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Thursday, January 13, 2011

Franco. American.

Tuesday night I saw 127 Hours, and while (contrary to my older brother's opinion) it's not the best film of 2010, it is still an excellent movie.  And quite simply what makes the movie worth seeing is Franco's performance as Aron Ralston.

I was a little wary when I heard that Danny Boyle was going to make this movie.  You have to wonder, after all, how to make a guy stuck alone in a canyon for five days something you want to watch.  Besides his self-amputation (and don't tell me that's a spoiler - if you don't know about that then you've been living in a deeper pit than Ralston was in), it's hard to imagine much excitement.  But the movie works, and like I said, that rests solely on the shoulders of Franco.  The movie is pure character piece, and a bad actor would've turned it into a TV movie of the week.  Franco really manages to emote the full range of what this guy went through without ever dipping into melodrama.

Melodrama like this:



Now tell me, how many other actors can you picture doing daytime soaps and Oscar-worthy performances within months of one another?  But that's just the tip of the iceberg for Franco.  When I read this article - The James Franco Project - a few months back, it really boosted my appreciation of the guy.  I mean, I always remember thinking he was good, going all the way back to the Freaks and Geeks days (which if you haven't seen, you should stop everything immediately and go watch now).  But the New York magazine really opened my eyes to the kind of guy he is, just enjoying every possible aspect of his life and always trying something new and different.  Read the article if you get the chance - it's a bit long, but it kept me interested the whole way through.  By the end, you'll probably feel like I did, and want to be like Franco just a little bit more.

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