Alternate Best Actor 2010: Philip Seymour Hoffman in Jack Goes Boating

Philip Seymour Hoffman did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying the titular character of Jack Goes Boating.

Jack Goes Boating is Philip Seymour Hoffman's only film he directed about two couples and their growth or lack of growth over time. 

Hoffman himself plays Jack, the male half of one of the two potential couples, as he gets set up by his friend couple, Clyde (John Ortiz) and Lucy (Daphne Rubin-Vega), with the off-beat Connie (Amy Ryan). The film is very stagy, and attempts non-staginess, as we either get long conversational scenes ideal for stage, off-set by very obvious attempts to not be stagy which unfortunately are mainly musical montages that don't do all that much other than breakup the scenes. Hoffman is a performer I never mind seeing another film from because it means I get to see that much more of an actor who left us all far too young, and that is the case again here in Jack Goes Boating. I like seeing Hoffman as Jack, mainly because I like Hoffman so much, but I wouldn't say this role or this performance is exactly his biggest challenge, in fact I ponder if he chose this material for his attempt at directing because it didn't ask that much of him in the lead role. As Jack he's kind of a Marty type sad sack, who is a little lost in love and otherwise is just a workaday guy who we frequently see somewhat passively move through his life as limo driver. Hoffman was a great actor though, so even in that passiveness Hoffman does bring a sense of the man building this barrier of attempts protection for himself as he deals with questions that make him feel uncomfortable, such as his relationship status, but also being slightly more open when talking about something comforting like his reason for liking Reggae music with his friend Clyde. Hoffman is convincing, and even likable in his modesty that it certainly is believable at a moment's notice. 

The central relationship theoretically is where you think is going to be the big challenge for Jack, but it isn't really that. Hoffman mostly brings this modesty there too in his chemistry with Ryan, who is actually giving a fairly atypical performance from her as a more overt eccentric, and Hoffman often is the facilitator and the giver in these scenes together. Which makes sense as the director, and to Hoffman's credit it is believable in the way he constructs Jack to want to please as he can in a very gentle and humble way. He creates the easy sense of appreciation for the opportunity of the relationship and has a natural chemistry with Ryan by letting her go a bit bigger while he balances that with his smallness most of the time. I write most of the time because the one aspect we do get of Jack that is against the rest of his behavior is when something goes wrong or someone purposefully hassles him. There he will suddenly break out in anger and emotional distress. Something that again, Hoffman plays very well in performing it very much as this release valve of someone who contains too much so when there is something that wounds that state Hoffman reveals that extreme reaction. It doesn't feel like a break in the rest of the man, just a natural aspect of who this guy is and what he has been keeping inside. Otherwise we see Jack prepare to go boating by learning how to swim which Hoffman just plays as a dutiful task in a curious preparation to eventually go boating with Connie as a random dating option the two discussed equally as randomly. All of this doesn't lead to all that much other than one more emotional breakdown as Jack, training with cooking as well, burns a dish and has one more outburst. Again well performed as the man just losing his tight grip, that is though satiated by Connie, which Hoffman delivers as Jack using her calm as a way for Jack to find his bearings again. Hoffman gives a good performance, I liked seeing one more turn from him as always, but a great turn from him this is not. 

Alternate Best Actor 2011: Clive Owen in Trust

Clive Owen did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Will Cameron in Trust.

Trust could be much better but also could be much worse about the fallout of a teenage girl being sexually assaulted by an online predator. 

