Great Movies with Stoic Heroes
Our favorite near silent main characters in honor of "Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga"
Readers, we’re back! After a couple weeks off, it’s time for some movie recommendations for your Friday once again. We’re in a Mad Max state of mind with the release of Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga last week. Both Max and Furiosa are about as stoic as action heroes come, so that got us thinking about the stoic, near silent heroes from other movies. Read our recommendations and then check out the latest over on the podcast!
Billy recommends…
No Country For Old Men - Ed Tom Bell (Tommy Lee Jones)
If a movie could be stoic then No Country For Old Men fits the bill pretty spot on. A whole movie of characters enduring pain and the only guide available is a lead character in Ed Tom Bell who has comfortably submitted to pain. Tommy Lee Jones plays Bell and his face encapsulates acceptance. Stoicism normally insinuates bravery for me, but during this process of thinking of stoic characters bravery doesn’t feel quite accurate.
Stoicism is an act of accepting what you cannot control and Ed Tom Bell is an example of stoicism being a massive virtue until something has you wake up. Waking up is part of the famous last line from Jones’ character that shockingly transitions into the screen going black… “And then I woke up.” Something about the events of this movie has shattered his worldview and began to seemingly bring him to shambles.
The Coen brothers smartly don’t make this a movie that deals with any of the aftermath after that line. Throughout the entire runtime I loved Bell guiding me through this understood chaos. The only security I had was with him. You can tell he was never going to die and you kind of knew his search to bring justice to the brilliant Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh was never going to happen. And that reality constantly had me thinking, “I have no idea how this movie is going to end.” And the decision to end it after a short monologue about two dreams the night before infuriated me, but burrowed inside knowing that there has to be more meaning to that. And this is where I have landed on what I think the Coens were trying to say as it relates to stoicism. It is a philosophy that does not lead to a well-lived life.
Streaming on MGM+
Drew recommends…
Drive - The Driver (Ryan Gosling)
Movie characters that go nameless are usually as stoic and mysterious as they come. We never learn Clint Eastwood’s name in Sergio Leone’s Dollars Trilogy. We only know Uma Thurman as “The Bride” in Kill Bill until Volume 2. As “The Driver” in Drive, Ryan Gosling is the taciturn vessel that transports us through director Nicolas Winding Refn’s neo-noir Los Angeles of pawn shops, mobsters, and the near constant threat of violence.
We don’t know much about him, other than that he’s a Hollywood stunt driver that is hired as a criminal getaway driver on the side. The Driver’s philosophical outlook is probably summed up best when he says, “I drive.” We aren’t supposed to get inside the character’s head so much as experience the world of the movie with him. And yet, in the decade-plus since Drive was released the film has become one of Gosling’s most iconic roles.
Some of this is due to the costuming and stylization. The Driver is given that instantly recognizable white jacket with the gold scorpion on the back, as well as leather gloves and a toothpick. We’re meant to see The Driver as cool and confident, yet guarded and removed. Also, Refn’s slick direction and tough-minded noir setting build an attractively stylized world around Gosling’s main character a la earlier influences like Le Samourai and Thief.
Throughout the polished action and sleek score and soundtrack sits Gosling, whose stoic face conveys mastery over his art (skillfully driving a vehicle at high speeds) and concern about the things he can’t control. The Driver wants to remain above the fray in this violent landscape, but his weakness for Carey Mulligan’s Irene (and her son) draws him into it. Gosling impressively turns a character that could be a total cipher into a driver with a beating heart. You could say he’s a real human being… and a real hero.
Available to rent digitally on demand
From the DYLA Archive
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
DYLA Podcast
We took this week off the podcast, but last week we recapped the first week or so of this year’s Cannes Film Festival, discussing reactions to Francis Ford Coppola’s Megalopolis, Kevin Costner’s Horizon, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Kinds of Kindness, and more before wrapping up with our favorite Palme d’Or winners.
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Links
The all-star cast for Rian Johnson’s next Knives Out movie, Wake Up Dead Man, just keeps growing every day. In addition to a returning Daniel Craig, check out the exciting names confirmed to star already.
George Clooney. Brad Pitt. Action comedy. I don’t know if I need to say anything else. Wolfs is in theaters on September 20. See the trailer here.