10. Gattaca (Andrew Niccoll, 1997)
Gattaca was
the film that brought Jude Law to my attention. This intelligent, thoughtful
sci-fi film is about a futuristic, genetically “perfect” society. In the film,
Law plays one of those genetically perfect people, who has become paralyzed
from the waist down in an accident, so he “sells” his identity to Ethan Hawke,
the film’s hero, who doesn’t have the genes required to fulfill his ambitions.
Law is very good in his supporting role – a man who knows he has been screwed
out of his “rightful” lot in life, and figures out a way to con the system.
This film showed that Law had real promise as an actor – a promise that he has
mainly fulfilled.
9. eXistenZ (David Cronenberg, 1999)
I often
wonder what actors make of material like David Cronenberg’s eXistenZ. They have
to know that making it all seem believable is almost going to be impossible.
After all, this is a movie where Law has to play a video game virgin, who ends
up licking the port in the small of Jennifer Jason Leigh’s back where the
controller plugs in, and explains that it’s just his game character doing it,
not him. Or, where he has to eat the most disgusting looking fish I’ve ever
seen in a movie, and then make a gun that fires teeth, out of the skeleton. The
only way to make material like this work is to fully embrace it – take the
chance that you may end up looking like an idiot, and go for it. And Law does
that, and that helps to make eXistenZ an interesting movie. It’s not one of
Cronenberg’s very best films, but it’s interesting – and should probably be
more highly regarded than it is.
8. Contagion (Steven Soderberh, 2011)
The only
real villain in Steven Soderbergh’s Contagion is the virus that kills millions
of people itself. But if there is a secondary villain, it would be Jude Law’s opportunistic
blogger – who encourages wide spread panic, only so he can capitalize on it. Law’s
subplot is one of two – the other being the baffling Marion Cotillard subplot –
in the movie that seems to be connected to the rest of the movie. You could
have easily cut Law out of the movie, and it may have been an even stronger
film. And yet, Law is so good as at playing this morally reprehensible
character, that I’m glad they didn’t do that. He looks like an idiot wandering
around in his hazmat suit, but Law plays this role as well as it could be
played. It may not belong in the movie, but that doesn’t mean Law isn’t great
in the role nonetheless.
7. Sleuth (Kenneth Branagh, 2007)
Kenneth
Branagh’s Sleuth was criminally neglected back in 2007. It isn’t a great film,
but it certainly deserved more attention that it received. The screenplay was
written by the great Harold Pinter, who takes the famous Sleuth’s original
plot, and gives it his own touch. Pinter doesn’t seem too interested in the
mystery of Sleuth – perhaps because he knows anyone interested in the movie
would already know the solution. So instead, Pinter gives Michael Caine
(playing the Laurence Olivier role) and Law (playing the Michael Caine role)
such wonderful dialogue to delve into. The film is essentially one long, cruel,
verbal chess game between these two men, who hate each other, and try to
constantly to one up each other – I doubt either one of them gives a shit about
the woman they are supposedly arguing over, they just want to win. Yes, Michael
Caine has the better role – and delivers the better performance. But Law holds
his own – which against Caine in top form, is saying something.
6. Road to Perdition (Sam Mendes, 2002)
In Road to
Perdition, Law plays an extremely creepy little man – with pale skin, rotting
teeth and receding hairline, Law is miles away from his usual sex symbol self –
and it works. He plays a crime scene photographer, who has crossed over to
actually committing crimes – as a hired assassin. Law’s character isn’t given
the depth of Paul Newman’s brilliant supporting turn, or Tom Hanks as the main character,
but Law’s work here does precisely what it is supposed to do – creep the
audience out, and give them a true portrait of evil. A wonderful performance by
Law playing against type.
5. Closer (Mike Nichols, 2004)
To a certain
extent, both Law and Julia Roberts, who are supposedly the leads in Closer, are
overshadowed in by Clive Owen and Natalie Portman who play the two key
supporting roles. And while it’s true that Owen and Portman are brilliant in
the film – richly deserving of the Oscar nominations they received – Law is
excellent in his own way. He plays a shallow, superficial London writer –
slumming it writing obituaries, until he meets Portman, and then writes a novel
about their relationship – and then he meets Roberts, when getting his book jacket
cover taken, and on and on. Perhaps the reason why people think Law was
overshadowed by the rest of the cast is because while he isn’t a nice guy – and
never truly loves anyone, despite how often he proclaims he does – Law’s Dan
just cannot compete with the rest of these people in terms of how despicable
their behavior becomes. He is out of his league. But Law plays this role
precisely how it should be played – the stupid schmuck doesn’t know what hit
him.
