Top Five Performances: Peter Dinklage

Peter Dinklage caught my attention the first time I saw him, with his miniscule but hilarious role in Elf.  It took a couple more appearances (both of which make this list) for me to fully board the Dinklage train, but once I did, there was no turning back.  I’ve seen a wide swathe of his film and television roles, and these, for my money, are the best.

Tito (Living in Oblivion)

Dinklage made an excellent debut in this odd little indie film about the making of an odd little indie film (it also features dream sequences about filming a dream sequence – meta, thy name is Living in Oblivion.)  Tito, a long-suffering actor, voices his disapproval throughout the shoot, first passive aggressively and later explicitly in this epic rant about dwarfs in dream sequences.

Fin McBride (The Station Agent)

Fin is definitely Dinklage’s breakout role and, for me, the “I will love this actor forever” role.  It’s a subtle but searing performance of a quiet loner slowly coming into a family.  By turns, he’s wonderfully deadpan, righteously indignant, heartbreaking, falling apart at the seams, and gently courageous.  He’s a fantastic introvert protagonist; I love introducing people to this character.

Maurice (Tiptoes)

Make no mistake – Tiptoes is a hot mess of a film.  It’s all over the place, an interesting idea with really haphazard execution.  However, I’ll basically forgive all of it (including the weirdness of casting Gary Oldman in the lead as a man with dwarfism, not to mention one meant to be the same age as Matthew McConaughey) for the sake of Dinklage’s performance.  He’s awesome as Maurice, the immensely watchable friend of Oldman’s character with a lust for life, a penchant for trouble, and a somewhat ridiculous French accent.  True, it would’ve made far more sense to cast him as the lead, but then we would’ve missed out on this unforgettable performance.

Arthur Ramsey (Threshold)

Though Threshold, a short-lived series about a cobbled-together team of experts investigating an alien invasion, isn’t as good as it could have been, Ramsey is made of win.  I hadn’t known that a cocky, hard-drinking, womanizing linguist was something I needed in my life, but it totally is.  Dinklage does equally well with Ramsey’s self-destructive tendencies, his probing intellect, and his more reflective side.

Tyrion Lannister (Game of Thrones)

Apparently, Ramsey prefaced this role – here’s another cocky, hard-drinking, womanizing brainiac with a sharp tongue, but Tyrion is so distinct from Dinklage’s work on Threshold.  He’s entirely his own character, a real treat to watch.  Dinklage wonderfully portrays his gambles, fears, insecurities, blusters, ecstasies, victories, and despairs.  From his moments of heroism to his darker limits, Tyrion always keeps me guessing, and I’m so glad to have him on my TV.

Top Five Roles: Christian Bale

I’ve been side-eying Exodus:  Gods and Kings for using a depressingly-white cast to tell its Egyptian story, and Christian Bale’s remarks on the subject do him no favors.  Still, whatever my thoughts about this movie, the fact remains that he’s an excellent actor who’s brought some fantastic characters to life over his long and varied career.  These are the roles that rise to the top.

Jim Graham (Empire of the Sun)

Obviously, Spielberg had a hand in this – any time someone so young gives such a performance, it’s safe to assume they had a terrific director – but it’s just sublime all the same.  Bale hits every note in this demanding role, a privileged young expat who lands in a Japanese prison camp after the war separates him from his parents.  As sheltered Jim learns to survive his deadly situation, you can’t take your eyes off of him.  27 years later, the P-51 scene is still some of his best work.

Laurie (Little Women)

This was the first film I saw Bale in, although I didn’t know it was him until years later.  I love this engaging, passionate performance as the spirited neighbor of the March girls.  Both he and the film get it just right, that Laurie isn’t a brooding, romantic hero as the girls first imagine him.  Rather, he’s a boy through and through, one with a sly sense of humor, a lust for life, and an ache for companionship.  Even as I see why Jo/Laurie wouldn’t work, I love to watch them together.

