waitsfortherain Reviews

A Bag of Marbles (2017)

Beautiful Tribute

[10/10 · 14 August 2017]

There is a borderline territory between reality and dreams where we all dwell in early childhood. As we grow up, it starts fading away. By the time we become adults, most of us can hardly remember having been there. To bring it back is unthinkable. No one can do it. Yet, with varying degrees of success, some insist on trying. The vehicle they choose also varies a lot. It can be a novel, a play, a poem, a song- - or a film. Some of the most amazing re-creations of the lost territory between reality and dreams are films directed by immensely gifted artists who, from the start, knew exactly what they were after and not for a moment lost track of what they had to do to get it. This kind of film cannot afford being "all right." It must be perfect. Otherwise the whole project fails. Nothing happens. It becomes a film that never was.

"A Bag of Marbles" may be one of the four or five films of that kind ever made without a single frame that could be called phony. I cannot remember the last time I saw a regular audience, not the audience of a premiere or a film festival, applaud in the end. It never fails to move me when it happens. It happened yesterday at the end of this marvelous film, made with so much care that it's destined to become a milestone. Photography couldn't be more beautiful, nor could the art direction, bringing to life in the most extraordinary way the atmosphere of occupied France in the early 1940s. The music is perfect. The screenplay is a gem, its treatment of time being absolutely breathtaking. But the star of the show really is the casting director. It's very rare to see a film with so many peripheral characters in which every single actor has been cast to perfection. Not to mention the choice of Dorian Le Clech, the little boy who plays the lead. A really long time will have to go by until we see another child play such a complex character with so much authority.

The man who put it all together, turning "A Bag of Marbles" into one of the most rewarding experiences in movie-going anyone may have had in years, surely deserves the beautiful, quite unexpected tribute I saw him get from a regular audience as the film ended and they realized Christian Duguay had honored them with a masterpiece.

The Deep (2012)

Solid Gold

[8/10 · 16 December 2015]

From time to time a film comes up that should be seen by anyone interested in a particular aspect of film-making. There have been films that bordered on the banal but anyone interested in or involved with camera work couldn't afford missing. Same with the use of music. Or the art direction. Even casting directors could learn a couple of things from watching certain films.

"The Deep doesn't border on the banal. It's an honest, cleverly made film with good chances of satisfying a wide range of viewers. But one aspect of this somewhat unexpected film makes it a must: the amazing performance of Ólafur Darri Ólafsson, an American-born actor who has lived and worked most of his life in Iceland where, as we learn from his IMDb page, he is considered a major force of that country's theater.

As Gulli, the fisherman who surprises everybody by being the only survivor of a shipwreck under conditions in which no human being could possibly live to tell the story, this truly extraordinary actor comes up with a flawless performance. For anyone involved with acting, especially film acting, his work is an inspiration. I've been an actor all my life. But I could never understand, when it happens, how and when pettiness creeps into the actor's work. How come even great actors sometimes seem to have been possessed by what is ultimately dishonesty, the indiscriminate use of cheap tricks, gimmicks meant to create the illusion of an intensely emotional performance. Some actors are perfectly conscious of doing it. Most are not. It's impossible to detect the moment when it begins.

Watching Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Gulli, the survivor in "The Deep" is like attending a Master Class given by a truly great actor. There would be plenty of opportunities to use gimmicks and cheap tricks. But there isn't one single moment when he does it. His performance is one hundred per cent true. It's as honest and natural as the awesome performances great directors of the Italian realism managed to get from non- actors like the lead in "The Bicycle Thief."

SPOILERS AHEAD. STOP READING HERE IF YOU DON'T WANT THEM.

For anyone interested in great acting, two scenes in the film are like solid gold. Watching them is watching the work of a perfect actor. In the hospital, when asked how he found the energy to swim six kilometers in the cold sea, he says that all along he kept talking to the seagulls. We know it's true because we saw it early on. But his recollection of it is very moving, because it's done simply and with tremendous truthfulness.

Then there's the scene in which he visits the family of his colleague, one of the first to die, sits on the floor and talks to his two boys. One of them says their mother told them their father was with God. They want to know from him if it's true. The way he handles such a difficult challenge is a great moment in film acting.

"The Deep" is a good film. But even if it didn't have so many qualities, the dignity, the unyielding commitment of its leading actor to his art would make it unforgettable.