Thursday December 4th, 2003
- Dreamworks Pictures SKG invited the “Moving Images” team to attend a press screening of the “House of Sand and Fog” at the Coliseum theatre in Ottawa. While offering a solid performance by Ben Kingsley as one of the lead characters, the overall opinion was that this film was awash in lost metaphors and confusing cinematography. Discussion then moved to Robert Downey Jr. : the bad boy reformed. Chris, Geoff and Peter all concurred that Downey Jr. is one of the greatest actors of his generation – having successfully dissociated himself from the brat pack days. It’s not every day that an actor can effectively replicate the work of a genius. Downey Jr., while awash in drug and alcohol addiction, still managed to cement his status as an amazing performer by taking on one of the toughest roles in cinema: becoming Charlie Chaplin. He did so to perfection in 1992, and has been on a professional winning streak ever since. As one of cinema’s most underrated actors, with the most overblown tabloid image, Downey Jr. recently emerged to standing ovations at the Toronto International Film Festival for his performance in “The Singing Detective.” Chris, Geoff and Peter had the chance to see this film at the Bytowne, and while the film narrative is disjointed, all three reviewers concur that the “Singing Detective” is amazing. The bleakness of the storytelling only help to accentuate the profundity of Downey Jr.’s challenge of playing a man caught in the nightmare of his life that is now foggy fiction due to agonizing emotional and physical pain.