer or wandering around a swamp looking to escape. Again though, logically shouldn't work, but the logic of this film absolutely does, because Benigni simply IS Bob as he goes about his way, and particularly is so effective by the down to earth looks of Waits and Lurie often taking him in, and loving him. The thing is, it is hard not to because he is so endearing, his energy is contagious and you just love the way the man seems unburdened. Even the most distressing moment theoretically, where Bob can't swim and the other two guys consider abandoning him, you know it can't happen because of just how innocent, and childlike Benigni's pleas are to both as asks his friends for help. Eventually the trio find a road, where we get the final bit where they uncover a cafe, which they send Bob to scope out first, which several hours later without a return, they follow. Luckily for all, Bob has discovered the cafe is run by an Italian woman Nicoletta played by Benigni's eventual wife Nicoletta Braschi, so naturally things are going to work out. While I wouldn't quite say this is a different side of Bob, what we do see is a slightly different situation for Bob's energy, as he finds his love in Nicoletta. Something that again just shows Bob's energy again is insatiable as there is such a blunt sincerity but also pleasant intensity about as he speaks so lovingly of every word with every glance towards her even stronger. Something that culminates beautifully in a moment where he invites her to dance in front of Zack and Jack. There Benigni's simple earnestness in his embracing dancing, closing his eyes as though it is the most joyous moment of his life has such an easy poignancy to it, and the endearing nature of Bob makes the moment a treasure in itself. We see Bob get his happy ending, that is befitting the pure character we've seen throughout. A character that is ideal use of Benigni's talents, where his energy is used in the right way, in the right direction, in the right style of Jarmusch and with the right balancing factor via Lurie and Waits.