Clive Owen plays the father of the girl Annie (Liana Liberato), whom the opening act of the film seems to be living the idyllic enough lifestyle in a Chicago suburb. Owen plays the early scenes of the film very much  as the common man just going about that life with his family and wife (Catherine Keener) with the rest of the family. Owen doesn't put too much on it in his scenes of advising his son to avoid peer pressure with just a gentle reminder with a bit of a tough dad but not an overplayed quality. Mostly we just see the general warmth of the dad as he's going along with his good life, we see him with his boss occasionally who is overly brash, however even that Owen plays off as a slightly judgmental smirk. That is until his daughter is lured to a hotel room where she raped, however that is only the first crime, as this quickly leads Annie's best friend to report it which creates a public spectacle of the rape. And here's where the film could've fully fallen off a cliff or become something truly powerful but it doesn't really do either. It isn't quite an after-school special, but it isn't completely elevated beyond that. The writing frequently is, David Schwimmer's fairly terrible visual choices throughout additionally are, but what Schwimmer does manage to get right is within the performances of the actors. The actors very much save the film because it would've been extremely easy to fall into over the top choices given the material, but for the most part this is avoided.

Owen is one of the focal points of the emotion of the piece and is moving in the early scenes of reaction to the rape in just presenting the sudden horror upon his face that quickly switches to vicious anger towards the man responsible for the act. Owen matching the intensity effectively by very much bringing to life the immediacy of the reaction. And it would have been easy to seem too much or too soft in a way, but Owen does make it all feel very real in the moment. Unfortunately the film ends up being a little repetitive in where he goes from there as we basically get one frustration after another, as the FBI fails to catch the man, Will notices sexualized images at work and becomes frustrated by the fact that his daughter continues to obsess over her groomer. Owen's performance though does modulate between these elements playing in the moments in the world just the quiet burden that never leaves the man. When reacting to his daughter or to the investigation, Owen's intensity does feel earned as the perpetual anger of a man who wants to hurt something to avenge his pain yet ends up turning back on his own family. The film ends up not giving him too many interesting places to go leaving Owen to have to repeat notes as the character just continues to be in this state of anger, though again Owen effectively always weighs it down with sadness and the sense that is all part of the frustration of the helplessness he feels in what happened to his daughter. I suppose I could be more critical and say Owen doesn't differentiate between these scenes enough, however I think it is more so the writing that keeps him lost and angry for most of it. And Owen does hit his notes effectively again, as we have a more harrowing scene coming from the daughter's reaction to this trauma that is certainly moving and painful in again Owen bringing that pain to life with visceral intensity. The final scene though of the film involving the family is perhaps too clean in a way as the daughter and dad finally connect again as he espouses all his fears to her and they finally reach something. Something that might have worked better if the script built to it more. Again though Owen in the more sedated performance of a moment of clarity is affecting in bringing an earnest vulnerability that shows the same pain just expressed in a healthier way. However then the film ends, and you know just how limited Will's whole story ended up being, though Owen's efforts are admirable avoiding the worst option, albeit not quite truly elevating it beyond the full limitations of the piece. 

Alternate Best Actor 2010: Vincent Gallo in Essential Killing

Vincent Gallo did not receive an Oscar nomination, despite winning the Volpi Cup, for portraying Mohammed in Essential Killing. 

Essential Killing follows a member of the Taliban as he attempts to escape a detention center in Europe as he's pursued by the American military.

That creatively named member is named Mohammed, though really he could just be called the running man as that is the basic nature of the role played by Vincent Gallo. Vincent Gallo a director and actor who is known both onscreen and offscreen for his rather unappealing presence and personality. Gallo is a strange example because he's someone who when you see him and usually when he speaks there is just an innate unlikable quality that exudes from him, however there is something very strange about Gallo because he is oddly captivating to watch despite his presence to the contrary. His role in essential killing theoretically removes one of his most unlikable features being his unpleasant voice and his far more unpleasant words as the character of Mohammed is mute other than grunts and screams related to survival situations. We don't get a deep background on this guy, why he was fighting or anything like that. We just follow him as he kills a soldier, is captured, then needs to escape. The most we get in terms of some sense is a vision in one scene where he sees a woman in the desert, which doesn't say much other than the vaguest of spiritual beliefs. Gallo's performance just shows some awe, establishing I guess that the character has some religious conviction, maybe, but otherwise than that the nature of the role is one in the moment, in reaction and action towards the idea of escape and survival. 

