Praise for Del Toro in "Fire"
Things We Lost in the Fire has bombed out with slightly less than half the critics -- only 65% have thumbs-upped it on Rotten Tomatoes, 58% on Metacritic -- but nearly everyone (except for Stephen Holden and maybe one other) has gone into full cartwheel mode over Benicio del Toro's performance and, to any fair-minded reader or watcher of the film, made a Best Actor Oscar nom seem mandatory.
The Austin Chronicle's Josh Rosenblatt says it best: "If you're bored some Saturday night, try this game: Close your eyes, spin around three times, and point a finger at Del Toro's resume. Dollars to doughnuts, you're going to land on one of the better acting performances of the last 20 years. Basquiat. Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Traffic. 21 Grams. Big Top Pee-wee. He can do it all.
"Yet somehow, with Things We Lost in the Fire, he's managed to top even himself; this most recent performance is right up there with the best screen turns, not just of his generation but of all time: Brando in On the Waterfront. Hopkins in Nixon. Washington in Training Day. Rarefied air.
"In Danish director Susanne Bier's excellent new film, Del Toro plays Jerry Sunborne, a fortysomething junkie living in squalor in downtown Seattle who's forced to re-examine his life after the violent death of his best and only friend, Steven Burke (the perpetually somnolent David Duchovny). Burke's wife, Audrey (Halle Berry), never trusted Jerry even when her husband was alive, but she decides to call on him after realizing that raising two kids alone in her emotional state may be an impossible task.
"Things We Lost in the Fire is Bier's first English-language film and her follow-up to the Oscar-nominated After the Wedding, and like that film, it's an impeccably constructed and perfectly paced drama of domestic and internal volatility.
"In the end, this movie belongs to Del Toro. He imbues Jerry with such life, such ambiguity, such unsentimental complexity and depth that you can't help but feel you're watching the most intricately mapped depiction of addiction and strained humanity the film world has ever given us."
Likewise, The Stranger's Andrew Wright states that "you're mainly going to be watching Del Toro, who somehow slinkys and random-tangents his way into a fully realized being who's never more soulful than when he's dealing with the monkey on his back. The film has yet to be made that fully does justice to Del Toro's alien transmissions, but Bier comes awfully close."
Posted by Jeffrey Wells on October 19, 2007 at 7:54 AM
comment #1
Josh Massey
says ...
Washington in Training Day?
Posted by Josh Massey
at October 19, 2007 8:44 AM
comment #2
PhilContrino
says ...
I don't really get how you can group Brando in Waterfront, Hopkins in Nixon and Washington in Training Day in the same sentence....Maybe change it to Hopkins in Silence Of The Lambs and Washington in Malcolm X.
I'm looking forward to seeing this, but by some miracle the theatre near me decideded to play Jesse James which takes top priority because it may well be gone after one weekend.
Posted by PhilContrino
at October 19, 2007 8:59 AM
comment #3
AJW
says ...
I stopped reading after the sentence mentioned in the previous comments.
Posted by AJW
at October 19, 2007 9:01 AM
comment #4
soundoftheground
says ...
glad i'm not alone with my WTF?? at the "Washington in Training Day" line. i too stopped reading at that point.
Posted by soundoftheground
at October 19, 2007 9:32 AM
comment #5
MAGGA
says ...
Why do so many talkbackers stop reading something after someone says something you disagree with? I completely agree that Washington in Training Day is a stupid comparison to the other performances, though.
Posted by MAGGA
at October 19, 2007 9:34 AM
comment #6
Joe Leydon
says ...
MAGGA: Because life is short, and one must set priorities. If you violently disagree with something someone has written, you likely won't take anything else he/she writes seriously. (At least, not in the same article.) So why not move on to something else? As I say: Life is short.
Posted by Joe Leydon
at October 19, 2007 9:41 AM
comment #7
christian
says ...
Hopkins in Nixon?
A very good performance but methinks he praises too much.
Posted by christian
at October 19, 2007 9:41 AM
comment #8
BurmaShave
says ...
Am I the only one who thinks ON THE WATERFRONT is Brando's most overrated performance? Oooh method, he picks up the glove and puts it on! Improv! Plus the Egyptian eyebrows. It's a solid movie but I've never understood its place in the pantheon. STREETCAR and JULIUS CAESAR kick its ass all over the place.
Posted by BurmaShave
at October 19, 2007 9:43 AM
comment #9
Noel Murray
says ...
Meanwhile, on the awards-campaigning front, I just received a screener DVD of THINGS WE LOST IN THE FIRE in the mail. I'd read that Dreamworks was sending day-of-release screeners to Academy members, but I was surprised to get one as a mere critic-org voter.
Still, since the movie hasn't opened in my small town yet, I'll take it.
Posted by Noel Murray
at October 19, 2007 10:02 AM
comment #10
T. Holly
says ...
Critic proof, I can't wait to see this. The mixed reviews are best. I always read the 2 and a half star ones.
Posted by T. Holly
at October 19, 2007 10:23 AM
comment #11
Monument
says ...
"Why do so many talkbackers stop reading something after someone says something you disagree with?"
Because most of the talkbackers are effete film snobs.
Posted by Monument
at October 19, 2007 10:38 AM
comment #12
houmas
says ...
I love me some Washington, but Training Day is maybe like his 6th best performance, if that (and American Gangster will probably move it down another place on his own list).
Washingtion in Malcolm X or Glory would have been more apt. Mercurial and brilliant in the former, and incredibly moving in the latter (that single tear that rolls down DW's cheek during the whipping scene still gets me). His work in He Got Game is also way ahead of Training Day imho, but it's an underrated and underseen film.
Hopkin's in Nixon also seems a bit much. Silence Of The Lambs is his "pantheon" performance (though he may have diluted the impact of the original performance with the hammy sequels). Remains Of The Day is a masterclass is subtle acting though.
Posted by houmas
at October 19, 2007 10:49 AM
comment #13
Stephe96
says ...
"He'll flip ya....he'll flip ya for real..."
Posted by Stephe96
at October 19, 2007 11:07 AM
comment #14
thorsen1nk
says ...
"Whaaaddaafaaaaack?" Classic.
Oh, and Washington was fangoddamntastic in Training Day. That movie was nearly perfect...until the last 15 minutes when Antwone Fuqua suddenly remembered he's a hack and it all went to shit. Ethan Hawke kicking Denzel's ass? Yeah, right.
Posted by thorsen1nk
at October 19, 2007 11:53 AM
comment #15
Hash
says ...
"He'll flip ya....he'll flip ya for real..."
Yeah, I'm shaking.
Posted by Hash
at October 19, 2007 11:54 AM
comment #16
lipranzer
says ...
I agree with Thorsen. Washington is damn good in TRAINING DAY until the film goes to shit. I agree he's better in MALCOLM X, though. Oh, and I thought Hopkins was brilliant in NIXON, and yes, BurmaShave, you are the only one who thinks Brando's work in ON THE WATERFRONT is overrated. That cab scene doesn't still resonate 50+ years later for no reason, you know.
As far as THINGS THAT GOT LOST IN THE FIRE goes, I liked the movie more than most critics seem to have (except for Jeff, who loved it if I recall correctly). It does have problems (mainly, David Duchovny - never my favorite to begin with - is too good to be true here), but it's affecting and honest, and for the most part, doesn't take the easy way out. And Del Toro is as good as they say. I still think his best performance is in TRAFFIC, though.
Posted by lipranzer
at October 19, 2007 5:41 PM