Prisoners may be Gyllenhaal’s best performance?

Just watched Prisoners for, I believe, my third time.

First off, I think this movie is a home run. It’s got an all star cast, brilliant performances, a genuinely original storyline with emotionally complex characters, a lovely muted color palette (love the omission of any red lights on the police cars, only blue), and an unyieldingly raw tone (it was initially rated NC-17, so they had to cut some scenes to get it down to R).

But the main thing I noticed on this watch was Jake Gyllenhaal. I was floored by his performance in this one. He was able to paint such a complete picture of who detective Loki is and what drives him. His stoic nature (which vitally balances out the quite large performances of Jackman and the other actors), his slow steady drifting from emotional objectivity, even the way he blinks. He portrays this character who is undoubtedly good, yet is someone I would definitely not want to hang out with.

When comparing his performance in Prisoners with Nightcrawler - another of his more recent acclaimed performances - it really showcases the range. Two very non-charming, off-center characters, but on two ends of the spectrum in terms of almost all aspects of performance and delivery.

Really can’t get enough of this film. Would love to hear some thoughts!

Submitted January 30, 2021 at 03:35PM by dailybop https://ift.tt/3r5YUE0