Happy Birthday, Leo! (And a Monologue)
Monday, November 11, 2013 at 9:30PM Andrew here to join the Wheeler clan in wishing Leonardo DiCaprio a happy birthday…
…although, he doesn’t seem especially delighted at the well-wishes.
Is that image from Revolutionary Road a dismal birthday scene or what, though? Sometimes I imagine if I had a bloggers' party to celebrate Leo's actorly talents the soiree would be just as dismally attended. Am I wrong?
As odd as it may sound, I often find myself feeling sorry for Leonardo DiCaprio. Sure he's got good-looks, money and the perceived love of millions of fans, yes, but of the actors in his demographic he always seems the least likely to be considered a good actor. If I were to say that he’s my favourite actor under forty, I always expect raised eyebrows in response, and they are generally forthcoming. DiCaprio is not the most diverse actor in his demographic, but I'm often suspicious of attaching quality necessarily to variation. He has specific gifts and even more specific flaws. Many actors are at their best when they exploit their gifts but considering my favourite performance of his for today's monologue, I find I like Leo best when he exploits his flaws.
One consistent line of criticism lodged against DiCaprio since 1997 has been his inability to grow out of his teenage looks. I can't remember who the critic was, but they compared his attempts at adult performances to a child playing dress-up. And, he does look young; especially so in Revolutionary Road. That boyish visage is more pronounced in Revolutionary Road than it was two years earlier in something like The Departed and rewatching it this weekend I zeroed in on a scene and wondered – “Isn’t that boyishness ultimately the point?”
From the get-go April and Frank seem unevenly matched. She’s too savvy and cunning for Frank’s childish impulsiveness and the characters incongruence in ability gives way to the illusion of Kate and Leo being unevenly matched. But, instead of Leo working against his natural youthful inclinations to make Frank seem more mature he embraces it. And the film's climatic final argument between the two is a fine example. The first half of the scene, pre-monologue, is an exercise in Kate as April at her harshest goading Frank on to the point that DiCaprio's Frank just seems more and more facile.
Even when Kate rails she is composed and specific in her movements, Leonardo is less controlled and messier but it's to good effect. When he tries to cajole her into agreeing with him there's no inclination to believe. Frank just seems ill-judged and April's incredulity only makes him seem seem ridiculous.
All the boyishness we typically consider when we think of Leo is telegraphed into our own projects of Frank to good effect. But, this time, it isn't being used to appeal to us as it was excellently when he played another Frank in Catch Me If You Can. It's more ungainly. His subsequent breakdown via monologue doesn't retain the usual aspects that you represent with him. He is charmless, ineloquent and almost grossly unappealing. April's malicious taunting highlights this: "What're you going to do now? Are you going to hit me? To show me how much you love me?"
Don't worry, I can't be bothered! You're not worth the trouble it would take to hit you. You're not worth the powder it would take to blow you up. You're an empty, empty, hollow shell of a woman!
It's such a wonderful dichotomy between actual text and performance, though. The dialogue reads much more intimidating than it sounds coming from Leo. Even as this is unlike regular Leo it's still Leo using his typical attributes to good effect. He does seem more child than man, because there's nothing of the domineering bravura that you'd expect this delivery to be laced with. Instead Frank's anger is puerile. A misjudgement between intent and effect, or deliberate? I say the latter, especially as the monologue continues.
What the hell are you doing in my house if you hate me so much? Why the hell are you married to me? What the hell are you doing carrying my child?
It's the single best line-delivery in the film both vocally, and visually, for in that moment DiCaprio nails the idea of Frank. Sad, snivelling, pathetic and alone. It's A+ projection of character here. Imagine Frank and April, the warring couple with a cold wife and cheating husband from the '60s, as something from out of Mad Men. Leo doesn't play for the suavity of Don Draper, but for the uncertain confusion of Pete Campbell.
And in that juvenile way Frank's outbursts are more dangerous and hurtful than if he had decided to approach April with the countenance of an alpha-male.
I mean, why didn't you just get rid of it when you had the chance? Because listen to me. Listen to me, I got news for you. I wish to God that you had.
I maintain that this is Leo at his best because it’s such a fine example of an actor using their foibles for a better performance. All of his typically worse traits are at work here. His youthful appearance even in the most mature of roles, that weird thing his face does when he cries, the shrill voice when he shouts, hand-acting and it works in a way that’s almost perverse just because of how sad Frank is. There’s little about Frank Wheeler that’s charming or pleasant and it’s almost as if our own appreciation for Leo has soured into something perverse. It's why I've always loved Revolutionary Road, it's so wholly unromantic in intent and form to the point of being painful to watch.
I like Leo, so there are many performances of his that I like and even love but whenever I'm called to justify my appreciation for him as one of the best of his era I use Frank.
Happy birthday, Leo.
