I became a Nicolas Cage fan at the ripe old age of 12 (1983) with the film Valley Girl. He was the Hollywood punker who wins over the heart of preppy Valley Girl, Deborah Foreman. In the film, he was sarcastic, tough, vulnerable, funny, .... romantic and strong. I knew I was seeing a different kind of performance. By the time Raising Arizona was released on VHS, I was first in line to rent it from the Super 29 Grocery Store's video section and watch on my own Symphonic VCR bought with my own money in 1987. My mom kept knocking on the door to ask why I was laughing so hard.
I knew an actor with serious range was upon us, and his next phase of films were quirky cult-level movies, or supporting performances in big budget movies. By the time Red Rock West and Amos and Andrew were on us, I was his biggest fan. Jump forward to 2021. He has been an Oscar winner, a box office action stud, and then gradually suffered what happens to many, the fall to direct-to-DVD. The difference with Nic is: though he pays his bills with often poorly executed low budget fare (though its well known he gives 100% to projects, regardless of what he's doing and who he's working for) he's also had a ton of fantastic films released in this window of time as well:
The Trust
Joe
Color Out of Space
Mandy
Mom & Dad
Willy's Wonderland
Running With the Devil
Pig
Not to mention a masterful turn as the host of Netflix' genius History of Swear Words. Genius.
Eight years ago, my young film critic kiddo wrote a piece about the world's greatest living actor being a "Punk Rock Actor". Even though penned in 2013, it's still relevant, and still accurate, though Nicolas Kim Coppola was at a different phase of his career. My offspring, Aidan Will has wonderfully made appearances on this blog before, so I'm proud to present their work here again.
IN DEFENSE OF NICOLAS CAGE; THE PUNK ROCK ACTOR
There are a lot of horrid, unjust things in this world, a lot of things that piss me off on a regular basis. Nic Cage is not one of them. I become visibly outraged when I hear folks accuse him of being a terrible actor. This is an awful cliché, but I would say that their dislike of him is simply out of a lack of understanding him. He’s not a chameleon. If you want to watch people disappear into roles to the point that you catch yourself forgetting who they are, you have plenty of viewing options: Gary Oldman, Robert De Niro, Danny Huston, Ben Foster, and countless others. Go nuts, they’re all wonderful. But we’re in a completely alternate zone here.
Nicolas Kim Coppola is the nephew of the legendary auteur Francis Ford Coppola, and Talia Shire, and cousin to Roman Coppola and Sofia Coppola. Lots of Coppolas in the business, it’s undeniably in the blood. Science, my friends. These people generally know what they’re doing.
He has described his own acting style as being like a punk rock performance. And if you take a moment to think on that, you’ll know it’s absolutely true. He plays in extremes. He has no interest in subtlety, his habitual “Cage Rage” is more or less a legend of Hollywood lore, and he doesn’t give a shit if people don’t like it. In his four-star review of Werner Herzog’s 2009 film Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans, Roger Ebert stated of the starring Cage: “He's a fearless actor. He doesn't care if you think he goes over the top. If a film calls for it, he will crawl to the top hand over hand with bleeding fingernails.” The man often considered to be the greatest film critic of all time was a fan.
In his Great Movies essay regarding the 2002 Spike Jonze film Adaptation, Ebert took his praise further than even I do now, stating, “There are often lists of the great living male movie stars: De Niro, Nicholson and Pacino, usually. How often do you see the name of Nicolas Cage? He should always be up there.” Now, I’m not saying that simply because Ebert said it, it’s true; people who know me know that I usually wound up disagreeing with Ebert about 50% of the time, he hated a lot of the flicks that are most beloved to me. But damned if he wasn’t a great writer who could give a great argument, and his opinion, parallel to yours or not, is at least an opinion worth respecting.
A lack of chameleonic style does not mean an absence of versatility: Cage has been a risk taker over the years, and of course has taken much flak for it. That’s why I’m here. Yes, he’s been in plenty of films that are crap. We’d all be happier forgetting The Wicker Man remake, among others. But consider this, while that film was utter shit, we got to see a man prance through the forest in an anthropomorphic bear costume, and punch a woman in the face. Nicolas Cage did that for us. For our sins. Every cloud has a silver lining. He's gonna be in some bad films, most actors, good or bad, will. But consider the great films for a moment, unlike a large amount of my generation and know that they are more than worth acknowledging the bad ones. Think of Raising Arizona, Leaving Las Vegas, Bringing out the Dead, The Weather Man, Kick-Ass, and more. Think of the fun worth having in kooky action films like The Rock, Con Air, Face/Off, Drive Angry and Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance. Internet film reviewer/ independant filmmaker Brad Jones, another defender, stated, “When Cage is having fun, the audience is having fun.” He hops from serious dramas to escapist fun and back again with ease.
So, if you think Nicolas Cage is not a good performer, I strongly encourage you to reconsider your opinion. If you weren’t open to that idea, then why are you still reading this? Leave. Take a risk and submit yourself to the hilarity of Raising Arizona, or the descent into hell in Bringing out the Dead, or anything that looks interesting to you. A world of various joys and hurts awaits those willing to lock themselves in the Cage for a couple of hours. Yes, I did just write that. No, I don’t care.
Recommended Cage Viewing:
· Raising Arizona
· Adaptation
· Bad Lieutenant: Port of Call New Orleans
· Leaving Las Vegas
· Bringing out the Dead
· The Weather Man
· Windtalkers
· Kick-Ass
No comments:
Post a Comment