Best Of Ethan Hawke
Over an eclectic, near 40-year career, Ethan Hawke has played everyone from Hamlet to Pat Garrett and Nikola Tesla.
During that time, the ‘90s heartthrob has picked up four Oscar nominations, two of them for writing. As one of his first major TV roles, The Good Lord Bird’s abolitionist John Brown, becomes available to all Kiwis for free via TVNZ+, Stuff to Watch takes a look back at six of the now 52 year old’s finest performances so far (and lets you know where you can watch them right now).
Before Sunset (Netflix)
When Celine (Julie Delpy) met Jesse (Ethan Hawke) on the Budapest-Vienna train in 1995’s Before Sunrise, Generation Xers everywhere were enchanted. Nine years later, Richard Linklater brought the two back together for an even more memorable sequel. Shifting the action to the streets of Paris, this takes Sunrise’s one-evening-stand concept to its real-time extreme. Instead of more than eight hours, Jesse and Celine this time have only 80 minutes in which to discuss politics, religion, relationships and fuzzy memories, while taking in the sights and sounds along the Seine. Sending up his own slightly pretentious persona of the time, Hawke is outstanding. “An intelligent, engagingly honest study of love lost and, just maybe, regained,” wrote Empire magazine’s Liz Beardsworth.
Dead Poets Society (Disney+)
Carpe diem indeed. While Robin Williams certainly seized the day with his inspiring and hilarious turn as English professor John Keating in Peter Weir’s 1989 teen drama, Hawke was one of several young actors who had their reputations enhanced by starring alongside him. Looking extremely fresh faced, Hawke played Todd Anderson, an introvert who discovers and then must face the potential loss of both a mentor and a best friend. “Hawke, as the painfully shy Todd, gives a haunting performance,” wrote Variety magazine.
Gattaca (Rent from iTunes, YouTube)
Kiwi-born Andrew Niccol wrote and directed this thoughtprovoking and thrilling 1997 sci-fi drama. Hawke plays Vincent Freeman, a young man who was conceived outside
the dystopian authority’s eugenics programme and is struggling to overcome genetic discrimination to realise his dream of going into space. “It’s firmly rooted in Hawke’s masterful humanity, making this less a sci-fi epic than a simple (and simply wonderful) lesson in humanity and the direction in which one hopes it’s not heading,” wrote Austin Chronicle’s Marc Savlov.
Reality Bites (Rent from iTunes, YouTube, AroVision)
Ben Stiller helmed and starred in this insightful and irreverent 1994 comedy that became a touchstone for Generation X-ers everywhere. Featuring Hawke, Winona Ryder and Janeane Garofolo as their characters pursue love and employment, it also boasted a mega-popular soundtrack that showcased The Knack, Big Mountain, Lisa Loeb and even Crowded House.
“Ryder and Hawke bring crucial authenticity to their roles with effortless appeal,” wrote Seattle Times’ Jeff Shannon.
Training Day (Rent from YouTube, iTunes)
He might play second-fiddle to an Oscar-winning turn from Denzel Washington, but Hawke is superb as a junior LAPD narcotics officer who finds himself in over his head when he spends one day being evaluated by the highly decorated but dirty Detective Sergeant Alonzo Harris. His performance in Antoine Fuqua’s 2001 tale earned him his own Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor. “Director Fuqua, Mr Washington, Mr Hawke and the rest prove that there’s nothing wrong with the urban-crime genre that a little energy can’t cure,” wrote Dallas Morning News’ Philip Wuntch.