11 October 2009

Skandies: Best Performances of the Decade, #10



Daniel Day-Lewis, Gangs of New York
originally placed: #1, Supporting Actor, 2002.

8 comments:

Private Joker said...

I assume this means DDL's best performance of the decade is coming up later... perhaps in the top 5?

For me, Gangs was one of his weakest roles to date, and that's only relative because it's still an objectively very good performance. I just think his scenery chewing appeared more self-aggrandizing than usual and was almost distracting. In TWBB he is simply matching the majesty of PTA's tone.

Not that Scorsese doesn't know how to frame DDL's performance within the right context, but it's possible that in Gangs Marty just didn't care to dial him down. But that's Ed, I do need to see Gangs again because TWBB is fresher in my mind and feels more vivid. Bill the Butcher is a memorable character only because it's DDL being DDL; I don't necessarily imagine him as part of the fabric of Gangs the way Plainview is the fabric of TWBB.

msic said...

This means DDL is officially the Actor of the Decade (Living Division).

md'a said...

For me, Gangs was one of his weakest roles to date, and that's only relative because it's still an objectively very good performance.

Agreed. Not only did I not vote for it here, but I may not even have voted for him in '02—if I did it was certainly token points. (Depending on which category you want to put him in, I was stumping for AurĂ©lien Recoing or Chris Cooper.) Too showboaty for my taste given the context, as you say.

This means DDL is officially the Actor of the Decade (Living Division).

I'm just gonna say, not necessarily.

Brian said...

Showboating, maybe. But after having internalized Plainview so thoroughly, I have to say, this is blowing my mind a little bit.

Kza said...

My first thought for "Chair, not bed" was Joe Chrest from THE UNDERNEATH. Wrong decade, obviously, but that's where my mind first went. (He did sit in a chair, didn't he?)

bentclouds said...

I'm really surprised that this placed on the list at all. I assumed voters would throw all of their support behind just DDL's performance in THERE WILL BE BLOOD because it completely eclipses this performance.

Watching this clip, I'm not sure if the performance or film would work for me at all now. I should probably take another look and see.

DBB said...

My first/only thought for "chair, not bed" was Annie Hall.

Halfway through the Skandies, I want to see every movie listed so far again.

Except Far From Heaven.

Michael Casey said...

This could make an interesting experiment - suggest a trope in as few words as possible (chair not bed, driver not hood) and see what people think of first. Wonder how much overlap there'd be.