Hidden Gems of the Guy Pearce Career Re-Watch! 💎
Those
who follow my Twitter account @ThereforeReview
know that I have spent these pandemic years perusing through a Guy
Pearce Career Re-Watch. I retreated to this happy place because
Pearce can always be depended upon to turn in a great performance in
often exceptional films.
This
countdown's order is more arbitrary, as it's worth seeking all of
these hidden gems for their film quality and variety of Pearce
performances. Though capable of breaking the internet from time to
time, Guy Pearce is not the marquee actor cast to put butts in the
cinema seats. Fortunately, he is the go-to actor for quiet
gravitas as seen in the unique pieces here.
Please
click through to previously written reviews and videos at I
Think, Therefore I Review,
InSession
Film
or with the Women
InSession Podcast
and Keith
Loves Movies
for more in depth analysis along with these quick commentaries and
countdowns.
9.
The
Hard Word
–
Crooked lawyers and corrupt cops facilitate heists carried out by
conveniently release jailbird brothers in crime in this 2002
Australian who's who including Joel Edgerton (It Comes at Night) and
Rachel Griffiths (Six
Feet Under).
It's tough to tell if this is about the crime or the comedy with
turnabout circumstances, zany personalities, and backward Butcher
Talk code suggesting humor while the dramatic prison visitations are
very well done. Reflections on each side of the dividing glass accent
the confrontations over who's screwing whom, and the camera accents
the cleverness and crime realizations in the second half. Pearce is
at times unrecognizable thanks to a bad fake nose that doesn't really
move with his expressions. However his smart brother Dale slips into
each disguise as needed. Though thematically uneven and not as taut
as it should be with convoluted betrayals and unnecessary bad guys,
literal runs with the loot and quirky characterizations keep this a
bemusing late night heist.
8.
Dating
the Enemy
–
The dated fashions, peppy ear worms, Valentine's Day cliches, and
corny humor of this 1996 Australian body swap comedy starring Claudia
Karvan and Guy Pearce takes me back to simpler times. Certainly part
of me wishes there was more depth to the battle of the sexes
explorations beyond his not being able to understand pantyhose and
her zipper mishaps – women's locker room secrets and sleeping with
your disappointing male best friend were ripe for more humor and
sophistication. Likewise I also think our opposites attract exes
should have switched back thanks to the unexplained wishes and moon
magic and not because they had fulfilling sex while in each other's
bodies. Learning what the other person wants and needs in a
relationship and knowing how to give of yourself mind and body should
have happened after
they
swapped back. Compared to American sex comedies the discourse is
tame, played for all audiences without nudity or raunchy, shallow
titillation. Our man
realizes it sucks to be a woman not taken seriously who can't eat
pizza every day while she has to do both
their
jobs. Fun performances anchor the preposterous mystic versus science
of it all with walks, postures, and mannerisms reflecting the mind
inside the wrong body voiceovers. The audience is along for the
romantic ride, and I miss this kind of lighthearted, fanciful,
charming little picture.
7.
33
Postcards
– This 2011 international production also featuring social worker
Claudia Karvan chronicles soon to be paroled inmate Pearce and his
secret sponsorship of an orphaned Chinese teenager. Though naive and
isolated from the real world for her age, young Lin Zhu (The
Demon Hunter)
runs away from her traveling choir to find her sponsor, getting in
over her head in the Sydney chop shop scene. Some viewers may be
bothered by the dated musical moments, dual languages, cultural mix
ups, and slightly amateur English but our Mei Mei has a certain
fearlessness – unafraid to ask for help whether people are friendly
with the map or potentially taking advantage of her. Her positive
outlook rubs off on others as the initial pen pal awkwardness gives
way to making up for time served and loners realizing they don't have
to be alone. Despite writing fanciful postcards filled with beachy
Down Under fun, Pearce's inmate is actually pale, pasty, shaky, and
squirrely small. He remains hunched with his hands in his pockets,
fearful of re-entering the outside world after his ten year sentence.
Immigration visas, bad relations, and parole red tape interfere as
our would be father and daughter try to take care of each other, and
tense prisoner harassment escalates to shower perils, shank chases,
and children in danger. You know today a Hollywood version would be
dark, scandalous, and cliché; however the youthful, personal moments
here make for a simple, endearing little picture about finding your
own family and making your own music.
6.
