a meditation on Chris O'Dowd

[dianeseattle]

I just watched "Molly Bloom" on Netflix and will be trying to sift through the thickness of the dialog in order to review it, and will post it here.

But one actor in the movie, Chris O'Dowd, probably gave the best performance of his career, and it was a highlight of Molly Bloom.

You may know O'Dowd from Bridesmaids, where he played Officer Rhodes. Or you may know him front television in Get Shorty. Or maybe you know him from the series Family Tree on Prime Video. Or you may have seen him mis-cast and utterly wasted in the overrated waste of time film, Jessica Jones.

I know him because of his indescribably amazing performance in Calvary, with Brendan Gleason, many years ago. That's the reason I recognized him in Bridesmaids. And even though The Troubles and Irish Catholicixm and masculinity are as foreign to me as being black, or being a man, or the million other things I could never comprehend or be, being sexually molested by a minister is not. And there's a particular horror of injustice when the minister goes on to have a life with kids and money and is respected by everyone in the community, even though he has destroyed your ability ever to have a normal sex life and should have been executed for it. Yes, I think pedophilia should be a capital crime, and I have hundreds of friends who would agree with me, sadly.

But that's not entirely what the film was about, and Chris O'Dowd's performance and reason for living (as Jack in the movie) is far more complex than a single horrific violation would make it.

Chris O'Dowd, in Molly's Game, gives a performance like no other. I have never seen him manage an accent where his Irish brogue didn't peek through, but he does Brooklyn proud, and the words the author put in his mouth help him a lot with that. I was impressed and delighted.

If you watch Molly's Game and see how he does, you might take the opportunity to rent Calvary as a bookend, and because it's bold and important.

 

[Bill S.]

I was bored watching it

 

[dianeseattle]

yeah, me too. but i forced myself to watch it and later did some research to help me understand the concepts, then watched it again. I developed an appreciation for Brendan Gleeson but really noticed O'Dowd, who turned in a great performance.

I've seen other O'Down performances and in addition to his inability to adapt to any other language accent, his acting ranged from good to excellent.

But movies like this are the reason I don't recommend films by Bergman or Kurosawa, even though they are masterpieces.

And knowing how much I adore Christian Bale, he was in a few real stinkers, the worst of which is The Prince of Rutland which was vomitous, begging the question, "How in the world can you f*ck up Hamlet so completely?"

 

[Bill S.]

Never saw The Prince of Rutland but I didn’t like him Terminator Salvation a movie I thought I would like

 

[dianeseattle]

The Prince of Rutland has an alternative title, Royal Deceit.

Bale didn't like Terminator: Salvation either and has spoken about it many times. He was much younger at that time and had been assured by the director that it would be a smash. And he was on a winning streak, so might have thought he could still get Batman-lucky. If I recall correctly, the script wasn't even written by the original author. I only watched it because I'm a completist when it comes to collecting, and believe me, I fast-forwarded a lot of it, as well as Equilibrium and Reign of Fire.

An underrated film, and the only one to date where he has a producer credit, is Harsh Times.

It's not for everyone's palate, but his portrayal of a veteran with PTSD and a big drug habit is brilliant. That is a movie where the subject matter didn't interest me one iota, but his performance made it watchable.

I did buy Exodus: Gods and Kings recently, expecting it to be one of those typically schmaltzy Biblical epics. It was better than I feared, but it's not going to get a lot of viewings from me. Part of the problem was with the filmmaker. I remember being persuaded at last by the fact that Ridley Scott was directing it. But the Moses character, played by Bale, was a loudmouth wise-ass, whereas in realilty, he was shy and unconfident, as documented in the book of Exodus, Chapter 4:

10 Moses said to the Lord, “Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue.”
11 The Lord said to him, “Who gave human beings their mouths? Who makes them deaf or mute? Who gives them sight or makes them blind? Is it not I, the Lord?
12 Now go; I will help you speak and will teach you what to say.”
13 But Moses said, “Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else.”

Probably over-explaining here. But movies that stink of a filmmaker's ego are not movies that generally make it on my list.

I did love the way the parting of the Red Sea was depicted, though. Not what I expected at all.