elixir's 25 favorite actors*

[elixir]

*and watching their unseen films throughout, thus ensuring this thread can last forever

I don't want to go into too long of a spiel. There are lots of cinephiles who say acting doesn't matter. Then they simply put the word "acting" into other forms -- presence, personality, etc. I don't even disagree with it. It just seems like a big attempt, understandable enough, to get away from the praise of ACTING which is something those philistines engage with alone without thinking of a film's form! Anyway, I'm interested in movement, bodies, faces, the moments between speaking, the way personalities evolved. So I guess I'm interested in acting sometimes. I won't say bad acting doesn't ever bother me, but I'm open to different kinds of performance modes. Like, Cody Horn is good in Magic Mike. The main girl in Showgirls gives a good performance. I dunno. I fall in love with people. Good acting in a bad film doesn't really matter for me. That woman in Requiem for a Dream is good, I suppose, but that movie still sucks, so whatever. This has gone on too long. I'll explain more when I get to individual entries. I hope some of them are interesting to you.

First, some apologies to 15 I leave behind, numbers 26-40 (unordered):
Anatoli Solonitsyn
Jean-Louis Trintignant
Mia Farrow
Isabelle Huppert
Isaach De Bankolé
Julie Delpy
Marie Riviere
Gregoire Colin
Jérémie Rénier
Katherine Hepburn
Orson Welles
Chloë Sevigny
Philippe Marlaud
Giulietta Masina
Liv Ullmann

I probably forgot someone. Oh well. Onward!

List:
25. Arsinée Khanjian
24. Pierre Clémenti
23. Julianne Moore
22. Mireille Perrier
21. Marcello Mastroianni
20. Vincent Gallo
19. Bulle Ogier

[elixir]

25. Arsinée Khanjian
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb187/ears550/ArsineacuteeKhanjian_zps0b9357 22.png

Seen In:
The Adjuster (1991)
Calendar (1993)
Exotica (1994)
Irma Vep (1996)
The Sweet Hereafter (1997)
Late August, Early September (1998)
Fat Girl (2001)

Normally, my idea was to italicize "key roles" or some such notion with regards to each actor. I'm not sure one exists for her, at least out of the ones I've seen. That's not a bad thing. She is just consistently interesting in interesting roles (what use is a good actor if they choose shit films to be in?). Anyway, in case this isn't obvious, there will be lots of actors who are known for working with certain directors here, but that feels only natural given how I select viewing. So the obvious thing here are her roles with Atom Egoyan in the 90s (I still haven't seen a single of his 80s or 00s work--so this should be a kick in the butt to do so!), which he rocked btw, but he came ever so close to being overly schematic sometimes, but always was able to retain ambiguity (to different degrees) and often times Khanjian helped along with that. Her nervous driving in Fat Girl is also really cool, and she's also part of one of the most charming casts ever in Late August, Early September. (I thought I had a screenshot of her saved from that Assayas film, but alas I do not; I may try to find a better screenshot of her later.)

[elixir]

24. Pierre Clémenti
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb187/ears550/PierreClementi_zps6e9fd7a1.png

Seen In:
Belle de jour (1967)
Le lit de la vierge (1969)
The Conformist (1970)
The Inner Scar (1972)
Paris s'en va (1981)
Le Pont du Nord (1981)

The first line of this guy's imdb bio reads: "Was arrested in Rome for possession of LSD and cocaine in 1972." This is the least surprising thing ever. This guy has played Jesus. He's sort of sexy, in that weird creepy sort of way. You know. I guess I don't have much to say. I'm a good writer. This Pierre dude is in at least, like, 10 films I am intensely interested in seeing. I promise further entries will be better.

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

24. Pierre Clémenti
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb187/ears550/PierreClementi_zps6e9fd7a1.png

Seen In:
Belle de jour (1967)
Le lit de la vierge (1969)
The Conformist (1970)
The Inner Scar (1972)
Paris s'en va (1981)
Le Pont du Nord (1981)

The first line of this guy's imdb bio reads: "Was arrested in Rome for possession of LSD and cocaine in 1972." This is the least surprising thing ever. This guy has played Jesus. He's sort of sexy, in that weird creepy sort of way. You know. I guess I don't have much to say. I'm a good writer. This Pierre dude is in at least, like, 10 films I am intensely interested in seeing. I promise further entries will be better.

haha, 10 mins ago I checked this out and thought about posting "Pierre Clementi better be on this list". He would be top 10 for me. The prototype for James Franco :P

Although I don't really care for the film as whole, his performance in Partner is amazing. His own experimental films are pretty crazy.

