Ask Mick LaSalle:
What will the effect of #MeToo be on Harpo Marx?
Hi Mick LaSalle: Do you think the shift in the public’s awareness of sexual harassment will alter how we perceive older movies? For example, how will the new consciousness view someone like Harpo Marx chasing and grabbing at pretty girls?
Ken Kirste, Sunnyvale Hi Ken Kirste: If people see Harpo Marx as dangerous and anarchic, they see him in the right way. That character is anything but safe. He’s disturbed and disturbing, intentionally so. (When I was a kid, he scared me, especially when he played the harp.) The inevitable shifting perceptions with regard to public mores invariably transform how we see movies from other eras. That’s fine. But the value of earlier work is not how well it comports with the sentiments of some future time it wasn’t remotely thinking about, but rather how well it expresses its own true soul. Dear Mick: My best actor Oscar goes to Daniel Day-Lewis for “Phantom Thread” over Gary Oldman for “Darkest Hour.” Why is the Academy so keen on biopic performances?
Arnie Hoffman, Sunnyvale Dear Arnie: Generally speaking, I think it’s easier for peers to award their colleagues for being someone else rather than for being themselves. If you vote for George Clooney in “Michael Clayton” or “Up in the Air” or for Holly Hunter in “Broadcast News,” you are celebrating a performance you could never possibly give, because those great performances are so tied to the personalities of the respective actors. But if you celebrate Nicole Kidman in “The Hours” or Jamie Foxx in “Ray,” it’s easier on the ego. Then you’re celebrating a transformation, and it’s easy to imagine oneself winning an Oscar for undergoing a similar transformation. Then there’s also the fact that many people in the Academy aren’t actors or even associated with acting, and so they have the same misconceptions about acting as the general public, that it’s all a matter of putting on a mask, when it’s really about the ability to take the mask off. However, I have to disagree with you about Gary Oldman in “Darkest Hour.” There are some chameleonic performances that are revelatory — Day-Lewis’ performance as Abraham Lincoln was one of them. Everyone who ever tried to play Churchill has failed, and I do mean failed, as in bombed, as in cringe-inducing, as in not worth watching: Brian Cox, Albert Finney, Richard Burton, Timothy Spall, John Lithgow, Bob Hoskins ... Oldman took time to look at the actual man, and what he saw was someone with humor and energy, who was endearing and full of fun and also such a character that some people didn’t take him seriously. He studied him, and then he burrowed in. He should win the Oscar, and I’d say that even if Day-Lewis hadn’t won three Oscars already, including one he shouldn’t have, for “There Will Be Blood.” Good morning, Mick: If you were not a film critic and saw fewer movies, what would be your criteria for choosing which movies to see? The plot? The actors/director? The reviews? Awards won?
Paul Sheinfeld, Novato Good morning, Paul: If I were not a film critic, I’d probably see four or five movies a week, but I’d rarely go to a movie theater. Instead I’d catch up on things that I’m interested in and that I’ve had no time to see. I’d go to a new movie maybe once a month and make my choices based on all the criteria you mentioned, though mostly the cast and the story. For example, of all the movies out now, if I were a consumer, I’d have definitely gone to see “Darkest Hour” and probably would have seen “I, Tonya,” in each case, because of the subject. And I very well might have seen “Molly’s Game,” because of who’s in it. This means I would have missed a lot of good movies, but I would have also seen other good movies. I have at least 40 French movies on my DVR that I’ve never had time to watch. Some have been on there for years.
Have a question? Ask Mick LaSalle at mlasalle@sfchronicle.com. Include your name and city for publication, and a phone number for verification. Letters may be edited for clarity and length.