Catching up on Phillip Seymore Hoffman movies:
Cold Mountain (2003). PSH was still a character actor at this point so his appearance here is a notable ensemble character, but wow, does he make it shine as one of the most memorable. Renee Zellweger got all the acting awards for this film in her supporting role but everyone is great here, Nicole Kidman, Jude Law, Donal Sutherland, even Ray Winstone's dodgy American accent.
It's a western but not like any western you've probably seen before. It charts the trials and tribulations of two lovers who got separated by the American civil war. Kidman has to stave off starvation, hostile affections and mental decay on the home front while Law has to firstly survive life as a confederate soldier and then secondly try to survive as a deserter trying to get back to his love.
It's directed by the guy who directed The English Patient and I think this film is a whole bunch more entertaining than that while also managing to nail even more emotion-nodes. It's as much Apocalypse Now in the old west as it is harrowing love story and classic western. Do not be put off by anyone writing it off as 'just a love story', there's no greater injustice that a film can have, this film is an absolute orgy of spectacle on par with such epics as Les Miserables or any classic Dickens work. Extremely rewatchable as well. 4.5/5
Charlie Wilson's War (2007) and PSH is now the main supporting actor almost on-par with it's star Tom Hanks. It's quite telling that PSH was the only part of this film to be nominated for an Oscar. As per usual with the Oscars though, one can't help but feel that this nomination was for other work that got overlooked rather than for this specific role as there's something not quite great about this film and I think most of it stems from the writing.
Its a story about the Hanks character, Charlie Wilson, who was the solitary US Senator to take an interest in the USSR's invasion of Afghanistan in late 1979, to which, primarily due to his persistence, kinda resulted in the break up of the soviet union in the early 1990s. So the film charts this decade of his life. PSH plays his intelligence agency co-conspirator.
This is an odd time for a movie like this, and it was an odd time for it when it was made because the good guys here are the Muslims. The poor, reduced to refugee status Afghan rebels. And the Americans are arming them! Well, if you can cope with that mental turn-about from your current mindset then you can probably find something watchable here as the performances are enjoyable and the production values are suitably high for a Hanks starred project.
But the something that's off is the often tepid and uninteresting dialogue. It's written more like an optimistic afternoon TV movie than a serious epic of global importance. Any depth in the script is reserved solely for tedious and repetitive 'wise man say' anecdotes that while obviously have meaning tend to lack anything around the speaking of them to give them any kind of weight beyond script-filler. Worth a watch for the historical eyebrow raises but not a lot beyond that 3/5.
A Most Wanted Man (2014) was PSH's last starring role before he died. The film even has a dedication to him at the end, which adds even more emotion to a very emotion-strong ending here.
And this film is all about the ending. It's one of those films where the viewer is kept in the dark more than the characters as PSH once again plays an intelligence officer, only this time he's playing a very grumpy German one in Hamburg. Us poor viewers are kept pretty damn well confused for most of the film, which will be quite distracting for a lot of people and for me I only just managed to cope, but mainly because I'm already familiar with the works of John Le Carre, which are all atmospheric more than action spy romps.
PSH is great and the plot is serviceable and does what it needs to have the big pay-off ending. Once again though, you'll have to be prepared to see Muslim terrorists from varying perspectives and you'll probably have to have some sense of how European, and particularly German, foreign policy has it's own quirks and competitions than those of the more commonly recognised USA stances.
Sort of like a Scandy-noir but set in Germany starring an American who's playing a German, written by an English Frenchman. Bonkersly confusing plot but fascinating lead actor keeps one entertained regardless 3.5/5.