Do you agree that Frank Wheeler is the best example of his talents? What's your favourite performance of his?
Reader Comments (21)
My favorite Leo is a close call between Romeo+Juliet Leo and Catch Me If You Can Leo. He tends not to deliver when it comes down to big "acting" moments, always strikes me as a bit camera-aware (which isn't a bad thing for everyone, but which just does not work for him), but I like him quite a lot when he's relaxed. I've always wondered how he'd be if he were in a Manhattan-esque romcom.
Love Frank Wheeler but I'd say that's his second best. Billy Costigan for the win!
One of my least favorite DiCaprio performances, from the acting to the directing to the way he's shot. Sad but true.
I love the performances in this movie and I think it's not only Leo's best but Kate's as well.
He's looking very Pete Campbell at that birthday party to me.
I actually really liked his performance in Shutter Island. Second to Departed performance wise in his collaborations with Marty. And I think chunks of his Gatsby performance work. Nathaniel was right about the "old sports" lacking variation but I think he aced scenes like the flowers with Daisy and most of the last half hour of the movie
He is so good in Catch Me if You Can, and just unbelievably good looking. That was the height of his handsomeness.
I actually think Revolutionary Road is his best performance, and am to this day sad that he was widely dismissed for it.
Leo was so good in this. Much better than the film deserved and he acted circles around Kate in this (which is NOT what happened in their first collaboration).
My 3 favorite Leo performances. If ever you are feeling down on him as an actor, re-watch one of these, and discover/remember how good he can really be.
-What's Eating Gilbert's Grape
-The Departed
-Revolutionary Road
He was also quite good in Catch Me if You can & Shutter Island
He was downright bad in Inception and Gangs of New York
Somebody mentioned Pete Campbell and frankly, I enjoy Vincent Kartheiser's turn on that character type than what was on display in that movie. It's beautiful too look at but I just felt a disconnect with the material. To me Michael Shannon's role was so overly Cassandra to near anarchy because nothing matched it but it was such a typical trope of 'The crazy are the truth tellers'. I thought Winslet and DiCaprio were equally flailing but I contribute that to Mendes. It didn't help that it felt like well-worn territory with him. American Beauty meets Mad Men, except the banality in the entrapment in the suburbs on Mad Men feels much more arresting and therefore more believable. I am not into being told who these characters are supposed to be when I really cannot feel or see who they are.
Anyway:
1. What's Eating Gilbert Grape?- Come on, this is the real choice. It manages to be so believable without being offensive in the way portrayals of such people can be.
2. Catch Me If You Can- I miss him being this fun.
3. Shutter Island- I have such a weird relationship with him and Scorsese. To me the better Leo performance, the worse the film. Gangs of New York was such a passion project for Scorsese but oh boy, is Leo BAD. DDL is great and all the supporting players are on their A game but what a cipher. Shutter Island is a pastiche mess that has a lot of troubling elements beyond its genre movie pinnings, but Leo sells it even when it is pretty obvious where the film is going.
4. This Boy's Life- Much prefer his Tobias Wolff than Jim Carroll (What was done to The Basketball Diaries in adaptation was understandable but nevertheless maddening). Plus the film stayed true to the book and for an actor his age had really excellent rapport with Ellen Barkin (also great in it) and DeNiro. It's one of those YA coming of age tales that still works.
5. The Departed- Although, I was never into the Vera Farmiga coupling that a lot of people really liked because **ugh** Scorsese what happened to you and your female characters, one of the most underrated aspects of the character was his working class origins and that is a side about DiCaprio, if you knew about his upbringing would know he came from a better humbled background financially, that we never get to see him really play on. How this was not his nomination for that year is really a mystery. I hate it for being Scorsese's Best Picture/Best Director winner but how Damon and DiCaprio both lost out on nominations irked me, because it certainly was a better acting piece than a piece of writing/adaptation.
He's ok in Revolutionary Road, I guess. I just can't watch that movie without feeling like Winslet eats him alive. Even monologue-wise, she hands him his ass in a platter with her "remember the truth, Frank?" moment. I could not disagree anymore with anything the character is saying about truth and lies, but Winslet aces the delivery! I shudder everytime her tonal inflection changes from a sort of anguish and pain into sheer out indictement "they just get better at lying" and that firey anger that just pops in her eyes. Talk about range!
With DiCaprio I just find him to be such a sunny looking person. People often mistake darkness for depth, and that's why it takes long for one note performers to be called out for repetitiveness, provided they're doing dark/edgy characters (think Evan Rachel Wood's parade of bad girls that followed her killer turn in Thirteen). DiCaprio seem to be stuck in a mindset of "prooving himself" by constantly digging into dark projects. The contrast of how Apolinean he looks and how Dionisian the word is creates a little strangement, I guess. Some peeps find it unbelievable, all right but miscast, others joke about his furrowed brow.
