Recent Viewings: What If & Imperium, or Why Daniel Radcliffe's a Good Actor
Amazon Prime really does have an odd video library. Occasionally, however, you'll come across a gem or two. Two recent gems I found were the films What If and Imperium.
Now, for those of you who only know the lead actor in both these movies, Daniel Radcliffe, as the dude who played Harry Potter, you owe it to yourself to check out these movies. Like his HP cohort, Emma Watson, Radcliffe did not simply stop acting after the series came to an end. (If you're a real artist, it is partly the bane of your existence to be identified by one work in your career, even though that piece of work gave you a successful career and granted you immortality). Instead, like Watson, Radcliffe made the hardest of leaps to make when you start your artistic career as a kid: continue it and creatively develop further as you become an adult.
The roles he takes on in these two movies display how his growth. "How?" you may ask. Because they're completely different roles, not only from HP but also from each other. I should explain further though.
What If is a Romantic-Comedy (not genre men are known to watch willingly, but I do because I like them) that takes place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It's the story of two people, Wallace and Chantry (the Canadian equivalent of Harry and Sally). Wallace is a recluse who has grown cynical towards love after his most recent long-term relationship ended when his girlfriend cheated on him, causing him to drop out of Medical School. Chantry, a young animator, is in a long-term relationship with her live-in boyfriend, who has grown dissatisfied with her relationship but doesn't want to leave because she has a "good thing going." When they meet at a party at Wallace's college friend's house, they immediately click, indicated by their natural quip-laden, Gilmore Girls-esque banter. After some two-way reticence, they decide to become friends, but their friendship, which quickly grows into a close one, begins to develop into something much deeper. (Insert typical RomCom plot here).
While there were elements of Romance in the HP series, it was never the focus of the story. It was just another ingredient for character development and tension added to the series' stew. (When you have a dark lord trying to kill you as he's taking over the world so he can enslave and genocide the non-magical population, love takes a definite backseat). Here, however, it's front and center.
Radcliffe, despite not being the typical romantic leading man (although many of my female, and even some male, high school classmates would disagree) since he's short (5 foot 5) and not "traditionally handsome" (a euphemism for not ugly, but not Fabio either) and being the "dude who played Harry Potter" carries his part of the film's story wonderfully. He plays Wallace as a charming, witty, and genuine guy who just wants what most people want: a fulfilling life with someone special to share it. To be able to play such an ordinary character, in an ordinary situation after the Whiz-Bang fantasy fun and drama of the most successful franchise in history, and to do it WELL, is a testament to his skill as an actor. You genuinely (or at least I did as I watched it) wanted his character and Chantry to get together in the end.
Imperium is the other end of the film spectrum. It's a crime-thriller that takes place in Washington D.C., and it tells the story of an FBI agent as he infiltrates the local White Supremacist Movement, trying to find out which of them is trying to set up and set off a domestic terrorist attack involving a dirty bomb.
This movie scared the crap out of me, namely because, as a person with skin that has a higher than average melanin content, there's nothing that scares me more than crazy white people.
(I'm a confirmed Ophidophoe--someone who's scared shitless of snakes--but if I was stuck between a copperhead and a skinhead, I'd rather deal with the copperhead).
People who genuinely believe in ideas of Racism (because Race, though it's a social reality isn't a biological reality. See the results of the Human-Genome Project if you don't trust me), are frightening, and this film explores how diverse this insanity is. There are the classic Skinheads, the KKK-Wannabes, the Neo-Nazis, and, most frightening, the seemingly ordinary nice people next door, and the "Dude Who Played Harry Potter," has to deal and interact with all of them as an undercover agent, with the Sword of Damocles of being found out constantly hanging over him.
This film, with it's heavy, frightening, and REAL subject matter, is the film that, I think, shows how great an actor Radcliffe has become. In this film, he plays a nerdy, introvert FBI agent, who in turn has to play a believable skin-head. So he's an actor playing a character, who is playing another, completely opposite character.
This is what I call "Meta-Acting." If you can pull that off--if you can portray a person who finds themselves in a stressful situation who nevertheless must remain collected and in control--you've got to be a damn good actor.
Both films are enjoyable on their own merits. If you're addicted RomComs, What If will give you a great fix. If you like the adrenaline pumping thrill of watching a character walk the knife's edge of a dangerous situation, that also happens to explore a heavy, contemporaneously-relevant subject, then Imperium will more than satisfy you.