The survival is much of the film as we see Gallo, we see Galllo run, see Gallo run, go Gallo go, see Gallo go, see Gallo step in a bear trap, see Gallo scream, scream Gallo scream, see Gallo breastfeed, breastfeed Gal...actually I'm done with this bit. The performance is a survival film performance where it is very much about the visceral reaction in the moment to the situation or moment. As performances of this ilk goes, I have to say, I don't find Gallo's performance especially captivating beyond a certain point. I think he's perfectly fine in terms of just portraying realistic reactions in terms of the physical wear of the situation, whether that is just general physical exhaustion of his constant running, or more specific intensity of falling through rocky terrain or getting his foot in a bear trap. Gallo's anguish is convincing enough, though I wouldn't say it kind of goes beyond a surface interest. I certainly don't turn my gaze from Gallo here, but he doesn't pull me into the psychological existence of Mohammed, I just see a man running for his life. His checkpoints of this idea are perfectly fine in the moments we get respite when coming across as a random French woman. He portrays that innate desperation and fear of the man in the race, less a dogged conviction of a man with a plan, but just the conviction of a man with the will to survive. The progression of his performance is just of the increased physical exhaustion. It isn't more or less than kind of what can be believable in a general sense. I don't feel I've come to know the character from the progression of this, I don't feel I see this natural change in the state of man's nature either, I feel Gallo just kind of *is* what he needs to be, but doesn't go beyond that. The moments where he is nursed to health by the French woman, we get maybe bits of silent tenderness there, almost like a childlike reduction in the manner of the man from overt fear, however I don't think it still amounts to all that much. It's a good performance, however it isn't more than that. For it to be great, I'd say it would've had to truly elevate the piece to me becoming fully invested in his silence, which I wouldn't say was quite true. 

Best Actor Backlog Volume 6

 And the Overlooked Performances Are:

Philip Seymour Hoffman in Jack Goes Boating

Vincent Gallo in Essential Killing

Clive Owen in Trust

Tony Leung Chiu Wai in In The Mood For Love

Alan Cumming in Josie and the Pussycats

Alternate Best Actor 1986: Results

5. Yves Montand in Jean De Florette - Montand gives a good performance as a the distant antagonist however the real meat of his work is in the sequel. 

Best Scene: Making recommendations to his nephew. 

4. Kyle MacLachlan in Blue Velvet - MacLachlan gives a strange performance, however one that works for me in truly putting a certain kind of earnestness in a completely inappropriate plot. 

Best Scene: After love letters. 

3. Roberto Benigni in Down By Law - The ideal use of Benigni as his every direction energy is the right off-beat for Jarmusch's filmmaking style. 

Best Scene: Italian Restaurant. 

2. Erland Josephson in The Sacrifice - Josephson delivers a powerful portrayal of one forced away from distant observation to face seemingly certain death. 

Best Scene: A prayer. 

1. River Phoenix in Stand By Me - Phoenix gives an altogether amazing performance, where he brings a true charisma and maturity, but also a real vulnerability and even appropriate childishness. 

Best Scene: The milk money story. 

Updated Overall

Next: Backlog, and feel free to go ahead with recommendations (My order of viewing will not be by order of comment this year however.)

Alternate Best Actor 1986: Kyle MacLachlan in Blue Velvet

Kyle MacLachlan did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Jeffrey Beaumont in Blue Velvet. 

