My Top 5 Cinematic Performances By James Gandolfini

This weekend saw the release of The Drop in UK cinemas, a Brooklyn based crime thriller that stars Tom Hardy & is penned by Dennis Lehane. It’s certainly not a bad film, but neither is it a very good one. Lehane’s narrative plods along at a pace that always burns slow but rarely bright, and Hardy seems to be subdued for the most part. What it does have in its favor though, apart from the eminently atmospheric setting, is a superb turn from James Gandolfini. Being the final film he completed before his untimely death last year, this is your last chance to see the genius of Gandolfini on the big screen; now that’s an offer you can’t refuse!

Upon leaving my screening at the weekend, I was once more found myself I awe of Gandolfini’s incredible acting abilities, and dejected at the idea that I would no longer be able to experience his range in the cinema again. Thankfully, despite only having a relatively short screen career, Gandolfini has left behind an enormous body of work to be reveled in for eternity. And here, as a final goodbye to the late, great Gandolfini, I have listed the five cinematic performances of his that I will always carry close to my heart.

1: as Albert in Enough Said

For many, James Gandolfini was, and will continue to be, the contemporary embodiment of the archetypal gangster, which is perhaps why his nuanced performance in the superbly subtle Enough Said felt so special to all those who were fans. Here Gandolfini exuded the charm of a gentle giant that bathed this subversive rom-com in eternal warmth. Displaying a regularly unseen shy & sensitive demeanor, Gandolfini’s Albert was worlds away from the aggressive gangster characters the actor was typecast as for much of his career, and there’s a sheer joy in seeing such a different side to this prolific performer.

2: as Virgil in True Romance

Playing the vicious & violent Virgil wasn’t Gandolfini’s first screen role, but it was the one that made his name. It’s the complete antithesis of Albert; here Gandolfini radiates a menacing aura from the moment here appears on the screen. When we first find him waiting for Patricia Arquette in her motel room, a shotgun on his hand and The Shirelles playing on the stereo, the sense of dread it immediately evokes is almost unbearable. But it does nothing to cushion the impact of just how ferocious Virgil becomes as he proceeds to beat and batter Arquette’s Alabama to within an inch of her life. From this truly terrifying tour de force of acting, the modern mobster was born.

3: as Lt. Gen. George Millar in In The Loop

Guided by the assured hand of director of Armando Iannucci, Gandolfini here delivers a perfect illustration of his acting range. His performance as Lt. Gen. George Millar is laced with a simmering wit, but throughout his persona bubbles with aggression. The scene that perfectly encapsulates this, of course, is Millar’s confrontation with Peter Capaldi’s scheming & sweary Scot Malcolm Tucker. It’s a short conversation that’s full of memorable moments, but the talents of Gandolfini are epitomised in the final shot, as Millar becomes overcome with confusion at being told by Tucker to never call him “fucking English again”.

4: as Carol in Where The Wild Things Are

It may not be a physical performance, but that doesn’t stop Gandolfini from being a commanding screen presence in Spike Jonze’s adaptation of Maurice Sendak’s beloved childhood novel.  It’s a gorgeous use of his vocal tones, which compounds aggression with emotion. And through it Gandolfini superbly manages to convey Carol’s distinguishably impulsive & imaginative characteristics, fuelling the film’s wildly inventive personality.

5: as Mickey in Killing Them Softly

Given how well known he was for playing Tony Soprano for so many years, it’s not much of a surprise to find him inhabiting many other gangster roles in the later part of his career. Mickey is arguably the most substantial and certainly the most effective of the bunch. Gandolfini is a bold & bitter presence as a hit man who let the greed of his formative years get to his head, and now finds himself wallowing in a pool of self-pity. Flexing his more muted acting muscles, it’s a role that’s far removed from Tony Soprano.

So there we have it, my top five cinematic performances by James Gandolfini. But which ones have I left out, which ones do you believe deserve to be on this list, and are there any I have included that you don’t agree with? As ever, leave your remarks in the comments section. And then be sure to check out my full review of The Drop over on the Culturefly website!

My (Initial) Thoughts On ‘Interstellar’

Even if you’ve been hiding at the bottom of a Moon crater for the last 6 months, chances are you would still have heard of Interstellar. The latest film from big-budget auteur Christopher Nolan is, without doubt, the cinematic event of the year. Just where would the man who had already breathed new life into the Superhero genre & reinvented the Summer Blockbuster look to go next? The answer, perhaps inevitably, was to the stars.

As with all of Nolan’s previous films, I found myself overwhelmed as the credits began to roll on his bladder-busting ballet of space & time. It is, literally, the best film I have ever seen. It is not, however, one of the best films I have ever watched.

