Daniel Day-Lewis is, in my opinion, the
greatest actor of his generation. His insane level of commitment to
method acting has resulted in him winning two Oscars for Best Actors
out of four nominations. For those that don't know, method acting is
when an actor draw upon experience in order to portray a character.
Most method actors will go for a ride-along with the police for an
upcoming role as a cop, while others more committed to method acting
will only answer to their character's name while on set. Daniel
Day-Lewis takes method acting to a whole other level. For The
Boxer his boxing coach said that
he could have turned professional after they finished training. For
My Left Foot, Day-Lewis
refused to leave his wheelchair and had to be spoon-fed by the crew.
He lived off the land for six months in preparation for The
Last of the Mohicans. For The
Crucible, he lived in the film's
replica village without electricity or running water and built his
character's house using only 17th
century tools. The
dude actually worked in a butcher shop to prepare for the character
Bill the Butcher in Gangs
of New York,
caught pneumonia after refusing to change out of his period clothing
and spent most of his time off-camera sharpening knives, which he
learned how to throw with deadly accuracy. While still in character
and, from the sound of it, in costume, Daniel/Bill the Butcher also
reportedly traipsed about picking fights with strangers during the
filming of Gangs
of New York.
In Lincoln,
DDL
gives another astounding performance which all but assures him
another nomination from the Academy.
Lincoln
focuses on the last few months of the 16th
president's life. The Civil War is drawing to a close, and Lincoln
and the republicans in congress are working hard on the passage of
the 13th
Amendment to abolish slavery. Lincoln (Day-Lewis), believes slavery
to be immoral, but it would also deliver a crushing blow to the
southern economy, a blow that would help to end the war. The passage
of the amendment to help end the war is one of the deciding factors
for many democrats who would otherwise vote against the amendment.
However, when Lincoln receives word that the South is ready to
negotiate for peace, Lincoln must make the tough decision to either
prolong the war in order to pass the amendment, or end the war and
risk losing the needed votes. We also witness Lincoln work the
political system in order to gain as many votes as he can in order to
pass the amendment. There are many meetings in smoke filled rooms
where certain appointments are promised in exchange for voting a for
the amendment. After the passage of the amendment and the end of the
war, the film ends with Lincoln's assassination, but it felt like it
was only included because that's what the audience expects.
This
film is chock-full of big name actors who all deliver top-notch
performances. Beside Daniel Day-Lewis, there's Sally Field as Mary
Todd Lincoln, Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Robert Lincoln, James Spader as
one of Lincoln's political arm-twisters, Tommy Lee Jones as Thaddeus
Stevens, an abolitionist congressman, Jackie Earle Haley as the Vice
President of the Confederacy, and Jared Harris as Ulysses S. Grant.
Sally Field and Tommy Lee Jones's performances are particularly
compelling and deserve supporting actor nominations. The
cinematography of Janusz Kaminski, Spielberg's frequent
cinematography is beautiful. Much of the dialogue is based on the
book Team
of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by
Doris Kearns Goodwin. One thing I particularly liked about this movie was it's efforts to humanize Lincoln, who has since become a figure larger than life. We see him struggle with morality and bend rules to get what he wants accomplished. There is even a shot early on that shows Lincoln literally crawling on the ground, symbolizing that he isn't above everyone else the way that many people think of him today. Lincoln was certainly a great man, but he was also human. This film will most certainly receive an oscar
nomination for best picture, and it certainly deserves it. However, I
doubt that this film will win the big prize. While the film is
historically accurate, it is a drab retelling of Lincoln's final
days. While cannons are booming on the battlefields, all we see are
hushed conversations in smoked filled rooms. Robert Lincoln led a
very interesting life, but here his character is pushed to the
sidelines and Gordon-Levitt is utterly wasted in his role. Lincoln's
death at the end of the film is treated like a strange afterthought.
The script feels as though it was written by Aaron Sorkin by the way
the characters interact with each other, but it doesn't feel
authentic in the costumery of the Civil War. This film does a large
number of things very well, Oscar Award winning well, but it makes a
number of strange choices which cause it to fall short of the
excellence that it could be.
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