February 02, 2009
Not so Revolutionary
John Podhoretz reviews the critically acclaimed film Revolutionary Road, for which Kate Winslet nabbed some acting award recently. J-Pod is not impressed:
The unpleasant new film version of Revolutionary Road is both remarkably faithful to and a complete hash of the novel. Screenwriter Justin Haythe has done a splendid job of compressing the incidents and events of the novel into a two-hour script, and the work of director Sam Mendes is tasteful and careful. But they have no idea what the novel is about.
I had no interest in seeing the film before I read the review, but it's worth reading if you're thinking of going -- or have gone -- to see what the fuss is about.
There's a passage near the end of the article that hits on a pet peeve of mine: the metrosexual nature of today's "men" on screen.
DiCaprio is technically a very fine actor, but in this, his first real effort at playing a husband and father, he is undone by his inability to imagine what a 30-year-old man of the 1950s might actually have been like. For one thing, such a man would have worked hard at eliminating any trace of the high and breathy tone of a teenager in his voice, which DiCaprio still retains. I hate to put it this way, but he has left me no choice: When, on at least two occasions in the course of the movie, DiCaprio actually weeps with rage, he cries like a girl.
Compare and contrast DiCaprio with Liam Neeson, currently starring in the Luc Besson thriller, Taken. Neeson portrays a father seeking the men who have kidnapped his daughter, and in appearance and voice he is very much a man, grizzled, weary and worn, and implacable in defense of his family.
But it's not just this role; Neeson, now 56, has always looked like an adult onscreen, never seeming to have become stuck in the eternal young adult phase that seems to trap Hollywood's biggest stars like teens in amber.
Tom Cruise, left, is 46 years old in this picture; Leonardo DiCaprio is 35. Compare and contrast with the grizzled visages of Hollywood's stars of yore.
From Tom Cruise to DiCaprio, these guys just don't convince as, well, men. It's hard to believe that Cruise is older than Steven McQueen was when he starred in Bullitt and The Great Escape. Come to think of it, most of the stars of that film -- a veritable Who's Who of early '60s machismo -- were younger than today's Emo leading men.
Take a look at these guys. When The Great Escape was filming, McQueen was 32, James Garner was 34, James Coburn was 34, Richard Attenborough was 39, Charles Bronson was 41. Hell, Donald Pleasence was 43 (and looked ten years older)!
Think about that; Tom Cruise is older than every man in the publicity still from The Great Escape, even the old guys, Attenborough and Pleasence, but communicates none of the gravitas, the world weariness, that I associate with men of my father's and grandfather's generations. Even more amazing, Little Leo is older than McQueen, Garner and Coburn, but looks like he could play their little brother -- or son.
They don't make 'em like they used to.
Posted by Mike Lief at February 2, 2009 12:06 AM
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Comments
Nicolas Cage? Russell Crowe? Val Kilmer? Daniel Craig? Christian Bale? Liam Neeson? Samuel L. Jackson? Or is Jackson too old? Or are they ALL too old?
Posted by: The Little Coach at February 3, 2009 08:22 AM
OK, so maybe Christian Bale only LOOKS like a real man.
Posted by: The Little Coach at February 3, 2009 10:24 AM
OK, so maybe Christian Bale only LOOKS like a real man. How about Denzel Washington? Kevin Spacey, Josh Hartnett (forget Brokeback Mountain), Don Cheadle, Jamie Foxx, Laurence Fishburne (forget Cowboy Curtis)? Gravitas? Is Ed Harris too old? Daniel Day-Lewis? If you look at character actors, Graham Greene?
I'm happy to go along with the idea that Cruise and Little Leo look like sissies, and that the metro-male ideal seems pansy-fied. There are a few actors, though, under 60 years, who still look worldly, experienced, and seasoned.
If I disagree with you, will you cry?
Posted by: The Little Coach at February 3, 2009 10:50 AM