A Dangerous Method

[ericadawn16]

Even though it's only playing in St. Pete and Oldsmar, today I got to see A Dangerous Method.

It was SO GOOD.

Of course, Viggo Mortensen and Michael Fassbender are always good but I was concerned when I heard Keira Knightley would have a Russian accent. I saw the 2002 Doctor Zhivago and thought she was horrible.

However, that was twelve years ago and in this film, she was AMAZING!

Truly, she nailed every aspect of her character. Her accent was accurate and didn't waver. Her actions were unlike herself. Even the expressions were such that I couldn't remember her using before.

There came a time, and this is the perfect compliment for an actor, that I forgot who was playing the character because she became the character and wasn't Keira or Elizabeth anymore.

Mom and I are incredibly disappointed that she didn't receive more attention from this. It should have been her Black Swann. I hope she is able to have that respect in the future but she and Orlando both seemed doomed to be underestimated.

It was also fascinating because it is a period film and real people with complicated emotions and driving forces behind their actions. Don't go expecting a lot of Viggo. This is really more about Keira's character and her journey of self discovery which bought the two men together and apart.

Comments

[darklight90.livejournal.com]

This sounds really good! Also, Keira is sadly underrated, probably no thanks to mainstream stamps most of her movies get labelled with. But she is such a talent <3

[sea_thoughts]

She got some recognition for The Duchess but it's weird that her only Oscar nom to date is for Pride and Prejudice. I love that film and I love her in it, but she's done amazing work since then and the Academy doesn't seem to have notice.

Sometimes I wonder if people are punishing them from being in the PotC films. :/

[jackdavfan692.livejournal.com]

You know, I've never heard of that movie until now =/! Come to think of it, I haven't heard much about her, Viggo's (except of course The Road), or Orlando's current or newly-finished/in production projects at all. The three of them seemed to have slipped below the radar, so to speak, Orlando in particular, though I know he was in the most recent version of "The Three Musketeers".

I hope she is able to have that respect in the future but she and Orlando both seemed doomed to be underestimated.

I agree with you on this :(. *Nods * I personally thought Orlando was excellent in both Kingdom Of Heaven & Haven, the latter especially, and Keira was brilliant in The Duchess (my mom and I saw that a month or so ago on TV late one night). It's a shame, really, because both of them, when given the right roles and scripts, can really shine :(.

sea_thoughts- I wouldn't say they've so much been punished for being in the first three POTC films, but rather, that the highly mainstream, "for the masses" nature of those movies resulted in people identifying them with the style/genre of said films. Because of that, more discerning (or snotty, if you prefer) critics & filmgoers dismissed the two of them almost immediately, despite relatively early, at least IMO, proof that they could give good performances in more "serious" films, e.g. Orlando in Haven and Keira in Pride And Prejudice. I suspect that's a common problem for young unknown actors whose first big break happens in epic, action-packed, (sometimes) plot-thin, mainstream movies. Another perfect example of it is Leonardo DiCaprio. Before he was cast as the male lead in Titanic, he got a lot of what some would call "serious" roles in "serious" films. After landing the above role? It wasn't until, probably, Gangs Of New York five years later, that he started receiving "serious" roles again, and those are the type he's gotten ever since, even in so-called action movies like Inception and Shutter Island.

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

That's really weird about Viggo because I always thought it seemed like he had been well-respected since LOTR. He was nominated for an Oscar in 2008. He won an Icon award from Empire magazine in 2009. He was nominated for a Golden Globe for A Dangerous Method. His movies are consistently well-reviewed.

Then again, Viggo has that elusive quality of not caring whether he's a superstar which just makes people want him more.

Orlando was brilliant in Haven although I think Keira's performance in A Dangerous Method is better. The Duchess was okay but didn't really show off her talent. I didn't feel she was pushed in it like here.

Actually, I've been wondering if it was a Star Wars curse. Except for Alec Guinness and Samuel L. Jackson, no one who appears in Star Wars seems to be taken seriously again, or at the very least, not for 5-9 years in the case of Natalie Portman and Liam Neeson. For Ewan McGregor, it was just two but he's special. Keira's sentence should have been up in 2008 or 2009 which actually fits with her nominations/awards for Atonement. I guess we just hang in there and regular people will see it.

Actually, what I find amusing is people not remembering Johnny Depp. You see, he was in 21 Jump Street. He was the pretty boy; the Orlando Bloom of his day so he quit to do films. They did okay. People liked him. Some critics did but it didn't last. He had a devoted fanbase...sound familiar...but everyone else sort of...got over him. By 2002, ten years later, they didn't want to cast him because he was box office poison.

The same thing happened to Katherine Hepburn.

The main thing with Orlando is that he needs to stop doing American accents. I get a little disappointed each time it comes out of his mouth because it's usually the southern one or a deviation of it. I just feel like he could do more.

[artic-fox.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you liked it. I really want to see the film.

Also, I've never thought of Keira as underrated. Maybe she is in America, but in the UK, she is pretty well known and respected. I think the idea of 'underrated' gets confused with people who don't really like her - of which there are a vocal few. I mean, she is an Oscar nominee afterall - how underrated can she be? :)

[ericadawn16.livejournal.com]

Well, I knew Empire has always loved her and Orlando but I didn't want to base the opinions of a whole country on one magazine.

Even though she was an Oscar nominee, it still seems like her films don't get a lot of press over here. When they do, it's usually her co-stars that get the praise and most of the mention.