Bobby Platt (All the Little Animals)

I’d wager that this odd indie film is mainly known by fans of Bale, John Hurt, or the book it’s based on.  Bobby is a gentle young man with a TBI who runs away from his abusive stepfather.  Along the way, he meets an old loner who, like Bobby, gets along with animals better than people, and Bobby joins his work of putting animals killed by human indifference to rest.  He’s a lovely character, sweet but strong even in his vulnerability, well realized by Bale.

Patrick Bateman (American Psycho)

This one’s obvious, but that doesn’t make it any less necessary.  As the murderous yuppie Patrick Bateman, Bale commits 100% to the insanity within and without his character.  There’s the calm, matter-of-fact way he dispatches some victims and the gleeful relish with which he does in others.  There are his obsessions, his vanity, his materialism, and his absolute bats-in-the-belfry craziness, and his acting in the “Hip to Be Square” scene is one for the ages.

John Preston (Equilibrium)

I really like this sleek, dystopian action piece, and Bale is terrific as a man who’s lived a muted, artificial life but whose eyes have been opened to the full expanse of human emotion.  He’s great as first the emotionless citizen, then the lost man overwhelmed by foreign sensations, and finally the rebel whose feelings bleed through his mask of blankness.  Tons of wonderful moments, but my favorite has to be Preston, his emotions undampened, hearing music for the first time.

Top Five Roles: Gary Oldman

Anyone who read my Capaldi Fall posts or who’s currently enjoying Buster Mondays has probably noticed that I like working my way through filmographies.  Though there aren’t many actors whose complete work (or even complete readily-accessible work) I’ve seen, there are plenty from whom I’ve seen a lot.  I got into Gary Oldman back in college (I rented DVDs from Blockbuster the store, not even online – the millennial Dark Ages,) and of all the projects I watched then and since, these are the ones I like best.  (Not necessarily the ones that I think objectively are the best, but the five that are the most up my alley.)

 

Sirius Black, Harry Potter

 

These are the films that first made me take notice of Oldman.  It’s true that he was far too old for the role (casting Alan Rickman as Snape necessitated aging up everyone in that generation) and his part often got the short shrift in the films, but he’s really excellent in them.  I love the haunted quality he has in The Prisoner of Azkaban, and Sirius’s connection with Harry throughout the series is just spot on.  

 

 

Rosencrantz, Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead

 

…And here’s the film that made Oldman one of “my” actors.  I adore Rosencrantz so much.  I love that he’s played, not as dumb, but as artless and overwhelmed.  His almost childlike curiosity is endearing, and even though he often defers to Guildenstern as the thinker of the pair, he’s not content to be the yes-man all the time.  And the “dead in a box” speech?  Made.  Of.  WIN!

 

 

Emmett Foley, Chattahoochee

 

Some might call Chattahoochee a poor man’s One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, and it’s not an entirely unfair assessment, but Oldman is sublime in it.  Emmett, a Korean War vet with PTSD placed in a horrifically subpar mental institution, is an immensely rootable protagonist.  His pain is searing, his fight for dignity for himself and his fellow patients is admirable, and as his stay in Chattahoochee grows longer and longer, his perseverance is incredible.

 

 

Sid Vicious, Sid and Nancy

 

Sure, playing an anarchic, drug-addled rock star is a bit showboat-y.  Believe me, though, when I say Oldman earns every second of it.  It’s an exciting, very early role for him, and his fascinating performance as the Sex Pistols bassist is by turns kinetic, immature, brash, heartfelt, and gritty.

 

 

Jackie Flannery, State of Grace

 

Oldman is pitch perfect as a mercurial mobster in this mob/cop saga.  The younger brother of a Hell’s Kitchen gang leader, Jackie is the kind of supporting role that up-and-coming actors (like Oldman was at the time) kill for.  He’s tons of fun, but he also has some pretty dark edges and his moments of anguish are painfully genuine.  Terrific all the way through.