British! Actors! Playing flawed geniuses!
British! Actors! Playing flawed geniuses!
British! Actors! Play-
#17 The Imitation Game
Our second "actor plays flawed British genius" movie in a row on the countdown is also the second Oscar nominee in a row. Remember when all Benedict Cumberbatch was doing was reinventing Sherlock Holmes as we know it? Well since then, the kid's been busy. Beyond outstanding supporting turns in Twelve Years a Slave and August: Osage County, he's taken on infamous real-life villainy (The Fifth Estate), space-icon reboot villainy (Star Trek Into Darkness) and giant CGI fantasy novel icon villainy (The Desolation of Smaug). This time, he gets to be one of the good icons, British hero Alan Turing, whose code cracking of the Nazi Enigma is credited for helping to end World War II. And, oh yeah-he's also considered by just about everybody to be the godfather of modern computers.
So did Cumberbatch do him proud? Hell yes. The social anxieties are on full display as Cumberbatch demonstrates a man who can't quite connect with people because he can't figure out a way to break them down into algorithms. And unfortunately, neither can the movie; Turing's (with the possible exception of Keira Knightley's Joan Clarke) is the only character who isn't completely underdeveloped and one dimensional. That, the fact that the movie tiptoes lightly around Turing's homosexuality (which eventually led to his demise), and the cut-aways to "war" footage which looked remarkably like close-ups of model tanks and B2 bombers in an 11-year old's bedroom were the detractors in an otherwise great movie that educates us feeble-minded on what Enigma was without making us feel stupid. The spotlight belongs to Cumberbatch, in one of the most perfectly calculated and skillfully restrained performances in recent memory.
#16 The Overnighters
At the heart of most religions lies one basic ideal: love thy neighbor. Pastor Jay Reineke, of Williston, North Dakota makes the case again and again in a captivating documentary called The Overnighters. At the height of the recent oil boom, his church offers refuge and housing to the packs and packs of men descending on the community hoping to make a life for themselves or money to send back to their families.
The principles of supply and demand have clamped down their unruly claws on the town, and there isn't a bed or piece of land in town that isn't laughably overpriced. Reineke's church, over the course of a two-year period, allows around 1,000 men to sleep in the cafeterias and gym. They sleep on mats, sleeping bags, towels and whatever else they can find, in exchange for some light help around the church. The film spends the majority of its runtime focusing on Pastor Reineke, but there are fascinating stories shared with both him and the director by the men who have sacrificed their livelihood to be in the middle of nowhere. Their outlooks run the gamut of discouraged and desolate to willing and able, and both the gleam in their eyes and the lack thereof are as real as it can be.
After a while, the church begins to question Reineke's motives, especially after he offers to house a ex-con in his family's basement. He responds to their criticism with the rhetorical "So if we're supposedly good Christians, then why are we turning our backs on these men?" He argues that everyone deserves a fresh start, and in an unexpected and shocking way, eventually becomes his own self-fulfilling prophecy. It's a movie that leads to big-picture discussions and moral-compass checks, and one that you won't be able to shake. If you can find it, it's a must-see.
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