As we draw to a close on awards season, I would say there are many actors and performances that were overlooked on Oscar season, Tilda Swinton in "I am Love" and Katie Jarvis from "Fishtank" come to mind. Of course it's the Academy, we come to expect their predictable favoritism to mostly non-challenging films.
I'm still trying to keep with my deadline of watching as many of 2010's movies before the big night, but for now, I'm counting down my choice for some of the best of last year. Instead of choosing an obvious best actor or actress from last year, I've chosen a performer who I think has embodied the best of what 2010 had to offer. This year it goes to Matt Damon, a man who is becoming more and more interesting to watch as an actor, and as time goes is becoming a full fledged movie star in his own right.
The Academy missed Damon's best performance so far in his career in 2009 when he was overlooked for his tragic-comic portrayal of an incompetent whistle blower in Steven Sodebergh's "The Informant" which was one of the best films of last year. Instead he was nominated for Clint Eastwood's interesting but ultimately safe soccer/apartheid film "Invictus". Damon put on a South African accent for that role, but "The Informant" was the better film and better role.
As 2010 came along, Damon didn't slow down at all, he has embodied the kind of reliability on screen that movie stars should show. If George Clooney is our generation's Cary Grant, then Matt Damon surely must be our Henry Fonda, there's something quiet and heroic about him, he never seems to show off, but there is much going on in his head. Even though he's best considered a man of action, Damon never lets that get in the way of honing his craft.
2010 gave Damon roles to show off his movie star charisma tenfold. He was first seen early last March in Paul Greengrass's overlooked and underrated Irag action film "Green Zone", playing a military field operator wondering why he and his team haven't found any weapons of mass destruction. The film is an intense action film which fictionalizes the political repercussions of America going to war, it may simplify the issues for a pop corn audience, yet it remains intelligent visually giving a realistic action movie that Damon and Greengrass probably perfected with "The Bourne Supremacy".
Later in October, Damon was seen as the primary star in Clint Eastwood's examination of the afterlife in "Hereafter". Damon plays a man tortured with an extraordinary gift of contacting loved ones from the dead. It becomes a burden for him, he chooses to think of his gift as a curse, rather than a blessing.
There was much criticism for the film when it was first released, some people thought the multiple storylines and the coincidences in the film were unrealistic, however I found it a touching film, and Damon comes off the best with his low key unassuming performance, it's here where he shows off how much an actor doesn't have to "act" so much.
Damon's banner year ended with a supporting role in The Coen Brother's "True Grit", which became his biggest success of the year. Damon plays LeBeuf (pronounced Le Beef)a Texas Ranger, who joins forces with Jeff Bridges' Rooster Cogburn to track down a wanted killer.
"True Grit" was probably the most crowd pleasing film I saw all year, it had characters who were endearing and heroes who had a certain honor. LeBeuf starts off rather cocky and arrogant, yet as the film progresses, we learn more about him and he has his own square to settle. "True Grit" tackles the classic western themes of heroism, and Damon fits in just right, getting the chance to be a little broad and funny, but never losing the sense of the character.
There were other great performances last year, but what Matt Damon showed this year, and why I like going to his movies is his natural charisma, he has all the stylings of a movie star and that's just as important in movies as the character actors who like to immerse themselves in a role. Damon shows a smartness in front of the camera most modern movie stars don't, he also picks interesting and challenging roles. Chances are when you go into a Matt Damon movie, you'll see at least something that's always worth watching.
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