RIP, Philip Seymour Hoffman

Another great one gone too soon.

Her/Him

TIME Magazine: Great Performances of 2013

To celebrate this Awards Season, TIME Magazine has portraits of 11 actors

who appeared in 2012 films that captured key moments in history,

and several of whom portrayed real-life people.  The photos were taken

by fashion photographer Paola Kudacki. 

 

Some of the photos are posted below but to see the full feature click here.

Video interviews of the actors can also be view through TIME

 

 

Sally Field (Lincoln)

 

Philip Seymour Hoffman (The Master)

 

Naomi Watts (The Impossible)

 

Jessica Chastain (Zero Dark Thirty)

 

Amy Adams (The Master)

 

Hugh Jackman and Anne Hathaway (Les Miserables)

Jack Goes Boating

I was pleasantly surprised to see Rent alum Daphne Rubin-Vega reprise her role in the screen adaptation of the play Jack goes Boating. She plays the wife of Clyde (John Ortiz, also reprising his role) who is best friends with Philip Seymour Hoffman's character Jack. Oscar nominee Amy Ryan is Jack's love interest Connie. This is Seymour Hoffman's directorial debut. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and will be released in September 2010.

Unsure

One can't resist having high expectations going to a movie like Doubt. With its powerhouse cast of Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and an unforgettable Viola Davis, it delivers its promise of seeing excellent thespians at work. But if you were fortunate enough to have seen the original stage version, then the film might leave you a little disappointed.

John Patrick Shanley's award-winning play is about a progressive priest suspected of sexual abuse in a Bronx Catholic school in the 1960s and the unyielding school principal intent to prove his guilt. I enjoyed watching Ms. Streep stomp around chewing up the scenery and do battle with Ms. Adams and Mr. Hoffman. I secretly wished though that Tony-nominated Brian F. O'Byrne had been cast as the embattled priest instead. (Some might say Meryl's authoritarian Sister Aloysius was over the top, but in the fourth grade, my homeroom teacher was a nun who actually pulled some of my misbehaving male classmates' hair or even push them down to the ground AS she pulled their hair. I guess that's why there are stereotypes.)

In the stage version, I truly vacillated and left the theatre still unsure about what happened. The playwright let the audience decide. I thought the movie was less ambiguous, diminishing the story's power. The play was one act, with four actors. Here in the film, you get to see the students and Father Flynn's interaction with them, so you immediately form an opinion about his guilt or innocence.

The scene with the boy's mother remains as heartrending as ever, a star turn for Ms. Davis. It is a mother willing to make dubious sacrifices to ensure that her son will go on to a better life. Another story of the downtrodden accepting their lot in life. Ms. Streep looked properly horrified, unwilling and unable to believe what she was hearing from this parent. Ms. Adams as Sister James was effectively timid and deferential to her school principal.

It was fascinating to see the battles of the sexes inside the Catholic Church, and there are some comedic moments courtesy of Sister Aloysius. One scene I found incongruous was when Fr. Flynn was talking about gossip, and Mr. Shanley (who wrote the screenplay and directed the film adaptation) made the choice to actually show the feathers flying all around representing the effects of gossip. That sermon was potent enough on its own. I didn't need the visuals.

Savages, savages

The Savages is a sad, funny and unsentimental look at family dynamics. What happens when the children become the parent's caregiver? Philip Seymour Hoffman and Laura Linney play siblings forced to deal with their estranged father's declining health. Philip Bosco is their cantankerous and abusive father, Leonard Savage. Wendy is an aspiring playwright, a lying, pill-popping adulterer. Jon is a college theater (of social unrest---!) professor writing a book on Brecht. His girlfriend has to go back to Poland when her visa expires because he refuses to marry her.
The interaction between brother- sister/children-father is fascinating and painful to watch because the characters are so human. And the issues they are forced to deal with are real. The extremely well-written story hits close to home. No sappy deathbed scenes or emotional reconciliations here though. But the ending is most satisfactory. Excellent performances all around. Laura Linney and Philip Seymour Hoffman can do no wrong.

The only downside is the title brings up memories of a song from Pocahontas :(