Some of my Favourite Acting Performances
Today I thought I might share some of my favourite performances from television and film. Not highbrow, just my favourites, and in no particular order.
Robert Patrick in the TV SHOW the Unit. I don’t doubt for a second that he’s an army man, and that he’s the boss, not for a second. I’ve seen him be pretty ropey in a lot of other stuff, but in this tv show, he was superior.
Sofie Gråbøl in the Danish TV SHOW Forbrydelsen (The Killing). She barely does a thing, and I can’t take my eyes off her.
Edward Norton in the MOVIE 25th Hour. He has to do very little to get my attention, he’s not doing a whole lot like he does in Primal Instinct or The Score, he just plays it simple and I cry for a criminal in the end every time.
Ingrid Bergman in the MOVIE – Casablanca. Simple and beautiful, classical, understated. I can barely breathe when she’s on screen.
Felicity Huffman in the MOVIE – TransAmerica – playing the role a Method actor would die for, she delivers an award-winning performance without laying it on thick Method-stylee.
Al Pacino in the MOVIE – Any Given Sunday – he is as he always is, entirely unrelated to the script most of the time but by the time he gives his ‘Game of Inches’ speech, he has me wrapped.
Kenneth Branagh - in THREE movies – Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing and Othello. Three Shakespeare films, very rare, he made Shakespeare for the box office and people went to see it. Long before Lurmann made Shakespeare cool, Branagh, was bringing classical Shakespeare to the screen with OOMPH.
Robin Williams in the MOVIE – Good Will Hunting – there are scenes with him and Stellan Skarsgard and him and Matt Damon in this film that blow me away every time. The laughter in his eyes when he talks of how his wife used to fart in bed, the anger he has at Skarsgard’s character and the way he puts Will in his place when he thinks he’s got him all figured out. It shows that he was so much more than the coked-up comic, or the family-friendly movie star he became.
Gael Garcia Bernal - I saw the MOVIES Amores Perros and Y Tu Mama Tambien and fell in love with this guy’s acting. If you can make it look as easy as this guy, you’ve really got something.
There are many others, but these are some of my favourites.
COACH