[dreamdead]

I too went through a Khanjian phase. She has an innocence about her acting that works in wonderful counterpoint in Exotica especially. I need to see Fat Girl; thanks for reminding me of that need.

I remember being quite impressed with Assayas's film, but I've forgotten much of it since seeing it in '07... maybe a revisit is in order this summer. My memory suggests that Summer Hours improves in every way on LAES.

[transmogrifier]

If McConaughey is not on here, I worry for your safety on these forums, elixir, I really do. Israfel is already sharpening his blade.

[Watashi]

Jude Law is one of our finest young actors.

[Melville]

That woman in Requiem for a Dream is good, I suppose, but that movie still sucks, so whatever.
Nuts to that.

Interesting choices so far. I never would have thought of Arsinée Khanjian for a list like this.

[Boner M]

Ellen Burstyn as "that woman" :|

edit: unless it was Jennifer Connelly, which is still pretty :|

[elixir]

I know who she is; I just didn't feel like looking up how to spell her last name. Which is actually pretty easy to spell, huh.

Now I hate myself. THANKS BONER.

[Watashi]

Looks like elixir has a case of Madmanese.

[elixir]

Although I don't really care for the film as whole, his performance in Partner is amazing. His own experimental films are pretty crazy.
Yeah, I have one of them dl-ed; they look pretty rad.



I remember being quite impressed with Assayas's film, but I've forgotten much of it since seeing it in '07... maybe a revisit is in order this summer. My memory suggests that Summer Hours improves in every way on LAES.
I agree that SH is better, but I love that the other film still exits; a lovely and mature film that doesn't like force its way of being MATURE.


If McConaughey is not on here, I worry for your safety on these forums, elixir, I really do. Israfel is already sharpening his blade.
He's not, but I think Izzy will be fond of some choices that will show up on here.

[elixir]

23. Julianne Moore
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb187/ears550/704debd3-5db1-4897-b2c6-b0be0393d45e_zps7ed6595f.jpg

Seen In:
Short Cuts (1993)
Safe (1995)
Boogie Nights (1997)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Magnolia (1999)
Far From Heaven (2002)
Children of Men (2006)
Next (2007)
A Single Man (2009)
The Kids Are All Right (2010)
Crazy, Stupid, Love. (2011)

Surely someone has written about that quality Moore sometimes has in her roles. Fragile, as if the slightest fissure would rupture her very being into thousands of fragments. Or something. Look, all I know is that Safe is the scariest film of all time. There was a girl on my track team, who looked like the slightest insult would send her bursting into tears. More than anything, including sympathy, I just felt uncomfortable being around her. Crack. In Safe, I just constantly feel like she's about to crack, and the world with it. That speech she is forced to make towards the end, my God. Now maybe only Haynes can tap into this quality in a potent and convincing manner, since though I like the film a lot, I'm just not sure it works in Magnolia. Clearly she's not like this in all of her roles, at all, which is a good thing, but it's somehow the thing I prize most. Sometimes you cringe because of bad acting, yet you can also do so because it's so damn good. Thank you for making me uncomfortable at times, Julianne.

[elixir]

22. Mireille Perrier
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb187/ears550/Screencaps/shespentsomanyhoursunderthesun lamps/a7bfe7b2-7803-4ce6-ae3f-a4f2fe148dcc_zpsfc162765.jpg

Seen In:
Boy Meets Girl (1984)
Elle a passé tant d'heures sous les sunlights... (1985)
Mauvais sang (1986)
J'entends plus la guitare (1991)
Orly (2010)

The one-two punch of her 1984 and 1985 starring roles makes me want to put her higher. Ugh, she was so outrageously gorgeous and amazing. There's a lurking intensity to her in those films, an undeniable pull that radiates beyond her mere beauty, which pulls one--well, me at least--into her orbit. I cannot resist it! I don't remember her in the later Carax film, and she lends only support for the other two roles (though she's fine enough in them), but these two performances alone secures her a spot in my filmic heart.

