May 27th: Physicality
Three of my favorite physical performances. Plus, a shockingly realistic documentary about dinosaurs.
Last night I was lucky enough to see classical pianist Yuja Wang perform with The Knights, a New-York based orchestra. I’ve never seen a pianist that animated before, one who pours as much of themselves into their performance as she did. She wrung every ounce of emotion out of the piano - as my mother put it later, she dominated her instrument completely. Her physicality amplified her performance, and it made me think about how movement is another dimension of musical expression, about how performers can channel their own emotions to the audience wordlessly just through how they present themselves. And acting, of course, is sheer physicality, all about controlling your body. So in honor of Yuja, here are three movies with some of my favorite physical performances in recent memory. They’re all pretty intense (I’ll make it up to you next week) but all great examples of how actors can use their bodies to tell a story.
The Movies:
When my brother and I finished watching Whiplash (Amazon Prime Video), we both stared at the credits for over a minute, sitting in complete silence. It’s a stunning high-wire act of a movie, turning a relationship between teacher and student into a bizarre, terrifying, electrifying psychological thriller. It’s anxious, messy, and impossibly stressful, and at the heart of it all is J.K. Simmons, who absolutely commands your attention for every second he’s on screen. His every movement radiates intensity, giving the kind of performance where you have to remind yourself afterwards that no, he’s not waiting outside your door. It’s a shining example of what movies can do, with brilliant performances and camerawork redefining a simple story and making it something magical.
Watch if you’re in the mood for: Psychological damage, not breathing because you’re stressed but you can’t look away, scaring your heart-rate monitor.
Though I haven’t seen it for a few years, I’ve been thinking a lot about Marriage Story (Netflix) recently. An empathetic, occasionally funny, always heart-breaking depiction of a divorce, it’s a huge step up for writer/director Noah Baumbach, with several visually striking sequences and his best screenplay yet, filled with countless lovely little details and stunning moments of pathos. But though the rest of the cast are all fantastic, it’s Adam Driver who brings me back to this movie again and again. He’s such a gifted physical performer, with a deep repertoire of eye twitches and other subtle movements that he uses to devastating effect. It’s a masterclass in conveying emotion through gestures, and helps make Marriage Story one of the most compelling dramas of the last several years.
Watch if you’re in the mood for: Ensemble cast, brutal dialogue, relatable characters.
Child actors can be risky, but when they work out, there really isn’t much better. In The Florida Project (SHOWTIME), newcomer Brooklynn Prince carries the weight of the entire movie on her shoulders, and delivers one of the most affecting, naturalistic performances you’re likely to ever see. It’s a movie that pulls no punches, painting an occasionally brutal depiction of life on the fringes of American society. But there are moments of such raw wonder strewn throughout this film, you’ll almost forget the trappings of their surroundings, and that’s made possible by Prince’s magnetic, magical, completely stunning performance.
Watch if you’re in the mood for: Colorful cinematography, naturalistic filmmaking, unique visual style.
The Binge:
As we grow, our opinions change. But some childhood truths persist through adulthood, and David Attenborough’s latest series Prehistoric Planet (AppleTV+) has reaffirmed one of those truths - dinosaurs are still freaking cool, y’all. There have been shows like this one before (Walking With Dinosaurs comes to mind) but the amount of detail seen here blows everything before it out of the water. Within five minutes, I was reminded of that feeling I got when watching Avatar for the first time - simply stunned by the possibilities afforded to us by CGI technology. These dinosaurs look real. And that makes it easy to lose yourself in their stories as you watch them navigate predators, give birth, and try to survive a hostile world. Sure, it’s all conjecture, but who cares? It’s a better world when we don’t worry about nitpicking and just enjoy this for what it is - a true technological marvel and a really fun experience.
Watch if you’re in the mood for: Dinosaurs, duh.
The Tune:
Physicality plays such an important role in singing too, of course. Your body is your instrument, so moving it is a natural part of your expression, but movement is also a way for a performer to connect with their audience, to show that they are feeling the music just as much as you are in the crowd. Christine and the Queens is one of my favorite vocalists for this reason - its just immediately clear how much she cares about what she’s doing, as you can see in this performance of People, I’ve been sad, her most popular song. It’s an earworm of a chorus, but it’s really her movements that sell it for me. And also, her vocal control is absolutely ridiculously good. I don’t know how she does it, but I’m happy to live in a world where I can watch this video whenever I want.
See you next week!
Love,
Nick