Kyle MacLachlan is one of David Lynch's most common collaborators and his only actor to have led multiple projects for him. Notable that Lynch saw more than a little in him given the first film together was Dune which was seen a mistake by Lynch himself, and that is one performance of MacLachlan's you don't see too many ardent supporters of. Contrasting that to his work in Twin Peaks, their most essential collaboration, where MacLachlan first thrived in bringing to life Dale Cooper as an iconic eccentric detective, which he somehow made even greater in the Return where he not only gave a glorious reprise of Cooper, but also managed to outdo Chance the Gardner, in a depiction of a highly specified charming mental detachment and matched even the likes of Anton Chigurh in his depiction of Doppelcooper. So that leaves Blue Velvet as the in-between performance, as the "average" young man Jeffrey who returns home after his dad fell ill and finds more than just an interesting adventure when he goes to investigate a severed ear. A performance that honestly if it was in most films, I probably wouldn't have a great deal of affection for but performances are all contextual, and in the context of Lynch MacLachlan serves a very specific purpose here. The first third of his performance or so is that of almost a performance you'd find in a 50's sitcom, given his bright smile and almost the tendency to say everything with a silent "geez whiz" attached to it. In some ways he has more in common with Burt Ward as Robin the boy wonder than he would as any hardboiled noir detective or even average wrong man style performance that you'd usually find in a mystery thriller such as this, and that's entirely the point. 

MacLachlan is the embodiment of an overt Americana of the golden boy, and in turn is strange in his existence when you compare it to hardship or darkness such as the aforementioned severed ear. In the early scenes of the film, the one place where McLachlan seems to fit entirely is when we see him running his dad's hardware store and he interacts with the other employers there. There the bright smile and sincerity of that seems authentic weirdly, because it is where that overt earnestness is indeed at home and makes sense. When Jeffrey begins deciding to investigate, with the help of the lead detective's daughter Sandy (Laura Dern), is with that same odd optimism that of that 50's sitcom fellow, which leads him to decide to investigate and sneak into the apartment of a lounge singer Dorothy Valens (Isabella Rossellini). As the investigator MacLachlan is more than a sore thumb where he goes in as a fake exterminator and couldn't seem less convincing or later just ends up hiding himself in the closet only to be discovered by Dorothy who weirdly threatens him while also becoming sexual towards in him a sadomasochistic fashion. Where MacLachlan is stilted in these reactions, however it works as he also feels the reactions of a man who really has no idea what he's doing or what's going on. Something that serves its purpose in these moments, but does more than that when the psychotic Frank Booth (Dennis Hopper) comes into the film.

The long ride that Frank takes Jeffrey on, when Jeffrey is accidentally leaving Dorothy's apartment, is one of the highlights of the film, and part of the chemical formula of the scene is the awkwardness of MacLachlan's performance. This isn't taking a normal guy from the 80's on this ride, it is the embodiment of a certain Americana that is brought on it, and the specific reactions of MacLachlan speaks to that. This being him barely saying any of his lines for much of the scene as he is crowded by Frank's heavy drinking and whoring pals just being in and around him at every moment. MacLachlan is frequently the punchline in these scenes as even the way he stands among them, with his downward hunched shoulders and seems completely out of place every second of it. When he is punch a few times, Jeffrey takes each one just going with because what we see is a man completely out of his world in every possible way, where Jeffrey the neighbor, drinks the wrong beer and is just a quietly horrified spectator, fearing for his life while also just being completely out of his element. Out of his element though by just seeming so weird in this world, that is weird yet all as one in their way but MacLachlan's manner as Jeffrey breaks the mold with all the appropriate awkwardness. Only when Frank starts to sexually assault Dorothy does Jeffrey finally take action, and MacLachlan's expression state changes from that of petrified fear to a bit of anger, which the break is what makes the impact in the moment as he finally takes action by punching Frank. Something that naturally leads Frank to in turn beat Jeffrey and leave him in the outskirts of town. The morning after, we see the "gee" completely removed as he fully breaks down, and the young man of Americana faces the reality of the darkness beneath it. 