[elixir]

21. Marcello Mastroianni
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb187/ears550/38e8f054-8d71-411d-88cb-d0b69f2cf4ee_zpsfd090605.jpg

Seen In:
La dolce vita (1960)
8½ (1963)
Ginger and Fred (1986)
The Beekeeper (1986)

One of the coolest cats ever. I should see more of his movies.

[elixir]

20. Vincent Gallo
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb187/ears550/vincentgallo_zps22fc5b77.png

Seen In:
US Go Home (1994)
Nénette et Boni (1996)
Buffalo '66 (1998)
Trouble Every Day (2001)
The Brown Bunny (2003)
Essential Killing (2010)

Before I had actully seen a film with Vincent Gallo in it, based on what I heard of the guy, I assumed him to be tough, menacing, and a total douche even in his roles. Now, some of those traits may be somewhat true, in different forms, though he is pretty benign in the first two Denis films he is in, charmingly so even. But what I didn't get, and then did upon viewing, was how awkward and fumbling he could be, and how super sensitive and wound up, especially in the films he directed (reminder that this dude should release his latest films for fans like me who want to see it!). It seems like his eyes are always about to dart, so when they hold...I really don't know anything about his personal life or why people hate him or whatever, but his presence in a film never fails to enrapture me so I can't help but love Mr. Gallo for that.

[elixir]

19. Bulle Ogier
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb187/ears550/bulleogier_zps1bae3afd.png

Seen In:
L'amour fou (1969)
Out 1, noli me tangere (1971)
Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974)
Duelle (une quarantaine) (1976)
Paris s'en va (1981)
Le Pont du Nord (1981)
Irma Vep (1996)
All the Fine Promises (2003)

I realize more and more that it's hard for me to describe why I like any actor (even as I recognized more and more how absurd ranking them is, but y'know, whatevs). I guess I think the partnership b/w Rivette and Ogier is one of my favorite is because, on one level, Rivette's films operate on a level of silly fun and perpetual intrigue that no other director has ever really matched for me (aside from Joe, perhaps...though in a different way...and this is something I want to write about later...lol). It made me sad to see earlier, in the FDT, about some people finding Rivette boring and stuff, since to me he just is super exciting and Ogier herself is just someone I can't tear my eyes away from particularly; Duelle was one of my first Rivettes and I remember always wishing her character was on screen, I mean that scene pictured is just burned into my brain, but perhaps even more so is the whole scene where her and her lover tear apart their bedroom in L'amour fou, which snapped into clarity my true appreciation for the film at that point. It's weird, she looks so young in that film, and then already much older (relatively) by the time she is in Le Pont du Nord. I don't know why I'm saying that. Okay.

[TripZone]

Olgier <3

[elixir]

18. Alex Descas
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb187/ears550/alexdescas_zps16b47f16.png

Seen In:
No Fear, No Die (1990)
I Can't Sleep (1994)
Irma Vep (1996)
Late August, Early September (1998)
Trouble Every Day (2001)
L'intrus (2004)
Boarding Gate (2007)
35 rhums (2008)
The Limits of Control (2009)

It's Claire Denis's 65th birthday, so. (Happy birthday, Claire Denis! I love you!) He is an important collaborator with her, obviously. In an interview about 35 rhums, Denis says, "I would not make the film without him. I think that Alex Descas always has a past, don’t you? It’s like he brings an inside story to his characters." I do agree, that through his physicality he is able to be really suggestive of an interior state. Subtle enough, without being too coy. He seems smart, but I can't confirm that. For some reason, in regards to the famous "Nightshift" scene, the image I remember most is when he grabs the hand of the waitress(?). It should be pretty creepy. But I guess this guy is cool so it comes off as not so desperate. There was a point to that. Anyway, that role is definitely my favorite of his; there's just so much too it but with so much of that lying in the realm of suggestion (yet not just through projection onto blankness). Swell actor!

[elixir]

17. Ben Gazzara
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb187/ears550/d88db0ed-d09a-4c95-8b85-b1982db7143a_zps7cd64781.jpg

Seen In:
Anatomy of a Murder (1959)
Husbands (1979)
The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976)
Opening Night (1977)
The Big Lebowski (1998)
Buffalo '66 (1998)
Dogville (2003)

real talk his Bookie performance is among the best ever if you disagree you are wrong

[elixir]

16. Sandrine Bonnaire
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb187/ears550/sb_zpsc52a5913.png

Seen In:
À nos amours (1983)
Vagabond (1985)
Police (1985)
Under the Sun of Satan (1987)

I don't know why I find this woman so alluring since I don't find her particularly attractive or anything but I still just want to like have intimate talks with her not even relations just some intimate talks and in fact we can just look at each other and that would be okay, and then I would compliment her dimples. Maybe she'd smile.