*No copyw=right infringement inteded. All images are the property of their creators and owners.*
Now, for those of you who only know the lead actor in both these movies, Daniel Radcliffe, as the dude who played Harry Potter, you owe it to yourself to check out these movies. Like his HP cohort, Emma Watson, Radcliffe did not simply stop acting after the series came to an end. (If you're a real artist, it is partly the bane of your existence to be identified by one work in your career, even though that piece of work gave you a successful career and granted you immortality). Instead, like Watson, Radcliffe made the hardest of leaps to make when you start your artistic career as a kid: continue it and creatively develop further as you become an adult.
The roles he takes on in these two movies display how his growth. "How?" you may ask. Because they're completely different roles, not only from HP but also from each other. I should explain further though.
What If is a Romantic-Comedy (not genre men are known to watch willingly, but I do because I like them) that takes place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It's the story of two people, Wallace and Chantry (the Canadian equivalent of Harry and Sally). Wallace is a recluse who has grown cynical towards love after his most recent long-term relationship ended when his girlfriend cheated on him, causing him to drop out of Medical School. Chantry, a young animator, is in a long-term relationship with her live-in boyfriend, who has grown dissatisfied with her relationship but doesn't want to leave because she has a "good thing going." When they meet at a party at Wallace's college friend's house, they immediately click, indicated by their natural quip-laden, Gilmore Girls-esque banter. After some two-way reticence, they decide to become friends, but their friendship, which quickly grows into a close one, begins to develop into something much deeper. (Insert typical RomCom plot here).
While there were elements of Romance in the HP series, it was never the focus of the story. It was just another ingredient for character development and tension added to the series' stew. (When you have a dark lord trying to kill you as he's taking over the world so he can enslave and genocide the non-magical population, love takes a definite backseat). Here, however, it's front and center.
Radcliffe, despite not being the typical romantic leading man (although many of my female, and even some male, high school classmates would disagree) since he's short (5 foot 5) and not "traditionally handsome" (a euphemism for not ugly, but not Fabio either) and being the "dude who played Harry Potter" carries his part of the film's story wonderfully. He plays Wallace as a charming, witty, and genuine guy who just wants what most people want: a fulfilling life with someone special to share it. To be able to play such an ordinary character, in an ordinary situation after the Whiz-Bang fantasy fun and drama of the most successful franchise in history, and to do it WELL, is a testament to his skill as an actor. You genuinely (or at least I did as I watched it) wanted his character and Chantry to get together in the end.
Imperium is the other end of the film spectrum. It's a crime-thriller that takes place in Washington D.C., and it tells the story of an FBI agent as he infiltrates the local White Supremacist Movement, trying to find out which of them is trying to set up and set off a domestic terrorist attack involving a dirty bomb.
This movie scared the crap out of me, namely because, as a person with skin that has a higher than average melanin content, there's nothing that scares me more than crazy white people.
(I'm a confirmed Ophidophoe--someone who's scared shitless of snakes--but if I was stuck between a copperhead and a skinhead, I'd rather deal with the copperhead).
People who genuinely believe in ideas of Racism (because Race, though it's a social reality isn't a biological reality. See the results of the Human-Genome Project if you don't trust me), are frightening, and this film explores how diverse this insanity is. There are the classic Skinheads, the KKK-Wannabes, the Neo-Nazis, and, most frightening, the seemingly ordinary nice people next door, and the "Dude Who Played Harry Potter," has to deal and interact with all of them as an undercover agent, with the Sword of Damocles of being found out constantly hanging over him.
This film, with it's heavy, frightening, and REAL subject matter, is the film that, I think, shows how great an actor Radcliffe has become. In this film, he plays a nerdy, introvert FBI agent, who in turn has to play a believable skin-head. So he's an actor playing a character, who is playing another, completely opposite character.
This is what I call "Meta-Acting." If you can pull that off--if you can portray a person who finds themselves in a stressful situation who nevertheless must remain collected and in control--you've got to be a damn good actor.
Both films are enjoyable on their own merits. If you're addicted RomComs, What If will give you a great fix. If you like the adrenaline pumping thrill of watching a character walk the knife's edge of a dangerous situation, that also happens to explore a heavy, contemporaneously-relevant subject, then Imperium will more than satisfy you.
*No copyw=right infringement inteded. All images are the property of their creators and owners.*
Comments