Throughout the ages, men, in general are not supposed to cry at all and are supposed to be macho and bury their emotions. But it simply isn't true with most of them. I watched the Voice UK last year and I saw Danny O'Donague shed tears over his beloved finalist who inspires him so.
In the movies its the same thing. In 1939, actor Clark Gable refused to cry in the scene where Scarlett loses her baby, thinking it would ruin his image, but his co star Vivian Leigh convinced him go through with it. Ever since then there's been a great wide range of men unafraid to show their emotions on screen. Here are just a few examples:
1
Robert Downey Jr. The Singing Detective
Basically, this is the only scene in the movie to watch, because not only does it tie all the shoe laces to what can be described as flashes, hallucinations and unfinished story lines, manly over his unhappy childhood that led his character to extreme anger fits, its also an amazing piece of acting by Robert Downey Jr, pretty much one of his best scenes in his films.
2
Colin Farrell In Bruges
Farrell won a Golden Globe for Best Actor in a comedy for this film, and no wonder. His character as failed hitman Ray is both insanely and disgustingly hilarious and tragic at the same time. In this scene, depressed and ready to kill himself over the accidently killing a small boy, he makes history; he goes from being totally hilarious to tragically heartbreaking. I don't know how he did it, but it's just spot on great acting and should be applauded.
3
Tom Cruise Magnolia
Male Chauvinist Frank TJ Mackey puts on a huge front to his students be a proud misogynist, while inside he hurts tremendously from seeing his mother's heath deteriorate and then die, while harboring intense hateful feelings towards the father that left them both. When he pays visit to the dying father he hardly knows, he breaks down completely in tears, in both bitterness towards him and in grief that he is dying. A performance definitely worthy of an Oscar nomination.
4
Tom Hanks Forrest Gump
There's nothing worse than loosing the love of your life, and Tom Hank's emotional scene at Jenny's funeral is heartbreaking but powerful at the same time. He may have been stupid, but he knew what love was.
Al Pacino The Godfather part III
An older Michael Corleone confesses to a priest all the sins he committed in the first and second film, notably ordering the death of his brother Fredo. He then bursts into bitter tears after the confession. For some reason, many people had a problem with this scene, mainly because so much time had passed since the second film and a lot of things had happened since then. Nobody wanted to see Michael break down because of what he did. But I thought it was an important scene to show how much of a broken man he was and how he desperately wanted to take back the innocence that was forced off of him in the first film. I thoroughly enjoyed Godfather part III and Frances Ford Coppola made a brilliant conclusion to the epic series.
6
Will Smith Seven Pounds
This is definitely considered one of Will Smith's greatest performances. His portrayal of a man stricken with inconsolable grief and guilt and who goes on a journey to find different candidates who need a donor is beautifully spot on. Now the very strange thing here is , when it came out, it was critically bashed and flopped at the box office, but later cited as an excellent picture. I think the reason why is because men didn't want to see a grown man cry and feel guilty over something bad that happened to him. Also, it came out at Christmas, a festive and jolly season, and this film was a depressive dramatic film that perhaps no one wanted to see at that particular time (the same thing happened with The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo).
7
Robert De Niro Raging Bull
It's a particularly famous scene, in which Jake LaMotta, who lost everything, his family, his money, his fame and his freedom because of his violence, sleaziness and impulsiveness, is put in a cell to rot. He then pounds his head and his fists against a wall violently and breaks down in tears sobbing "They call me an animal, I'm not an animal, I'm not that bad". It's the definite portrayal of a man who has hit rock bottom.
8
Daniel Day-Lewis In The Name Of The Father
In this biopic on 4 innocent Irish people falsely convicted and imprisoned for an IRA crime involving the bombing of a pub, Daniel Day Lewis gives one of his best performances of his career. Poor Gerry Conlan is slapped around and screamed at in order to get him sign a false confession. Sobbing hysterically, the tortured soul signs out of desperation to end his misery, only for him and his family to be horrifically vilified in court as murderers and psychopaths and sent to prison. It's probably one of the best films involving false accusations ever.
9
Jeremy Irons Dead Ringers
The co dependant relationship the Mantle twin gynaecologists share, along with their marvellous work is shattered when one of them becomes a drug addict and looses his grip on things. A depressed and paranoid Beverly cries miserably to his twin brother Eli (also played by Jeremy Irons) that he believes his loved one is cheating on him. Unfortunately, once Beverly completely snaps, Eli slowly follows suit, leading to tragedy.
10
Christopher Walken The Deer Hunter
A less notable scene than the infamous Russian Roulette sequences, this moment takes place in a hospital, where a couple of doctors ask Walken's character Nick some personal questions. According to director Michael Cimino, he told the actor who played the doctor to keep on pressing Walken for answers and told Walken not answer or say a word. This led to the memorable moment where he tries to speak, but chokes on his own words and breaks down in tears.
11
Heath Ledger Brokeback Mountain
The scene in the cabin, where Ennis hugs his late lover's clothes and his eyes fill up with tears, whispering "Jack, I swear." is one of the most heart breaking moments in the film, or in any film for that matter. It's once again proof that Heath Ledger possessed something really special in his acting ability.
12
Simon Pegg Shaun of the Dead
This is an amazing movie. A laugh out loud hilarious, wittily intelligent, rom com - with Zombies.
The titular character Shaun is the average loser, constantly failing and finally falling out with his girlfriend. The next day, he is stuck in a bar with his mates fending off zombies.
Despite the the film being incredibly funny, there are also sad moments and Simon Pegg sheds many tears to keep the situation dramatic and then it shifts swiftly back to humour, which makes it the perfect horror comedy
13
Kevin Kline in The Ice Storm
(Spoilers beware)
In this tale of infidelity, family relationships and sexuality, dealing with the social and economic changes of the 70s, a few families are somewhat reunited together at the end after a terrible tragedy. Kevin Kline's character Ben Hood, sobs uncontrollably in the car with his family after a local child is killed in an accident. At the end of the film, I too was in tears. Ang Lee's brilliant and beautiful adaptation of Rick Moody's novel touches with such a profound level at human emotion, it makes it one of the best films of the late 90s.
14
Benedict Cumberbatch in The Imitation Game
This is probably the most disturbing one on this list. Mainly because the main character, real life codebreaker, father of computer science and gay icon, Alan Turing, is so complexly engaging and likeable. By the end of the film, due to the chemical castration the authorities gave him to "cure" his homosexuality, he is physically, mentally and emotional unstable. Usually stoic and in control, he completely breaks down in intense sobbing. Hard to watch is an understatement.
Cumberbatch confessed that he couldn't stop crying after the first take of the scene. Quite frankly neither could I, after watching it.
No comments:
Post a Comment