[elixir]

15. Sabine Timoteo
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb187/ears550/st_zps90d55ce3.png

Seen In:
L'amour, l'argent, l'amour (2000)
The Days Between (2001)
The Friend of Friends (2002)
Gespenster (2005)
The Free Will (2006)

Dearest Sabine: You are one of the only actresses who can make me watch a film I may not have otherwise been interested in, to a large degree. Let's be real, Graf's '02 flick is pretty shitty. And I was hestitant to watch The Free Will because I didn't think it was for me, and it wasn't, but you were pretty great in it, even if the screams at the end weren't wholly convincing, but that could be more the film to blame. Anyway, I spoke earlier in this thread--which surely you are reading, yeah?--about the time between speaking, the expressiveness that can reside within silence. This is the quality I most adore in your acting, in which your very being is of total essence with the film's frame, in a way that just astonishes me. May it have many more chances to do, when more films of yours get uploaded onto KG!

[elixir]

A Note on Philippe Marlaud
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb187/ears550/pm_zps5db00c80.png
I don't think it's presumptuous to assume this name means pretty much nothing to most of you. When you all crossed his name when you stared at my unnumbered 26-40 list in the first post intensively, of course. He's not prolific or famous and I don't think even the most French-inclined cinephiles would say, "you don't know the actor Philippe Marlaud?!?!" That would be pretty obnoxious anyway, huh. I've seen him in just two films, Graduate First and The Aviator's Wife. These are what you would call "growers" for me. I adored both upon completion, but in the months since viewing them (the Pialat I saw over a year ago; the Rohmer was more recent) I have come to seen them as amongst my most favorite films. After finishing The Aviator's Wife, I went to Marlaud's page since I really liked him, and the first thing I read on his imdb page is: "Died from burns suffered after camping tent caught fire near Bormes-les-Mimosas, France" and then I scrolled down to see the date was "August 18, 1981 (age 22)" and maybe I was vulnerable but it made me genuinely sad. I don't think this will make me see the films differently when I view them or anything. I mean, he's not even a capital-G Great actor exactly, but as I was explaining in some of my entries, his presence just does something for me. Gregoire Colin is also like that, albeit in a different way. What is this note about. I'll probably continue searching for Marlaud's other two roles for decades and they will probably never appear anywhere. So sometimes I can like actors I guess.

[elixir]

14. Juliet Berto
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb187/ears550/bfafedf8-5cdb-44be-ae49-6255aab42a4d_zpsb84332bc.jpg

Seen In:
Week End (1967)
La chinoise (1967)
Le gai savoir (1969)
Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974)
Duelle (une quarantaine) (1976)
Out 1, noli me tangere (2006)

Juliet Berto is one of the two main players in what is one of my absolute favorite scenes in all of Out 1. It's when she thinks the papers she has really gives her some leverage against this potential secret organization, but comes up clearly outmatched by the more experience person she is attempting to extort/blackmail/something (acted by Françoise Fabian). I felt honestly embarrassed, yet also impressed, by how fierce her naivete in that scene was, and was strucky how fucking hilarious it was. She's just too awesome, even (especially?) when she's playing uncool.

[elixir]

I really should be doing my homework.

[Kurious Jorge v3.1]

14. Juliet Berto
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb187/ears550/bfafedf8-5cdb-44be-ae49-6255aab42a4d_zpsb84332bc.jpg

Seen In:
Week End (1967)
La chinoise (1967)
Le gai savoir (1969)
Celine and Julie Go Boating (1974)
Duelle (une quarantaine) (1976)
Out 1, noli me tangere (2006)

Juliet Berto is one of the two main players in what is one of my absolute favorite scenes in all of Out 1. It's when she thinks the papers she has really gives her some leverage against this potential secret organization, but comes up clearly outmatched by the more experience person she is attempting to extort/blackmail/something (acted by Françoise Fabian). I felt honestly embarrassed, yet also impressed, by how fierce her naivete in that scene was, and was strucky how fucking hilarious it was. She's just too awesome, even (especially?) when she's playing uncool.

yes!

[Pop Trash]

This list needs more French chicks.

