Saturday, September 5, 2009

My Five Favorite Performances in Inglourious Basterds

Given the high volume of incredible acting going on in Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, I figured I would eventually compile this list. As always, however, someone more fabulous than myself beat me to the punch. Emma showed us her list a few days ago and I thought I might as well get mine done to share with the world.

(As for the film, in case you're wondering, I really enjoyed it. A bit uneven tonally and I could have done without the whole Basterds segment--not because I was offended, mind you, but rather it was the least interesting thing going on--but it was still a ton of fun to watch. Inglourious Basterds felt almost like an early New Wave film with its willingness to just stop and have a conversation about the most inane things and get caught up in it's own playfulness. I guess the same could be said about the rest of Tarantino's filmography, but I digress. B)

5. Diane Kruger As a divalicious German film star, Kruger's Bridget von Hammersmark was totally up my alley right from the start. Luckily she did not disappoint with her Dietrich-esque double agent.

4. Michael Fassbender At first I barely recognized Fassbender since he wasn't emaciated and making me cringe with every shallow breath he took like he did in Hunger. But once I got over that initial shock, I was impressed by just how funny he was riffing on the stereotypical British "stiff upper lip" humour. Talk about doing it all--I'm excited to see what he does next.

3. Daniel Brühl Even while playing an Ally-killing Nazi, Brühl is still his normal charming, adorable self.

2. Mélanie Laurent Tarantino is obviously very deliberate with certain camera angles and shots that he's trying to make Laurent into his Uma, but Shosanna's revenge story is just as fascinating in it's own muted way. Plus that maniacal laugh at the end is the stuff nightmares are made of.

1. Christoph Waltz Everything you've heard about him and his performance is positively true. He's scarier than Anton Chigurh but also just as charming as Cary Grant. As frightening a contradiction as I've ever witnessed.

6 comments:

Andrew K. said...

Frightening contradiction indeed...although it would be scarier if it was Jimmy Stewart/Chigurh. Will see this tomorrow...I hope it lives up to the hype.

mB said...

Totally agree. Laurent & Waltz totally made it for me!

But I'm curious: thoughts on Roth? (ie. my least favorite part of IG)

Dame James said...

mB: Roth was fucking terrible--easily, along with Noah Cyrus in Ponyo, the worst performance of the year. I don't call bugging your eyes out and wheezing like an asthmatic child good acting. I would have loved to see someone like Mark Wahlberg in the role. He could have definitely had some fun with the role.

Monsieur Cinema said...

I can't wait to see this. 15 years in the making; that's all I'm saying.

Emma said...

Even though his character was a Nazi, I still found Daniel Brühl as lovable and sweet as ever... up until the point where he pushed the door against Shosanna. I just thought that was a very suddenly violent thing to do, and put me right off him!

Yay for Diane Kruger!

Anonymous said...

I believe up next Michael Fassbender is doing Jonah Hex with Josh Brolin, John Malkovich and Megan Fox (cringe). He is also supposed to be doing a film called 'The Sweeny'.