Best Actor 2005

1998 through 2007

Best Actor 2005

Philip Seymour Hoffman, Capote
5
14%
Terrence Howard, Hustle & Flow
0
No votes
Heath Ledger, Brokeback Mountain
24
65%
Joaquin Phoenix, Walk the Line
0
No votes
David Straitharn, Good Night, and Good Luck
8
22%
 
Total votes: 37

Sabin
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Best Actor 2005

Post by Sabin »

(forgive me, I had some time at work and got bored. it is a bit soon.)

Viggo Mortensen, Eric Bana, Russell Crowe, Jeff Daniels, Ralph Fiennes…all of these performances could have easily been nominated in a weaker year. This doesn’t even count the brilliant performances of 2005 that had no shot in hell like Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Daniel Day-Lewis, Robert Downey, Jr., Mathieu Amalric, Luigi Lo Casco, and Romain Duris.

But it’s one of the strongest lineups in some time, and it’s difficult to begrudge anyone their spot. Instead of working backwards, I’ll just outright say what everyone else is likely to: it’s Heath Ledger all the way. A lot has been said about his performance in Brokeback Mountain, but first and foremost must be that it does not register as much in individual scenes as it does as a grand sum. Actors begin and end their scenes like pros, guided by direction here and there, suffer the follies of multiple set-ups and distractions, and they give us their heart and soul before the camera. I don’t know if Ang Lee envisioned this performance note by note in his head before he began, if he saw something in Heath Ledger that just clicked, and kept every variable in his head when he directed this film, or if this was just the case of the right actor for the right role at the right point in his career with the right discipline, but I have no idea where Ennis Del Marr came from. It doesn’t feel like a performance, it feels like a life we’re peering into. Brokeback Mountain is a good film, but ultimately not a great one for too many reasons to go into here. But it’s success as a film is unimaginable without Heath Ledger. Replace him with anybody, and suddenly nobody is shocked that Crash wins Best Picture.

My runner up would probably have to be Joaqin Phoenix. I remember thinking that Walk the Line was probably a likelier inclusion than Munich or Capote, and was somewhat surprised when its lead began to falter in the weeks leading to nominations morning. It’s not a very good film, far too familiar, but unlike Hustle & Flow, the only thing really worth talking about at all is Joaquin Phoenix’s amazing impersonation of Johnny Cash. Unlike Jamie Foxx’s Ray, this is not a mere impersonation. I felt like I was watching Johnny Cash and that did all the heavy-lifting that was needed. Phoenix is a fantastic actor, and while this isn’t quite on the level as Two Lovers, he did that rare balancing act of reaching deep and finding something personal while doing an impersonation of someone else. Likewise, any fan of David Straitharn can see how much of himself he brought to this role while still immersing himself in Edward R. Murrow. He’s perfect in this film, but he is also truthfully a bit limited by the scope that the film allows him to navigate.

Terrence Howard’s nomination over Russell Crowe was a surprise to some. I wasn’t too shocked, although the failure of Cinderella Man at the box office is one of the most egregious cast of a film being released at the wrong time of the year. If the success of Hustle & Flow was simply the charisma of Terrence Howard, I think it was simply be another signpost on the way to a career that he was building towards for some time. But it’s an energetic film with a lot of humor and great performances. It’s not really about anything and it represents an alarming trend in Sundance triumphs of studio fare in indie drag, but it’s hard for me to begrudge it much when it’s this entertaining. And while the film is not just the Terrence Howard Show at all, everyone seems to be working to make him look good and there is a subsequent exuberance to his performance that feels incredibly personal and organic. Although I wish Jeff Daniels had made it in instead, Howard’s inclusion was a welcome surprise.

Then there’s the winner, Philip Seymour Hoffman in Capote. I happen to like Philip Seymour Hoffman more than most on this Board, I think. He’s a very talented actor who tends to blow people off the screen with too much theatrical huff and puff. As a lead, I prefer him a bit more understated like in his underrated work in The Savages where he effortlessly conveyed a lifetime of passive aggressive avoidance. Neither Capote or Infamous are particularly great, though the latter is probably the better film if simply for the fact that Toby Jones is more believable as Truman Capote. I remember Jon Stewart’s joke Oscar night saying that he wanted to praise Philip Seymour Hoffman for banishing this rumor that all homosexuals are virile and macho. “Some in fact are effete intellectuals.” Bennett Miller’s Capote has some good stuff in it and I do like the notion of the biopic, taking place at a pivot point rather than the span of a life. But it’s also fairly remote, and the choice to play Perry Smith as quiet and haunting isn’t a wise one. When Truman Capote is more dominating a masculine presence than Perry Smith, there is a problem. I like the film, but when it began to steamroll with major precursor nominations, I was pretty astonished.

My Choices
1. Heath Ledger, Brokeback Mountain
2. Mathieu Amalric, Kings & Queen
3. Luigi Lo Casco, The Best of Youth
4. Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Mysterious Skin
5. Robert Downey, Jr., Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
(Although I initially placed Jeff Daniels as Lead, he really is supporting in The Squid and the Whale, a very strong film that I don’t quite hold in such high regard if only because it’s perhaps a bit too limited in scope. This is a story that could have used a bit more messiness, and Laura Linney is too effortlessly headstrong a presence to register as a woman newly blooming in divorce and affairs. Really though, it’s Jesse Eisenberg’s story, and he is very good in the film, as is Owen Kline. Jeff Daniels is incredible though, and considering how performers were viable contenders for Best Supporting Actor in 2005, it was a terrible move to keep him in lead. The National Board of Review went for Jake [Co-Lead] Gyllenhaal , and the Critic’s Awards were split between William Hurt and Ed Harris for A History of Violence. Jeff Daniels could have conceivably played spoiler to George Clooney if they played their cards right.)
Last edited by Sabin on Wed Oct 19, 2011 10:26 am, edited 2 times in total.
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