martedì 10 maggio 2016

Best Actress in a Supporting Role 2013: Jennifer Lawrence in American Hustle

Jennifer Lawrence received her third Oscar nomination for her performance as Rosalyn Rosenfeld in American Hustle.


American Hustle is an enjoyable movie about a con man and his lover/partner in crime who are forced to work for an FBI agent, therefore entering in the dangerous world of powerbrokers and mafia. It's a very good movie that I find immensely entertaining to watch but I like the film less and less on every rewatch. I used to love the screenplay and while I still like it quite a bit I have a few reservations about it (the story's wrap-up is particularly unstatisfying), and the same goes for David O. Russell's direction. I loved all of the performances the first time, now I have problems with some of them too (Jeremy Renner's performance, instead, gets better every time I watch it). I still like the film very much, but it's not amazing.

I adored Jennifer Lawrence's performance the first time I saw the movie and I was actually rooting for her to win back then. Unfortunately, her performance is one of those aspects of the movie that I've come to like less and less with time; this doesn't mean I don't like her performance, because I actually appreciate a lot what Lawrence brings to the role but there are a few flaws that prevents me from completely loving it. First off, Lawrence is a bit miscast: I don't find it as much of a problem as other people do, but still I can't deny that the role probably required an older actress. She actually manages to overcome this to an extent and she acquits herself nicely to the role but especially in the beginning it can be a bit distracting. Secondly, her accent is sort of all over the place, especially in her first scene, it never becomes truly distracting but it is noticeable. But past those two flaws, her performance is very good: even in her first scene, in which her flaws are particularly evident, she still manages to be extremely captivating thanks to her scene-stealing screen presence and inhabits perfectly the character of Rosalyn. She is very entertaining in her portrayal of her character's wild, unpredictable personality - she's a true force of nature of screen and it's impossible to take your eyes off her. She makes Rosalyn's ditziness incredibly funny but past that she is able to show that Rosalyn is a smart, sly manipulator who isn't afraid to blackmail her husband in order to keep him with her. She does a very good job in her performance in balancing the funnier sides of her character as well as her darker ones, sometimes even in the same scene. Her performance is often criticized for being over-the-top but, honestly, the character itself is and I think that for most of the time Lawrence is able to be over-the-top without being hammy - she's loud and sometimes annoying but that's part of the point actually. Also I have to give her credit for making Rosalyn somewhat endearing despite doing some very obnoxious things, and it's truly a testament to her talent. 

Jennifer Lawrence also does very well in her more serious scenes and I think that she does a great job in portraying the desperation and neediness that motive her action, and her confrontation with Amy Adams is one of the highlights of the movie. She is simply fantastic in showing her hatred towards Sydney whom she blames for her problems with her husband, and her line-reading of "I've got a ring on my finger! We have a child together!" couldn't be more excellent. She is threatening and despicable as she vows she'll make Sydney pay for everything she is done but she is also surprisingly moving when Rosalyn breakdowns as Sydney accuses her of alienating Irving because of her blackmails and manipulations. It's a brilliant scene in which Lawrence nails all of Rosalyn's complexities,

Unfortunately, in the third act things get a little bit more problematic. It's not that Jennifer Lawrence starts to act poorly - except for the "Live and Let Die" scene (which is simply terrible in every single way), she is still very good. But the movie's tone is strangely uneven in the final act and it doesnt't mix comedy and drama as well as it did in the rest of the movie. Lawrence still delivers and the scene in which she admits she's afraid to change and take risks because in her comfort zone she feels safer is actually a heartbreaking and poignant moment. Her final confrontation with Christian Bale is good as well but again she suffers from the movie's tone - she does her best to show Rosalyn's painful emotional state while still handling the comedic notes that are randomly thrown at her, but it just doesn't work as well as it should even if it isn't her fault. Her final scene bothers me particularly becaused it fails to give Rosalyn's arc a proper closure and it makes you wonder if the movie's writers ever intended Rosalyn as anything more than a joke. 

So Jennifer Lawrence's performance is far from being perfect but despite its flaws her performance still manages to leave an extremely strong and lasting impression. She delivers an entertaining, scene-stealing turn while also giving us glimpses of her character's plight. My admiration for her work here might have cooled down a bit but I still greatly appreciate what Lawrence brings to the role and despiteher miscasting and the limitations of the script she delivers a performance that is hard to forget. 