Although this would seem the time in most films where the character himself would become cynical but that's not Blue Velvet. Rather what MacLachlan does is just ease back a bit on that initial overt optimism, the man who just bemoaned the existence of men like Frank Booth as purposefully as naive as possible, to someone with at least any wisdom. Something we don't see in big moments but rather just the letting go of naivety as he tries to balance his love for Sandy while also dealing with his affair with Dorothy. Something that isn't this big break by MacLachlan rather a very quiet but earnest apology, however a different earnestness than the "kid" of before towards someone with a better understanding of the world. Something that culminates as he visits Dorothy's apartment one more time only to find the death and destruction as wrought by Frank Booth, and probably MacLachlan's most naturalistic work comes in the scene. He is fully genuine in this moment in the realization of what all his actions have resulted in and I've always found his "Gonna let you find them on their own", very moving as we see this maturation of Jeffrey. Of course Jeffrey is forced to face Frank Booth, as Frank returns to the apartment just as Jeffrey was about to leave, leading to the final concentration, where MacLachlan's fearful reactions and movements help to amplify the tension of the sequence. In the moment MacLachlan finally fully becomes the wrong man type protagonist and we see Jeffrey just barely become the hero, albeit just barely. And while this isn't the mastery of the form you'd see from MacLachlan in Twin Peaks, in the end he delivers a strange performance on the whole, but for me one that works within the specific tone and atmosphere created by Lynch.

Alternate Best Actor 1986: Erland Josephson in The Sacrifice

Erland Josephson did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Alexander in The Sacrifice. 

The Sacrifice defies simple description however follows a former actor and writer in his seemingly isolated house surrounded by his family. 

The Sacrifice in some ways is Tarkovsky's version of a Ingmar Bergman film, as we have a self-reflective character facing a crisis of faith. One obvious feature of connection is within the use of Erland Josephson, a common Bergman actor, utilized here as our main character that we follow through his unusual journey. The film begins seemingly simply enough as we find Alexander playing with his young son affectionately known as "Little man" and pondering some tale. Josephson's performance is as a seemingly largely content man in this state of being as he ponders as he does and as he interacts with his son. There is a bit of joy, but also just a relaxed quality. The man seems concerned with greater matters in what he speaks of; however Josephson's delivery even of these words isn't of immense concern rather very much this observational quality. Eventually this is interrupted by the arrival of their neighbor and mailman Otto, who gives Alexander a birthday card from friends and their conversation continues though with Otto mostly taking the lead. Again Josephson's performance is a man going through the motions of this interaction, not really in a negative way of a man weighed down by the conversation but rather just a man who exists within certain confines of living, a living that doesn't seem to break beyond a certain point. For example when asking about Alexander's relationship with God, which he replies is non-existent, isn't spoken as either a pained truth or a purposeful dismissal, just as a fact of the man's existence no more no less. The only example where we see kind of a break from that observational quality is with the little man, when he lassos the mailman's bike that causes Otto to fall in good nature. Josephson's reaction is very much the loving father which portrays a stronger connection in that moment, which is a bit different from the rest of the interaction where we see the man just observing as he does. This continues as he gathers with his wife, his step-daughter, his maid, his doctor and Otto in their house where conversations continue on various subjects, including Otto's fascination seeming with the otherworldly, and even the background of Alexander as an actor who became a critic. When speaking even of his own past, Josephson's delivery is somewhat passive, there is a history there but a history of seeming the man having a natural calm within his existence despite this purposeful choice of the past to separate himself from a craft he once cared about. Josephson's performance maintains that of the observer, even though this is the man's life that speaks of, it is in his house that Otto seems to have a minor breakdown, yet Alexander remains as he is without concern. 

