Director Mike Nichols once said, “It’s hard to tell the dancer from the dance.”
The occasion of this lasting insight was Clive Owen’s serrated — and Oscar-nominated — performance in the emotionally cruel romantic drama “Closer.”
Nichols wasn’t taking anything away from Owen. He was merely reminding us how layered this strange, mesmerizing art form can be.
Oscar nominees and winners from Annette Bening to Frank Langella from Daniel Day Lewis to Don Cheadle have shared the same wisdom over the years: Movie performances are complex, vulnerable high-wire acts. The folks holding the corners of the net? Directors, cinematographers, editors and a slew of crafts people. The best performances are a matter of skill but also an expression of trust.
Sitting in a hotel room recently, Alec Baldwin took a shot at explaining. The Academy Award co-host was in Boulder as an honoree of the Boulder International Film Festival.
“On a film, you’re not choosing the take they’re going to use. You don’t know when they’re going to cut away for emphasis or cut closer to you,” he said. “Someone else is making that decision. I always say your performance is like an orphan child. You give it to someone, and you don’t know what they’re going to do with it.”
Baldwin’s observations then turned to Meryl Streep, an Oscar nominee for her role as Julia Child and his “It’s Complicated” co-star.
“Meryl never broke a sweat; she was never uptight. She was so cool. I don’t mean as in being diffident, I mean being in control of what she wanted to do. She’d be kidding with you, playing with you, telling you a story about her kids, and then they’d say, ‘Action.’ ”
Baldwin paused. He pretended to flip long hair back. He took a deep breath. Then he whispered a line Streep’s Jane delivers to his Jake. “I don’t think I want you in this house right now.”
Baldwin came out of character. “Boom!”
Boom can be the hurt posture of a woman who can’t have children upon hearing news of another’s pregnancy (Streep in “Julie & Julia”). Boom can be the increasingly desperate search for a girlfriend’s youngster in a mall (Jeff Bridges in “Crazy Heart”). Boom can be the apprehension on the face of a teen waiting for an elevator to take her toward the great unknown (Gabourey Sidibe in “Precious”). Boom can be the unctuous come-ons of a pedophile in a dormant cornfield (Stanley Tucci in “The Lovely Bones”). Boom can be a father telling his infant girl about the precarious nature of his love (Jeremy Renner in “The Hurt Locker.”)
Boom is what actors give — a look, a line. Boom is what the camera takes in stillness and motion, in noise and silence.
Here’s a sample (biased, naturally) of what a few of this year’s contenders gave for our consideration:
Sandra Bullock in “The Blind Side.”
The Character: Leigh Ann Tuohy is one of those steely magnolias who doesn’t abide a “no.”
The Look: When Michael Oher moves from the couch to his own room in the Tuohy home, he says he’s never had one. Like Leigh Anne, we might think he means his own room. He means a bed. Even the preview makers at Warners knew there was gold in the stunned compassion on Bullock’s face.
The Lines: “If this is going to be a running diatribe I can find an overpriced salad closer to home,” Leigh Anne tells her ladies who lunch coterie, as talk turns from the frivolous to the ugly. Then they go a step too far. She asks for the bill. She stands. “Shame on you.”
Colin Firth in “A Single Man”
The Character: In Tom Ford’s lovely debut, Firth is professor George Falconer. During the Cuban Missile Crisis he undergoes his own unfathomable crisis: the death of his partner.
The Look: George picks up the phone and begins a tender chastising. He assumes Jim, away visiting family, has finally called. He hasn’t. It’s Jim’s cousin, a stranger calling with news. George’s glasses come off. His eyes stare but do not see. His chest moves up and down, up and down. “Oh.” “I see.” “Thank you.” Firth takes George from mistaken familiarity to politeness to confusion and, at last — the phone returned to its cradle — terrified, grappling, muted collapse.
The Lines: In an exquisite voice-over that pulls audiences into the widower’s wavering psyche, Firth tells us: “For the past eight months, waking up has actually hurt. It takes time in the morning for me to become George. … Looking in the mirror staring back at me isn’t so much a face as an expression of a predicament.”
Mo’Nique in “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire.”
The Character: Mary Jones, the endangering mother of Harlem heroine Claireece “Precious” Jones, shouts and abuses, cries and makes excuses for herself.
The Look: The morning after the film’s cruelest verbal take-down, followed by an off-screen beat-down, Mary Jones has a moment to herself. Standing in a print Lycra get-up, cigarette dangling, she vogues to Jean Carne’s “Was That All It Was” while watching “$10,000 Pyramid.” She hasn’t a care in the world.
The Lines: “Precious was born in the summertime,” she tells a case worker (Mariah Carey) in one of filmdom’s most powerful scenes, period. Precious corrects her. She was born in November. “That’s right,” Mary nods with a faraway look. “My Scorpio child. Y’know, Scorpios, they can be tricky. I’m not saying they lie but you just gotta watch them.”
Christoph Waltz in
“Inglourious Basterds”
The Character: SS Col. Hans Landa’s got-milk chatter in a French farmhouse offers a chilling introduction to evil.
The Look: After Landa made a deal and escaped a conflagration, a comeuppance in the woods wipes the smug from his mug.
The Lines: At a surprise meeting with the daughter of a Jewish family he had killed, Landa once again gives the orders … for milk. “Yes, two strudels, one for myself, and one for the mademoiselle. A cup of espresso, with a container of steamed milk, on the side. For the mademoiselle, a glass of milk.”
Film critic Lisa Kennedy: 303-954-1567 or lkennedy@denverpost.com. Also on blogs.denverpostcom/ madmoviegoer
Playing Oscar catch-up? You’re lucky this year
How sly, how fantastic it is to have theaters that cater to our Oscar-pool hankerings. All over town, opportunities to see contenders as they should be seenon the big screen — abound. “Avatar” is still playing on a screen (or three) near you.
So is “Up in the Air,” “The Blind Side,” “The Hurt Locker,” “Precious: Based on the Novel ‘Push’ by Sapphire,” and “An Education.” “District 9” and “Inglourious Basterds” are on DVD.
You can see Joel and Ethan Coen’s hard-to-find Talmudic comedy, “A Serious Man,” at the Starz Film Center.
And all five nominees for best animated feature — “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” “Up,” “Coraline,” “The Princess and the Frog” and dark horse “The Secret of the Kells” — screen at the Starz FilmCenter starting Tuesday.
Friday, the FilmCenter will begin showing three of the documentary feature contenders: Boulder-produced “The Cove,” “Burma V.J” and “Food, Inc.” ($5-$9.75. For showtimes, go to , or call 303-820-FILM.)
The expansion of the best- picture category to 10 films seemed less bonanza than logistical nightmare for AMC. The chain was not cowed, and once again offered its Best Picture Showcase spread over two Saturdays. There’s still time to catch the second one, and five of the films, Saturday. Highlands Ranch 24 and Westminster 24. One-day pass $30. (go to for more information).