4/5

6 commenti:

  1. Having re-watched the film recently, I'll agree with you and will give her a 4. She has some excessively showy moments, but then again Lawrence is an actress who can't phone it in, anyway she has more great moments than bad ones, and also some great ones, consistently entertaining and adds to the film well. I should note that I have grown to like the film quite a bit. Certainly much better than the other latest inexplicable Oscar success, The Big Short.

    Ratings for the other unnominated cast members?

    Bale: 4 (definitely his weaker performance of the year but he's still very effective in the role, nicely downplays with some effective old-school charisma and I liked his dynamic with Renner and Lawrence)
    Cooper: 3 (I've come to find this performance to be fine, just fine. I used to hate it but his erratic approach in the role has grown on me, it's nothing amazing but he's actually kind of funny in the scenes where he gets to show off)
    Adams: 2 (a wasted opportunity for the character, imagine if someone like Rose Byrne had taken on the role, she was also a wasted slot for 2013. Anyway, she's just mostly a bit awkward in the role, even if she is meant to be playing a character who's putting on a performance it doesn't seem convincing in the least, plus she has very little actual chemistry with Bale)
    Renner: 4.5 (truly great performance with the little material he has, very affecting and manages to make his 'corrupt' politician the most honest character in the film, I would not have minded if they had made him and Bale the focus of the film, with maybe Lawrence and Cooper in smaller capacities as more comic side reliefs)
    Louis C.K.: 3 (liked his comical deadpan style and thought he made the ending to his and Cooper's character quite satisfying)
    De Niro: 4 (I could go up actually as this is actually a pretty brilliant one-scene wonder, he oozes menace and also has a certain dark comic edge to this menace)
    Huston: 3 (I found him very sweet and charming in a very old-fashioned sort of way, had nothing to do basically but did not mind his scenes with Lawrence at all)
    Pena: 3 (like Huston, had nothing to do, but I quite liked him in his crucial scene where I found him both rather funny and endearing)
    Everyone else was okay but just okay.

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  2. Also your ratings for the other David O'Russell films you've seen and their unnominated cast members? He's such a mixed director for me (I want to see Three Kings and Flirting with Disaster)

    I Heart Huckabees (3/5)
    Schwartzman: 2.5
    Law: 2.5
    Watts: 3.5
    Wahlberg: 4
    Tomlin: 3
    Hoffman: 3
    Huppert: 2.5

    The Fighter (4/5)
    Wahlberg: 4
    Bale: 5
    Adams: 2
    Leo: 4
    McGee: 3.5
    O'Keefe: 3
    The sisters: 2.5

    Silver Linings Playbook (4.5/5)
    Cooper: 4.5
    Lawrence: 4
    De Niro: 3.5
    Weaver: 2.5
    Tucker: 3.5
    Ker, Oritz, Wigham, Stiles: 3

    Joy (4/5)
    Lawrence: 4.5
    De Niro: 2.5
    Cooper: 3.5
    Ramirez: 2.5
    Ladd: 3
    Rossellini: 3
    Rohm: 1.5
    Madsen: 1.5

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    Risposte
    1. Wow a 2 for Adams in both The Fighter and American Hustle? Didn't expect that. Anyway I've yet to see I Heart Huckabees and Joy.

      The Fighter (4/5):

      McGee - 3
      O'Keefe - 3
      The sisters - 2.5

      Silver Linings Playbook (4.5/5):

      A 3 for everyone you mentioned outside of the nominated ones. Stiles and Tucker are rather funny and they could go up on a rewatch.

      American Hustle (4/5):

      Jeremy Renner - 4.5 (He's simply heartbreaking in the role and he gives a properly passionate and charismatic performance. He is the movie's most affecting character and this is thanks to his emotionally honest work)

      Robert De Niro - 4 (A great one scene wonder and he's properly threatening and menacing in the role. He builds up the tension of his single scene wonderfully)

      Louis C.K. - 3.5 (He doesn't have much to do but he's consistently funny in the role and makes the most out of it)

      Pena - 2.5 (Not bad but I found him completely unimpressive)

      Huston - 3 (Like you properly said he's pretty charming in the role despite not having much to do)

      Elimina
    2. I actually love Adam when she's on her A-game like in Enchanted, Doubt, The Master, Big Eyes. Unfortunately when she misses she misses big-time for me.

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  3. I'm surprised. Not that you liked her, but that you enjoyed American Hustle. I found it to be a boring mess and I certainly would like Lawrence's performance more in a better film, she's not bad at all.

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    Risposte
    1. I get the hate that American Hustle sometimes gets, but I think it's very entertaining. A couple of years ago I was even rooting for it to win Best Picture.

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