Hateship
Loveship
– Jennifer Jason Leigh (Possessor),
Christine Lahti (Chicago
Hope),
and Nick Nolte (Cape
Fear)
are underutilized in this disjointed 2013 drama based on Alice
Munro's short story. The slow paced plain and realistic bare
mirroring the too old to be putting on makeup for the first time
wallflower Kristen Wiig (Bridesmaids)
may be boring and naive for some viewers. Fortunately, attention to
detail in character clothing, cigarettes, and shabby motels sets off
the misunderstandings as Guy Pearce becomes the erroneous, not so put
together object of our shy housekeeper's affection thanks to a sneaky
letter writing campaign by his daughter Hailee Steinfeld (True
Grit)
and her snotty friend who doesn't get the comeuppance she deserves.
Well timed country music lyrics accent the foolishness and elbow
grease as the down and out, who's taking advantage of whom
realizations come to light. Wigg is subdued in a strong dramatic turn
– humbly anchoring the broken people and second chances. Today's
audience may balk at her runaway devotion, but Joanna makes the best
of the fix despite her sheltered honesty, his flaws, fatal pasts, and
drug abuse. Pearce is grizzled, shaggy, and sickly, having served for
his mistakes but continuing to use, steal, and lie. People can't
change immediately, but this late bloomer starting over romance could
be the positive healing they need. Our hard working gal has her own
money and takes action to achieve what she wants in this lovely
little piece for fans of the cast.
5.
In
Her Skin
–
Lovely
landscapes, dancing, and original songs contrast dark skies, empty
trams, and every parent's worst fear in this 2009 Australian true
story starring Miranda Otto (Lord
of the Rings),
Guy
Pearce,
and Sam Neill (Dead
Calm).
A
daughter
hasn't returned home, and the number of days since the disappearance
anchors episodic acts focusing on the parents, killer, and victim.
Blasé officials see these cases everyday, but emotions are high for
the family facing this awful new experience with frantic phone calls,
television pleas, sobs, and swoons. Sensuality, nudity, love, and sex
are also shown in different dynamics – the young bloom, ugly body
dysmorphia, tenderness between couples, and brutally suggestive
strangulation. Panning camera work, demented voiceovers,
fantasy-esque flashbacks, and windswept distortions are spooky and
slightly off kilter, getting viewers inside our killer's state of
mind alongside disturbing letters, violent artwork, bullying, and a
devious sense of empowerment with Electra undertones from the
award-worthy Ruth Bradley (Humans).
Today it's difficult for us to believe no one noticed or provided
mental health intervention, but the performances carry the
uncomfortable grief and realistically stilted shock in this
intriguing psychological drama.
4.
First
Snow –
Subdued psychic J.K. Simmons (Whiplash)
warns sleazy salesman Guy Pearce he's on borrowed time in this 2006
parable waxing on fate versus destiny and self- fulfilling prophecy.
Eerie, intense palm readings provide sports scores, highway warnings,
and the titular ticking clock. Threatening phone calls, EKG check
ups, amateur investigations, and screwed over business deals pepper
angel on the shoulder girlfriend Piper Perabo (Coyote
Ugly)
versus paroled Shea Whigham (Kong: Skull Island)
coming back to haunt our smooth talker. Dialogue and sounds often
bleed into the next scene, and moments are intercut with flash
forwards or past memories, visually mirroring the predestined plots.
Low on the highway angles, rear view mirrors, up close windshields,
choice zooms, and headlights match the rushed, coming and going,
hitting the pavement metaphors while answering machine harassment,
mail box threats, and gunshots build intensity. This is a bright
picture with desert vistas, whiteouts, and spotlights, and our Jimmy
often hides behind his sunglasses. He's said to have the gift of
bullshit – smoking, slicking his hair, and mocking the ill-fated
prediction before getting in over his head thanks to past mistakes,
current paranoia, and increasing, gun toting isolation. Jimmy's
appearance doesn't change, but this is a great character arc from
Pearce, and his countenance is altered. His smile and wink become
genuine as he mends fences, pays his bar tab, and faces his fate.
However, putting things right becomes dangerous, escalating even as
we know the full circle outcome of this taut character study.
3.
Lorne
– It's quite unsettling as the grizzled Guy Pearce sits across the
campfire and looks directly into the camera for this 2016 fifteen
minute, one man short from director Jesse Leaman (Mad
Martha).