[elixir]

13. Lee Kang-Sheng
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb187/ears550/lks_zpsf458f31e.png

Seen In:
Rebels of the Neon God (1992)
Vive l'amour (1994)
The River (1997)
The Hole (1998)
What Time Is It There? (2001)
The Skywalk is Gone (2002)
Goodbye, Dragon Inn (2003)
The Wayward Cloud (2005)
I Don't Want to Sleep Alone (2006)
Walker (2012)

There's a lot of talk: re actors in terms of variation, how much that matters, etc. I'm fine, more than fine actually, with actors developing or rather showcasing theirs on-screen, and melding it to a specific film even if change from one to next isn't great. But I'm not even sure this is the right convo regarding this guy, as there exists quite a difference b/w, say, Vive l'amour and The Wayward Cloud. But the thing is, he's just, as I always thought upon finishing one of his films, the perfect avatar for Tsai's cinema. As much as I think of watermelons and dilapidated apartments, I think of his face. And yeah, I need to see to Visage.

[elixir]

yes!
Glad we share some loves.


This list needs more French chicks.
That's true of everything though. But don't worry, there are a few more, and even some of those who aren't French have starred in French films!

[elixir]

12. Jimmy Stewart
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb187/ears550/js_zps40d18dc5.png

Seen In:
After the Thin Man (1936)
Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939)
The Philadelphia Story (1940)
The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
The Rope (1948)
Rear Window (1954)
Vertigo (2003)
Anatomy of a Murder[ (2005)

Classic. Like, he's classic. Or a classic. He's total class, anyway. But there may be more classic Hollywood or just older actors in general in my viewing didn't unfortunately skew more modern, something I am trying to work on. Anyway, it seems from my view maybe his roles in the Hitchcocks are most prized (though also Mann???) and I definitely dig those, but I still enjoy his charm in my fav romcom The Shop Around the Corner but most especially I think his best work is actually in Capra's 1946 film, selling that despair and disgust so well it hurts, like it hurts me as a viewer to watch. But in a good way. I keep forgetting his actual name is James.

[wigwam]

HKost >>>>>>>>>> AMann >>> Hitch as far as JStew goes

[elixir]

Those HKost films don't look very appealing to me. I will get to Mann.

[elixir]

11. Anna Karina
http://i206.photobucket.com/albums/bb187/ears550/ak_zpsc430d6c7.png

Seen In:
A Woman is a Woman (1961)
Vivre sa vie (1962)
Band of Outsiders (1964)
Alphaville (1965)
Pierrot le fou (1965)
Made in U.S.A. (1966)
The Nun (1966)
Up, Down, Fragile (1995)

sometimes entry-level shit is just the shit

[Winston*]

Those HKost films don't look very appealing to me.

If you are a fan of Jimmy Stewart, you really need to see Harvey.

[elixir]

If you are a fan of Jimmy Stewart, you really need to see Harvey.
Didn't realize he directed that. I do want to see it! I was referring mainly to his 60s films which wig posted about on another forum.

[elixir]

The Hours | Stephen Daldry | 2002 | [31] | Julianne Moore
http://i.imgur.com/gBLnTnQ.png
Yeah, let me tell you guys something, this is real profound. Portentous, too. It's so weird, but true, how women from different time periods and geographic locations (they are all white though--could this work with a poor person in Africa?) can be so similar and like going through all the same fears and hopes. In case you didn't realize this, and how it's linked to that famous Woolf book, I want to use some parallel editing, some matches on actions or whatever, so you can really sense the link. I'll make sure to explicate this all through dialogue, too. Remember: Dalloway. It's like you can illustrate a whole person's life in one day! It's so strange how kids can ask the damnest things, asking just what's on the minds of the older protagonists. So strange. (But seriously, that kid is so fucking strange.) So it's like you are feeling this emptiness, and you reach out, and still feel it, so when that door closes, let out your tears. Cry, and face life. Also, mention the title of the film twice, to really pull this into focus. (BTW, when the actual connection b/w characters is made in the plot...ughhhhhh.) Julianne Moore cries a lot. BISEXUALITY?! Jeff Daniels affecting gayness. But I have an idea to make this film stronger. Call it THE SOURS, and in each scene, have a character eating a lemon. I really think this film could have used some lemons.

[elixir]

The reviews will only get worse. I had planned to start them only once I finished the list, but I needed to watch this for class.