4. A.I. (Steven Spielberg, 2001)
If I read it
once, I read it a thousand times – critics claiming that Haley Joel Osment’s
David, the cute little boy Mecha designed to love was a classic Spielberg
creation, whereas as Gigolo Joe – played by Law – a mecha designed to have sex,
was pure Stanley Kubrick – who originated the project. Apparently, that was all
hogwash, but it hardly matters for Law’s performance. It has to be hard to play
a robot – especially one like Law’s Gigolo Joe, who isn’t programmed to have
human feelings like David – but is essentially a life sized vibrator. But Law
nails it. This is an interesting performance by Law – he moves like Fred
Astaire or Gene Kelly – and does “feel” something for young David. But he is
still just a robot – programmed to do what he does and little else. It’s hard
performing these types of roles, but Law does it as good as anyone.
3. The Talented Mr. Ripley (Anthony
Minghella, 1999)
Law received
a richly deserved Oscar nomination for his performance as Dickie Greenleaf in
Anthony Minghella’s excellent adaptation of a great Patricia Highsmith novel.
Dickie is everything the title character – played in an even better performance
by Matt Damon – both hates and wants to become. Dickie is rich, good-looking
and charming – everyone loves Dickie, and when he talks to you, he makes you
feel important. But Dickie, it must be said, is also a complete asshole – which
Law makes perfectly clear. He doesn’t deserve what he gets, yet still there is
something satisfying about it when Law’s Dickie, who so casually and cruelly
discards Ripley, gets precisely what Ripley thinks he has coming to him. And
Law nails that tricky mixture – between someone you want to be, and someone you
want to kill.
2. I Heart Huckabees (David O. Russell,
2004)
Strangely, I
compare Law’s performance in I Heart Huckabees to his role in The Talented Mr.
Ripley – even though the two films could not possibly be more different. David
O. Russell’s comedy is one of the strangest creations of the past decade – a
comedy about a loser (Jason Schwartzman), who believes something strange is
going on, so he hires two existential detectives to follow him and figure out
what. Schwartzman’s job, as an environmentalist, brings him into contact with
Law’s Brad – who works for the department store chain Huckabees. Brad and
Huckabees doesn’t give a shit about the environment, but knows it’s bad PR to
admit that, so he jumps on board with Schwartzman’s crusade – and pretty soon
has all the credit to himself. Brad is similar to Dickie Greenleaf because he
is precisely the person that you simultaneously want to be – he’s rich, good
looking, charming and everyone loves him – and that you cannot stand – because
he’s rich, good looking, charming and everyone loves him. And both receive their
comeuppance as well – but Brad’s doesn’t involve a boat oar, just vomit. A
deliriously, strangely funny movie – and a great performance by Law.
1. Cold Mountain (Anthony Mingella, 2003)
I have a lot
of problems with Anthony Minghella’s Cold Mountain – and they almost all
involve Renee Zellweger’s extremely grating, annoying (and yet somehow Oscar
winning) performance – and none involve Law. I seem to be in the minority on
that, this movie – clearly split into two parts, the first being home on Cold
Mountain itself with Nicole Kidman, a hopeless city girl, trying to run the
family farm and needing the pluck of Zellweger to do it and the second,
involving Law as he wanders home from the Civil War (as a Confederate
deserter) seems to have more people praising
the Kidman/Zellweger part (which I didn’t like very much) instead of the Law
part (which I loved). As Law tries desperately to get back to the woman he
loves – but barely knows – he comes across a series of strange characters –
many of whom threaten to upstage him, but never does. Personally, I would love
to see a version of Cold Mountain that is just about Law coming back from the
war – jettison the rest of the crap, but the star here is Law – so although
Cold Mountain is a hugely problematic film for me, it still contains Jude Law’s
best work to date.
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