For the first 45 minutes or so, Interstellar remains rooted to the launching pad, with the engines spluttering as they struggle to come to life. The script, written by Nolan & his brother Jonathan, fails to find a balance between developing the core characters and building the foundations of the narrative. The dialogue clumsily stumbles between the sentimental ramblings of Matthew McConaughey’s Cooper, and overly complicated scene setting that’s delivered by Michael Caine’s one-dimensional professor of exposition. There’s certainly more strength to be found in the more muted scenes between Cooper and his kids (with young actors Mackenzie Foy & Timothée Chalamet both delivering naturally assured performances), but Nolan’s need to drive his quite convoluted narrative forward causes the effectiveness of such scenes to quickly become undone.

Lets thank our lucky stars then that once Copper’s shuttle clears the launch pad, Nolan’s film soars to a much greater height. Driving the ship are the astonishing visuals, which beg to be seen, as Nolan intended, on the biggest Imax screen you can find. The director has always been a man of great ambition, but this is definitely the most visually audacious film he has ever committed to celluloid. Hoyte Van Hoytema’s camera sweeps over the Icelandic landscape that doubles for a far off planet with awe, forcing your eyes to open as wide as possible in astonishment at this otherworldly setting.

It is against the blank canvas of Space however, that Nolan paints his masterpiece. Here the director fervently tries and effortlessly succeeds in evoking the visual majesty of Kubrick’s 2001. Cooper’s ship, the ‘Endurance’, glides through space accompanied to Hans Zimmer’s score as if it’s dancing an interplanetary foxtrot, cruising past black holes and event horizons with grace and flair.

Unfortunately Nolan and his brother can’t help but make a meal of the narrative. All the ingredients are certainly there, but the presentation is messy. There are far more plot holes than wormholes here. Particularly in the film’s final reel, which appears to eventually collapse under its own weight as Nolan searches for his conclusion.

Even in its narratively weakest moments though, the gravitational pull of Nolan’s vision can’t help but suck you in. But the overwhelming thought that initially swirled through my mind following Interstellar was that it could have been light years better.

My Thoughts On 'Drive' Rescored

Or perhaps that should read ‘retuned’… geddit? If you, like me, are a lover of Nicholas Winding Refn’s contemporary cult classic Drive, then chances are you consider its superb score & soundtrack to be one of its finest elements.

Quite right to! Cliff Martinez’ score is a furious beast that’s unleashed as the atmosphere intensifies and the odds stack up against Ryan Gosling’s nameless Driver. And like the Driver, the score is a beast with a gentle core; the quieter moments between Gosling and Carey Mulligan’s Irene imbued with a gentle, dulcet tone that supplements the nuanced personalities of the two characters. Meanwhile, the brilliantly orchestrated electronic tracks from Kavinsky (‘Night Call’) and College & Electric Youth (‘A Real Hero’) augmented Refn’s pulpy modern-set thriller with a 80s neon sheen that allowed the film to composite the old with the new.

Well now DJ Zane Lowe, with the help of BBC Radio 1, has rescored (read: retuned… geddit yet?) Drive with a host of original music that has been created by the likes of Bastille, Bring Me The Horizon, and The 1975. Of course, as soon as it was announced, many furious (and no doubt sun starved) bloggers took to the web & vented their fury at the idea. All this without hearing the new beats & despite the fact that the new score had been made with the approval of Refn himself. Well last Thursday night on BBC3, Drive was aired with this new soundtrack, which is still (at the time of writing) accessible on the BBC iPlayer, and is also available through the iTunes store.

I myself approached the new sound with a mixture of apprehension and anticipation. On the one hand, for the reasons listed above I adore the score, and I was more than a little uneasy about the idea of someone tampering with a film I feel very close to. But on the other hand, the idea of seeing how someone else would harmonically interpret Refn’s menacing milieu was undeniably intriguing to hear.

As it happens, the result is a mainly negative bag. Unfortunately, it hits more Lowe notes (you must get that one) than it does high ones. The main problem, without doubt, is the score, which is little more than an extensive labyrinth of Drum ‘n’ Bass. From the opening scene (that’s scored by Eric Prydz), it’s clear that the effect is distracting, diminishing the tension suffused in to such set pieces by Martinez’ superior effort. The boosting of the volume is annoyingly heavy-handed, a perfect case in point being the getaway chase following the botched robbery that’s loudly played over by Bring Me The Horizon, who seem to think they’re making music for an entry in the Fast and the Furious franchise. And throughout, Lowe seems insistent on using as much music as possible, which takes away a lot of the subtlety instilled in to the original.

The soundtrack fairs better. Kavinsky is replaced with ‘Get Away’ by Chvrches, a song that makes a decent stab at embodying the same authentic 80s polish, but, unlike ‘Night Call’, lacks a relevant lyrical quality. Best of the bunch is The 1975, whose gorgeous song ‘Medicine’ perfectly encapsulates the same magical dreamlike quality of ‘A Real Hero’, nicely complementing the scene in which the Driver & Irene take a trip along the paved bed of the LA River.

By the time the end was reached, I was left with the same feelings as I had going in. There are positives in the rescore, but there’s also a tankful of negatives. Thankfully, the film is no less brilliant, so watching it didn’t feel like a complete waste of time, more of a missed opportunity.