When he chooses to go sunny, though, like Catch Me If You Can, or even Titanic, than that charisma shines through and he is unmatched. I was hoping Django would offer him a chance to put that charisma to good use and come up with a menacing yet alluring villain, but he ended up upstaged by Waltz's quirky/adorable turn and Sam Jackson's MVP performance (his best since Pulp Fiction).
I think he would benefit tremendously from something like Joaquin Phoenix's character in Her, for example! Or maybe a flashy David O. Russell comedy. Once he gets his head out somberville and let's his strentghs be the drive of his performance, he'll truly excel.
I love him Awakenings also! (The one with DeNiro and Ellen Barkin, not sure if that's the title).
He was aces in Revolutionary Road. When anyone asks me who's my favorite actor, i always go with Leonardo DiCaprio (even though i really do love Matt Damon who makes more interesting choices.)
Until his delightful turn in Django, it felt like Leo was playing the same tortured intense character over and over again which worked against him. At least with Django, he got the chance to branch out a bit but it would be nice if he chose a movie that wasn't solely conceived to be Oscar bait for a while.
I think if Revolutionary Road was released at a different time period where it wasn't already traveled ground with shows like Mad Men and Desperate Housewives, Leo (and Kate's) performance would've gotten the movie so much further. I definetely need to watch it again because i LOVED their fight scenes. Always so raw and visceral.
He's also one of the best male criers in the business if that makes any sense. In both Revolutionary Road and Shutter Island, whenever he breaks out into full fledged tears, i really feel for him.
(Plus, i'm secretly hoping that one day in the future, he and Kate will wind up together. Now THAT would be one celebrity couple that i would fully endorse. Have you seen the way they talk about each other in interviews? Ugh. Plus, they would have an AMAZING story to tell about how they met each other while filming one of the greatest movies in the world. Anyways, this is just a little diversion to get that out, hence the brackets)
Oh, yeah, Top 5:
What's Eating Gilbert Grape?
This Boy's Life
Marvin's Room
The Departed
Catch Me If You Can
Despite being in the biggest blockbuster in history for many years, he didn't rest on his success, and has consistently tried to bring intriguing, different, adult films, without one sequel or Big Dumb Summer Action Flick.
The Departed is my favorite Leo performance, hands down.
Then: Revolutionary Road, Marvin's Room, Gilbert Grape, Romeo & Juliet.
Never seen: Blood Diamond.
Don't care for: Gatsby, Shutter Island.
Have to go with Arnie Grape. I'm kind of surprised that more people aren't prioritizing his work from the 1990s.
Hands down, Leo's best performances are in The Departed, Catch Me if You Can, and What's Eating Gilbert Grape? Just don't ask me to rank those three, because I couldn't do it.
Andrew, a great piece. Leo, while not one of my favorites, is pretty terrific in RR and should have been nominated for an Oscar. It's some of his best work--he really gets to the truth of this sad, tragic character by, as you say, playing brilliantly to his own persona. And it all seems so effortless. Unlike his recent work in Gatsby, which is strained, and in Django, which is ever-so slightly miscalculated.
YES - I thought he was brilliant in REVOLUTIONARY ROAD - doing a brilliant job of standing over the precipice between boy and man - and revealing all kinds of ugly vulnerability and harshness. Just wonderful and very moving. The way he handles the betrayal is just amazing.
And YES - I tend to agree with everyone else - THE DEPARTED and BLOOD DIAMOND were great.
And of course, GILBERT GRAPE. But I also think he was quite good in TITANIC. He carried that huge movie on his shoulders easily and he played that scamp in a way that I still remember vividly. Actually they both - Leo and Kate - carried that huge epic film on their shoulders quite naturally. Those are movie stars, in my opinion - big enough and real enough so that all that spectacle was over shadowed by their doomed love.
I am loving how unattractive Leo is allowing himself to be - even in GATSBY. He's just so smarmy sometimes and I LOVE IT!
It's funny because people my age seem to be obsessed with him and I just don't get it. He's okay. I've seen great moments, like Romeo + Juliet, and I thought he was wonderful in Titanic. I've just never been blown away by him. He's not an actor who excites me.
As an aside, Kate Winslet totally should've won the Oscar for Revolutionary Road over The Reader. ~_~
These monologue features are so awesome. Judi Dench, Emma Thompson, and now Leonardo DiCaprio! Keep them coming, Andrew!
Loved DiCaprio in "Revolutionary Road." He should have been nominated for his efforts, and this is where Kate Winslet should have won her first Oscar, not for the suckitude she ended up winning for.
ITA with everyone who said Kate should have won for RR, NOT The Reader, which is a godawful, offensive piece of feces.
Did she deserve to win for either really when her best work had always been ignored seems l/day is going to flop.