George Clooney it has been the multifaceted ideal of a movie star for so long that it is difficult to remember a time when its presence on the big screen was most characterized by playing the Caped Crusader in a comically terrible film. Even now that box office results have been wiped out by the pandemic, there are few actors who perfectly embody the notion of what it is to be an old-fashioned movie star like Clooney. His 100-year-old smile, elegant style and public look that often resembles Cary Grant’s masculinity ensured that Clooney reached an old-fashioned note of fame, even at a time when film stardom was fading.
It is a credit to Clooney that his fame on the big screen has not collapsed in the past four years, during which time he has not appeared in a film. Although he appeared in Hulu’s adaptation of Catch-22, the last film in which Clooney appeared was the 2016 drama Money Monster. (It’s been just over three years since he directed a film, the withered black comedy Suburbicon.) Finally, Clooney is back in the new Netflix sci-fi drama The midnight sky, which he also directed. But from the beginning, it’s clear that this is not the dashing Clooney who appeared in films like The Monuments Men or Michael Clayton. With neatly trimmed hair and a thick white beard, the libertine and charming George Clooney almost disappears in The midnight sky and is replaced by someone more quiet and meek.
On the one hand, it is a sign of an effective executor. On the other hand, watching George Clooney play so strongly against the guy is kind of disappointing to watch. George Clooney who is appearing on talk shows to publicize this Netflix movie, the one who laughs at the pranks he played on his castmates or describes how, yes, he cuts his own hair with a Flowbee for years – this is George Clooney, who stayed away from cinema for a long time. (You can argue that the last time it is George Clooney raised his head as an adjunct in Alfonso Cuaron’s science fiction film Gravity.)
That Clooney may well have been on set, but he was backstage. The midnight sky it is a sadly turgid affair, overloaded with a slow plot, talented actors trapped in space suits and speaking in a low voice, and a truly ridiculous conclusion. It also doesn’t help that Clooney is just one of the two biggest movie stars this month who appear in genre films in which they must help a mysterious young woman find her way home and, in so doing, learn valuable truths about themselves . The other star and film are Tom Hanks and World News, which may not be great, but it is much better than The midnight sky.
This month also marks an important birthday for George Clooney, in which he began an infrequent collaboration with filmmakers who initially helped him form his own director eye. In 1998, he made his first appearance in a Steven Soderbergh film, the notable Out of sight. But it wasn’t until 2000 that he starred in a film by Joel and Ethan Coen, the exuberant comic musical farce. Brother, where are you? The film turned out to be another comprehensive success for the Coens (arriving a few years after their just celebrated neo-noir Fargo) thanks to the huge popularity of the bluegrass soundtrack that permeates each scene.
20 years later, this soundtrack still represents a good part of what it does Brother, where are you? so nice. But Clooney was still a somewhat uncertain presence in cinema in 2000. On the one hand, he starred in Out of sight and David O. Russell Three Kings. On the other hand, he also starred in forgettable dishes like The peacemaker and Have a nice day. And yet, it is the strongest asset in the The brother. Like Ulysses Everett McGill, Clooney is the disheveled and charming center of a trio of inmates who have fled in hopes of returning to their respective homes. Everett, as he is known, is accompanied by Pete (John Turturro) and Delmar (Tim Blake Nelson) on their home odyssey. (The film is based on Homer Odyssey, a slightly more accurate descriptor than saying that Fargo based on a real story.)
Everett has a “gift of the word” that is described, which is Coen’s trademark and more of a curse than a gift. (Which is, by itself, Besides that a trademark of Coen.) Everett knows how to speak and speak quickly, but he rarely finds the right words to express himself in a way that helps him. Like many Coen clues, he finds the same type of phrase to repeat ad hominem, “Damn it! We are in a difficult situation! ”To” I’m in good faith! ” All Everett wants is to go home to his wife Penny (Holly Hunter) and his three daughters, but as soon as he reunites with them, they seem to want nothing to do with him, and Penny went ahead and got a new boyfriend. who It’s genuine. “He is one suitor! ”Intoned the girls with a cheerful charm, which only serves to further confuse Everett.
Undoubtedly, the Coens’ script – one of the most deliciously goofy, with many repeated dialogues from various characters – lends itself to an equally stupid main performance. But Clooney quickly proves to be the perfect counterpoint to the ever-cheeky Coens. He appeared in four of the brothers’ films, beginning with The brother, and following with Intolerable cruelty, Burn After Reading, and Caesar hail! Each of these films takes some pleasure in adjusting Clooney’s movie star image. It all starts here with a joke about Everett’s predilection for the Dapper Dan hair product. (In many more hits and misses Intolerable cruelty, the physical obsession was transferred to the main character’s teeth, one of the jokes in the movie that always works.)
But it only works because George Clooney shows a sense of humor as good about himself as it does about his fellow cast members. There is something about his willingness to play Everett – where his neck hides a bold figure, but he was also completely defeated by the new dandy man in Penny’s life – that makes it more fun to see him. Ulysses Everett McGill belongs alongside Barton Fink and HI McDonnough and Larry Gopnik as one of the besieged men who make up Coen’s filmography. He is surrounded on all sides by the unexplainable – a trio of mermaids, a Bible salesman with one eye, a mysterious lawman who may also be the Devil. He takes everything in a good mood, often excessively; when that Bibles salesman, Big Dan Teague in the Cyclopsic style (Coen’s regular John Goodman) knocks Delmar down with a tree branch, Everett just says excitedly, “What’s going on, Big Dan?”, before being knocked down too .
As a director, Clooney gradually moved away from more daring sensibilities, but it is difficult to watch his directorial debut. Confessions of a dangerous mind, about the life of game-show host Chuck Barris, and not seeing the influence of Soderbergh and the Coens in the style of the film, its moody atmosphere and its pitch-black comedy. Brother, where are you? there’s that kind of black comedy, too, like in a climactic showdown at a KKK rally where they’re trying to lynch Tommy, a black musician that Everett and the other convicts befriended. Clooney’s exuberant performance counterbalances the darkness here and elsewhere in the film.
The joy of watching Clooney in Brother, where are you? it is the joy of seeing an artist find a new note to play in a range that before seemed limited. Clooney doesn’t usually go to the big comic role; even the extremely fun From the ocean the trilogy depends on the version of the actor who is a bright star. But roles like Ulysses Everett McGill imply that inside the movie star’s smooth exterior beats the heart of a character actor. It is true that a film like The midnight sky allows Clooney to enjoy a different performance style than we are used to. But 20 years later, it’s hard to watch his public rebellion and not wish you could see him bring it back to the big screen.
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