The strength of Josephson's performance in the early scenes is that Alexander doesn't become lost within the frame, or the other characters, despite being observational for so long. Josephson, just as he did in his earlier collaboration with Tarkovsky, manages to pull you into his work even as he supports the overall vision wholly naturally. Here Josephson carefully expresses the needed sense of history within his observing expressions, there is much the man has thought about and even his physical manner exists as someone who purposefully detaches, to the point almost seeming like a ghost in his own house. The film makes its first brilliant twist when jets are heard from above and much of the household are horrified to hear an announcement of potentially World War III starting. Something that Alexander even doesn't initially react to as strongly as others, even coming into the broadcast late, leaving the doctor to drug his hysterical wife and others as they panic over their seeming impending doom. Josephson at first still being the observer for some time till he is left with his own thoughts. During this time Josephson's performance so quietly yet potently shows the sense of building understanding and despair in the man seemingly haunted by this horror explicitly. Leading to Alexander's first act as he prays to God offering a prayer to end the horror of their situation though with an offer that he will sacrifice all that he loves if God makes the horror end. Josephson is extraordinary in this scene as he breaks that observational distance and becomes completely alive in the scene. Josephson in his deteriorating expression reveals so much pain, sorrow and existential dread, combined with in his voice this wavering hope as he speaks his prayer. There is so much power to every word, and his decaying state of emotional distance is lost and we see someone completely in contact with the idea of this horror. Josephson finds within all of this quiet yet incredibly powerful conviction as he offers his sacrifice of everything he loves, as a promise of sacrifice as a fundamental truth. It is an extraordinary scene made so by Josephson's performance that embodies this all with such tangible emotional might that is devastating to behold. 

The next twist in the situation comes from Otto who suggests Alexander seek out their neighbor Maria, who he claims is a witch and that she is in some way the key to escape. Leaving Maria's with a pistol and an unknowable intention. Something that comes out within Josephson's performance that grafts onto this bizarre situation an honesty by projecting this quiet fearfulness and more so this lost quality as he seems to be seeking something from Maria, but he really doesn't know. We have yet another tremendous monologue from Josephson as he describes a "gift" he brought to his mother's garden, where he articulates with such a quiet sense of nostalgia that mixes in this sense of the past though with the uncertainty of the future. As he continues speaking of the garden though he notes how by "fixing" his mother's garden by ordering it, it removed any of the beauty from the garden. Josephson's way of losing that nostalgia and bringing out instead such painful regret filled with such a sense of what he sees as a mistake and almost a grievous act against his mother. He exudes such quiet heartbreak that is so powerful because in his delivery and his expression he builds towards such a building state of being a man utterly lost within his current dismay. Something that progresses to taking out the pistol, a moment without conviction rather Josephson plays the moment as though he has no awareness of what he is doing with it, or what he is doing here, just the potent sense of a man completely lost at this time. Something that is only broken as Maria embraces him and comforts him to the point of becoming sexual with him, a scene that only gets stranger as it proceeds because it appears as though Otto's mythical depiction of her holds more than a little credence. Something that Josephson grounds by presenting just a man completely lost in this moment, lost in this time, and lost in himself as he goes along with Maria though in a near catatonic state. Eventually Alexander awakens and the world seems to have not ended and peace to whatever extent it is has come back. Which some might take as a false alarm, but a man who had said his prayer in the way Alexander has, leaves him to go through with his sacrifice to atone. The final act of the film, Josephson doesn't really have lines and is seen largely at a distance. Yet Josephson is always captivating as we follow Alexander as he evades his family in order to set-up burning down his house with everything in it. His sneaking around is played with almost a childlike manner of not fully mischievousness yet there is a glint of it, as Josephson seems to portray some arrested state as he progresses around in his plan with a curious conviction. It isn't the emotional man speaking of his love, now it is filling some bargain with a logic only he could fully understand in the moment. When his family finally "catches" him, his reaction is of a man completely lost, though now in a new way as he reacts unintelligibly emotionally, if not even randomly, yet in Josephson's performance you do believe in this break, of the strange yet tangible journey we've seen him progress through. Josephson delivers an idiosyncratic yet tremendous performance. One that is about a few key moments verbalization combined with remarkable silences, to successfully explores a mental state that seems wholly unique, yet never feels less than universal in an emotional sense.