On February 22, the 81st Annual Academy Awards will be airing on ABC network. I don’t know how excited you may be, or if you even plan on watching it, but I probably wont get around to it. I’ve never been one for the award show. It just doesn’t make sense to me. Do these people really have to have all these different groups vote for them as the best performance in the movie industry for a given year? It seems that nominations are biased and winners are usually undeserving of the golden statue. With that being said, watch the Oscars if you like movie stars being glorified for getting paid loads of money for such hard work. Being an actor is very stressful….just ask Christian Bale.
But, sometimes these award shows get it right and recognize work that is worth being acknowledged. This year, Richard Jenkins is nominated for best actor in a leading role for his part in the movie The Visitor. You may recognize him as the deceased dad from Six Feet Under or more recently as the lovesick manager of the fitness center in Burn After Reading. I’ve always liked this man’s performances in all of his movies.
In the movie The Visitor, Jenkins plays Prof. Walter Vale, a widowed professor who finds little joy in anything and is bored in his job. After traveling to New York for a business conference, he goes to his apartment, an apartment that he rarely ever visits anymore after his wife’s death, and finds that a couple have made it their own residence in his absence. The couple was scammed into buying the house thinking that it didn’t belong to anyone. Though Vale wants them to leave, he finds it in himself to let them stay in the apartment long enough for them to search for somewhere else to live. The couple, Tarek and Zanaib, are both illegal immigrants in the country and are always on the lookout and be careful as to not get in trouble with the law. This chance encounter changes the lives of all involved in the apartment. Through Tarek, Jenkins finds passion in learning how to play the African drum. Tarek, on the other hand, finds that it’s a hard life to live being an illegal immigrant in the U.S.
The films focus on immigration regulation and race relations really strikes a note with the state of our country today. When we are going through one of the worst economic crises of our history, immigration is still viewed as a problem that must be dealt with when in reality there are much bigger fish to fry. It also gets to the heart of completely different people being able to learn from each other and enjoy one another’s company. This movie surprised me in many ways and definitely sold me on Jenkins’ performance. I hope he wins.
Landon Cassman: Through boredom and pure enjoyment I find myself always involved in either film or music related endeavors. This is one of them.
Comments
alan cassman (alan cassman) says:
(Posted February 7th, 2009 at 10:04 am)
bravo!! maestro!!!
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Landon Cassman
Through boredom and pure enjoyment I find myself always involved in either film or music related endeavors. This is one of them.
Jeff Brandt (Jeff Brandt) says:
(Posted February 6th, 2009 at 6:33 pm)
That last scene when Jenkins’s character decides to setup and play drums himself is killer. One of the best movie moments of 08.