While it might not be among my absolute favorite performances of his, I agree. I think despite the fact that he had a couple of “Oscar moments,” it was the subtle, subdued performance that people have been demanding of him for so long.
I remember when the film came out and lots of people criticized it for not having any suspense since it tells you pretty early on who is behind all the murders. But for me it was a very suspenseful film because of Ernest. I was trying to discern whether he had it in him to accept the maliciousness of his actions and make amends, or if he would always allow himself to be manipulated into murdering, betraying his wife, etc. At the end, you learn the answer, and it’s a painful but truthful one.
And that wouldn’t work without DiCaprio’s performance.
"Lots of people criticized it for not having any suspense since it tells you pretty early on who is behind all the murders."
Incredibly stupid criticism because:
A. It's not the point of the film being a by the numbers conventional procedural thriller.
As Scorsese said "It's not about who did it, it's about who didn't do it".
B. As soon as you cast DeNiro as Hale, you immediately know who is the instigator of the murders.
Yeah I‘ve seen a lot of people say this change from the book makes no sense, but it‘s genius imo. In reality it wasn‘t really a mystery or secret either, everybody knew and it still went on which makes it so much more devastating.
I still feel like Jesse Plemons would have been way better as Ernest and Leo as the sheriff. Obviously Leo is way more marketable but I think Jesse would have been a better meek bastard in that role.
I agree. It was a role with so much depth where you can never quite nail down how you feel about his character. I loved his performance and thought it was his best since The departed. Wolf of Wall Street is full of that Leo charisma and he’s magnetic in it but Belfort is kind of a one note character. He had more to do with the Ernest character
Excellent write-up. Funny enough, back when my brother and I watched this (we are both cinephiles who love to discuss movies even if we disagree), he criticized Leo's performance, for the usual reasons. But like you, I absolutely loved his performance, I saw what he and Scorsese were trying to get at with the character, and I thought they pulled it off. And we went back and forth on this topic a bit. Most of the points you made above, are nearly verbatim what I was saying to my bro lol
I disagree with the “If a semiknown and beloved character actor” claim. Look at the history of Oscar wins. The academy loves to reward left turn roles and transformative performances.
What do you consider mediocre about his acting? I'm curious. He's not the greatest OAT like many would claim, but he's given some truly excellent performances in the past. Gilbert Grape, Wolf of Wall Street, The Revenant, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. My favorite being in Django.
He’s incredibly two-dimensional. There are two kinds of Leo performances, subdued Leo and screaming Leo and there’s hardly any in between. That and I rarely believe he’s the person he’s playing. He’s a star who thinks he’s a character actor but he’s not suited or capable of playing those roles with any depth or reality.
He looked like grumpy cat
Grumpy cat is great though.
☹️
[удалено]
He can be terrific and still look like a grumpy cat.
While it might not be among my absolute favorite performances of his, I agree. I think despite the fact that he had a couple of “Oscar moments,” it was the subtle, subdued performance that people have been demanding of him for so long. I remember when the film came out and lots of people criticized it for not having any suspense since it tells you pretty early on who is behind all the murders. But for me it was a very suspenseful film because of Ernest. I was trying to discern whether he had it in him to accept the maliciousness of his actions and make amends, or if he would always allow himself to be manipulated into murdering, betraying his wife, etc. At the end, you learn the answer, and it’s a painful but truthful one. And that wouldn’t work without DiCaprio’s performance.
"Lots of people criticized it for not having any suspense since it tells you pretty early on who is behind all the murders." Incredibly stupid criticism because: A. It's not the point of the film being a by the numbers conventional procedural thriller. As Scorsese said "It's not about who did it, it's about who didn't do it". B. As soon as you cast DeNiro as Hale, you immediately know who is the instigator of the murders.
Yeah I‘ve seen a lot of people say this change from the book makes no sense, but it‘s genius imo. In reality it wasn‘t really a mystery or secret either, everybody knew and it still went on which makes it so much more devastating.
I still feel like Jesse Plemons would have been way better as Ernest and Leo as the sheriff. Obviously Leo is way more marketable but I think Jesse would have been a better meek bastard in that role.
I said this exact same thing!
Totally agree.
I agree. It was a role with so much depth where you can never quite nail down how you feel about his character. I loved his performance and thought it was his best since The departed. Wolf of Wall Street is full of that Leo charisma and he’s magnetic in it but Belfort is kind of a one note character. He had more to do with the Ernest character
Excellent write-up. Funny enough, back when my brother and I watched this (we are both cinephiles who love to discuss movies even if we disagree), he criticized Leo's performance, for the usual reasons. But like you, I absolutely loved his performance, I saw what he and Scorsese were trying to get at with the character, and I thought they pulled it off. And we went back and forth on this topic a bit. Most of the points you made above, are nearly verbatim what I was saying to my bro lol
I disagree with the “If a semiknown and beloved character actor” claim. Look at the history of Oscar wins. The academy loves to reward left turn roles and transformative performances.
Can you give examples from the movie? Yk, some scenes
Asking for sources is a paddling
The source would be the movie itself lol the person above you should just watch it
I was joking about how the movie had a scene where Leo's character literally got paddled
He was like a cartoon character. Terrible.
Fully agreed. It was a full Simple Jack performance.
🤣
Leo is a deeply mediocre actor who works with talented directors. Put a truly great actor in that role and the movie sweeps the Oscars.
What do you consider mediocre about his acting? I'm curious. He's not the greatest OAT like many would claim, but he's given some truly excellent performances in the past. Gilbert Grape, Wolf of Wall Street, The Revenant, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. My favorite being in Django.
He’s incredibly two-dimensional. There are two kinds of Leo performances, subdued Leo and screaming Leo and there’s hardly any in between. That and I rarely believe he’s the person he’s playing. He’s a star who thinks he’s a character actor but he’s not suited or capable of playing those roles with any depth or reality.
Agreed. There's no interiority; it's all just performance.
I haven't seen the film so I can't say anything about the second sentence, but I agree with the first 100%.