He asks questions of us, his apparent visitor, for he's used to being
alone, sullen, and with his rifle at the ready. His shabby hat and
raspy breath indicate the cold desolate while gunshots punctuate the
wilderness, and it's clear our forlorn, titular woodsman has been
alone too long. Overhead angles show how small he is in the vastness,
yet up close shots of Lorne's hands, face, mucky teeth, and dirty
nails are uncomfortably intimate. Lorne's paranoid by our stare,
wondering what his reflection looks like after this year of on edge
isolation, and we don't want to go further into the dark forest with
him. He curses and shouts into the void, apprehensive but prepared in
the bush with tools and supplies – ready to die over something
meaningful but not get killed in the wilds for nothing. He wonders if
he's dead already, but the camera glances at his rifle as he talks
about his father admiring its craftsmanship more than the dangers.
Lorne misses his family and imagines they are there with tearful,
introspective regret – realizing that there is only one thing left
to do. Although I would have liked to have seen the rest of this
story in full form, for fans of taut short films, this is a must see
show reel of what Guy Pearce can do with nothing but the emotion on
his face.
2.
Spinning
Man
– Foreboding
flashes, yellow tape, and photos of the deceased open this 2018
thriller starring Professor Pearce, detective Pierce Brosnan
(GoldenEye),
and
wife Minnie Driver (Phantom
of the Opera).
The professors debate hypothetical opportunities with young students,
but working out while the cheerleaders look leads to crushes, stolen
glances, and unspoken flirtations as the camera lingers on a girl's
smile longer than it should. Professor Pearce is cool about his
alibi, yet other times he protests the police questioning for no
reason. Paralleling police mirrors or the man made small and isolated
in the frame visuals accent interrogations while careful editing
matches the police interplay and family arguments. Classroom
philosophizing and literal versus figurative plays on words build
suspicion, for it's easy to talk one's way out of anything if the
truth is subjective. Suspect lipstick and circumstantial evidence
lead to awkward family trips, narcissistic blaming, and maybe maybe
not memories.
No
one says what they actually mean and guilty perceptions create
duality – for hiding suspect behavior may be as innocent as putting
up missing posters for a child's pet you know to be dead or as bad as
rationalizing a scandal that puts an entire university in jeopardy.
This is a character drama rather than a tense a minute thriller with
fine performances providing mature introspection as the lies come
full circle.
1.
Breathe
In
–
This
2013 drama from writer and director Drake Doremus (Equals)
about a would be romance between teacher Guy Pearce and student
Felicity Jones (reunited
with Pearce for the newly acclaimed The
Brutalist)
is not played as some steamy, tawdry affair. Superb classical piano
and cello music, natural lighting, and intimate camera angles are
vivid and authentic – taking time for the telling notes, lingering
looks, and increasing contradictory lies that do not go unnoticed. We
should hate cookie jar collecting, controlling wife Amy Ryan (Gone
Baby Gone)
as she quotes the negative logistics of her husband leaving a secure
position for a city symphony chair. She always drives, often speaks
for him, belittles his music as a loud hobby, and tells him no in
front of others as if he's a teenager like their daughter. However,
if Megan didn't smile, deflect, and hold fast to their seemingly
idyllic home with scrapbooks and keeping up with the Jones barbecues;
Keith's romanticizing of the struggling musician's life wouldn't buy
their daughter a car. Young Sophie's Electra issues, on the other
hand, are clear. She's brought her own copy of Jane Eyre and
carries sheet
music yet doesn't play now that her favorite uncle and musical mentor
died. Her exchange semester in New York was a spur of the moment
decision, and she immediately relates to Keith's despair in song. He
drinks and smokes behind his wife's back, sitting on the empty swing
set wondering what he has missed in life. Pearce's silent and still
demeanor invokes a compelling melancholy– hiding a look of constant
anywhere but here contemplation behind his glasses. The lid on the
piano is closed no matter the emotional intimacy or sacrifices
unsaid, and the painful glances are excellent alongside the shattered
cookie jars and reckless teen angst. Nothing physical happens, but
juvenile runaway plans lead to deception, cruelty, and consequences.
Photo shoot bookends reveal how easy it is to feign happiness, and
the superb performances carry the realistic relationships and
bittersweet reflections. It's a pity this was released several months
before Iron Man 3, for
this is so little seen in comparison yet remains the better film.
