Actor Spotlight: Joaquin Phoenix & October New To Streaming
Why so serious?
If anyone could follow in the footsteps of Heath Ledger’s momentous Oscar-winning performance as Joker in The Dark Knight, it would be Joaquin Phoenix. The eccentric actor (Remember when he quit acting to become a rapper, but then it was just a hoax? That was wild.) has proven he is one of his generation’s great talents, so naturally he now has the opportunity to play one of the movies’ great villains. Joker, the dark and gritty origin story that opens in theaters today, features Phoenix in a performance that has been hailed as extraordinary by just about everyone who’s seen it.
We can’t wait to finally check it out, but in the meantime we are recommending our favorite Joaquin Phoenix performances on streaming platforms. Afterwards, we deal out a couple picks that are new to streaming in October.
Actor Spotlight: Joaquin Phoenix
Drew recommends…
Her (streaming on Netflix)
Phoenix is known for his intense presence every time he’s on screen. Whether it’s the cruel arrogance of his role in Gladiator or his tortured, drug-addicted Johnny Cash in Walk the Line, he usually inhabits his characters with an anxious intensity. In 2013’s Her, however, he dials it back and plays it understated in this sci-fi romance. I think that’s what fascinates me so much about this performance -- it’s a famous actor demonstrating a move we’re not used to. It’s also why Her works as well as it does.
While you would think Her’s premise -- lonely, heartbroken man falls in love with his computer’s operating system -- would teeter on the edge of ridiculousness, Phoenix and writer-director Spike Jonze won’t let it. Jonze created a film that has a near future inventiveness, so that we recognize this world (everyone’s on their phones all the time), but not so much that it feels like our era. The set design is streamlined, pleasant, and fashionably chic. Critic Wesley Morris called it “the near-future of a yuppie’s dreams.” You’d love to live in this world if it weren’t so melancholy and hermetic.
In his performance as the lonesome lead character Theodore Twombly, Phoenix strikes a delicate balance between sad-sack and lovestruck. He applies a much lighter touch than we are used to seeing from his work in movies like The Master and We Own the Night. His features are softer, his posture more relaxed. Theodore is sincere and vulnerable, not guarded and fidgety like so many of Phoenix’s characters. Without his tender and heartfelt central performance, Her simply doesn’t resonate like it does.
This is a strange love story, to be sure, but Her takes you to wonderful, unexpected places. In the wrong hands, this movie would take a dark turn into a cautionary tale about the evils of technology. Jonze and Phoenix, along with lovely acting from Scarlett Johansson (playing the voice of the A.I. system that Theodore falls for), Rooney Mara, and Amy Adams, go in a different route here. Instead, Her is a thoughtful and poignant look at modern love -- and a refreshing departure for Joaquin Phoenix.
Billy recommends…
You Were Never Really Here (streaming on Amazon Prime)
Can we always have Joaquin Phoenix be in movies where he is essentially the only character? As if he were easing us into seeing him as the Joker we get to see him in this beautiful character study You Were Never Really Here.
Lynne Ramsay, the director, almost sets the camera down in different angles allowing Joaquin to act us all the way through this one. I do not mean that as a detriment to Ramsay at all. It is the ultimate compliment and the way a lot of my favorite directors direct. Utilizing simplicity to efficiently tell the story. At an hour and twenty-nine minutes we do not have time for anything fancy. Allow the characters to advance the story so that the audience can get the full effect of emotion.
Joaquin’s character is a Gulf War veteran who has come back to the states as an unflinching hired gun. This movie is too personal to be just a hitman movie. The profession he is in acts more as a rescuer without limits. Helping the downtrodden. A “career” that could have been portrayed as badass or honorable is clearly nothing but dread in You Were Never Really Here. You are rooting for him, but only because of the horrors that the people coming after him bring. He is not performing these duties as a service, but almost as a necessity to confront his own demons. This one is a simple premise with incredibly unsettling themes and because of that I found it so enjoyable. A perfect film to see before you see Joker this weekend.
New to streaming in October
Drew recommends…
Insomnia (streaming on Amazon Prime)
Before he went on to helm the Dark Knight trilogy, Inception, and Dunkirk, Christopher Nolan got his first studio movie shot with Insomnia in 2002. After impressing with Memento, his low-budget mind-bender, they gave him the keys to a picture starring Al Pacino, Robin Williams, and Hillary Swank. Nolan made the studio their money back on this one, and then he officially stepped into the big leagues three years later with Batman Begins.
Insomnia is mostly a by-the-numbers detective thriller (it’s also the only one of Nolan’s movies where he doesn’t have a screenplay credit), but Nolan does a remarkable job depicting a foggy, atmospheric Alaska where the sun only sets for a couple hours a day. This is what exacerbates Detective Will Dormer’s (Pacino) insomnia as he slowly unravels while investigating a murder in a small Alaskan town. Dormer eyes Robin Williams’ Walter Finch, a local crime writer, with suspicion. It’s one of Williams’ darker and creepier roles, when he was proving he could expand beyond the comedy genius the world already knew. Pacino and Williams make for an unexpected tandem, but they balance each other well on screen.
Insomnia isn’t likely to blow you away, but if you love a good mystery involving detectives solving a crime, you could do much worse. You’ve got a young director honing his craft before he went on to bigger things and a cast of three Academy Award-winning actors. Plus, the Alaska setting makes for a nice little twist on the conventional detective thriller.
Billy recommends…
Free Fire (streaming on Amazon Prime)
Simple premises and short run times are the themes of my week. This one coming in at just over an hour and a half. Free Fire is a blast all the way through. A cast full of “oh that person!” actors. Brie Larson and Armie Hammer being the most recognizable amongst the cast.
Director Ben Wheatley brings such a flare to such a simple premise. Humor is woven in and out of the loud shootout and that is the driving force behind this whole movie. The premise of this one is a mass gun transaction gone awry and the cast of characters joking their way through it just trying to survive the furious shootout as a result.
Big budget movies and indie films need to switch I think. Big budget movies are typically the simple premises and simple ideas that are manifested through broad themes that allow the audience to connect easily. Therefore leading to entertainment that can reach the masses. Indie films have the liberty of creating much more intricate storylines. Mainly because it is often the director financing the production of the movie or personally finding investors. Therefore not compromising their own vision.
Free Fire is a broad idea with characters that are easily accessible. With a director who brings a unique flare to that simple premise that we have seen time and time again, but not in this particular way. We essentially have one location and a cast of characters that starts large and slowly becomes smaller and smaller. Allowing for the interesting characters to shine while the lesser characters are there to support our main characters’ storylines. Free Fire will have you in stitches and entertained all the way throughout. Blink and this one will be over. In the best possible way.
Streaming TV Corner
What we’re watching right now
Billy: Seinfeld (streaming on Hulu)
I loved this show so much growing up and as I have finished two seasons of this one again I am observing it with a different attitude. While definitely still having incredibly written comedic characters, I want to see if the comedy hits at different points for me this time since I am now an adult. Analyzing comedy can zap a lot of joy out of watching it, but doing this experiment has been incredibly enjoyable thus far.
Links to get you hyped
The Oscar season just got a new contender in 1917, a World War I movie that was apparently shot to look like one continuous take. Here’s a video showing how that was possible.
El Camino hits Netflix next Friday, but Breaking Bad fans can hold themselves over before then by arguing about the best Breaking Bad episodes. Check out The Ringer’s ranking of all 62 episodes.
If you enjoyed this newsletter, please pass it along to a friend, share it on social, or shout it from the nearest mountaintop. We’d appreciate it.
If you’d like to read past newsletters, hit up our archive.