JA from MNPP here, adopting the HDH authorship reins from Nat for a moment to give a little appreciation to (slash rant over) a man I've come to feel defensive over lately in what appears to me to be an endless onslaught of oversights. Basically what I'm getting at is...is the Ralph Fiennes love?
Granted I'm starting to seem obnoxious with my praise-singing for the man so perhaps nothing short of a Presidential bid would sate my thirst, but I think Meryl knew well enough at the SAGs when she planted a big wet one on him - what better way to celebrate? I wish the world would follow suit. Ralph should be positively drowning in sloppy-tongued accolades, yet it's as if a giant cricket croaks its weary tune whenever it comes to an enthusiastic reception of his consistently admirable work.
And I don't get it. From where I'm standing the man gave two fine performances this year: oh sure, his work in The Reader is the sort of understated stuff that awards bodies hardly ever go anywhere near (what clip could they possibly show when he never screams or cries or bleeds out?), but what really saddens me is the lack of love for his delightfully profane comic performance in In Bruges, which was one of the funniest things I've seen all year. Just imagine a clip of his "Inanimate Object" speech smacking up against Phillip Seymour Hoffman's beatific glow in Doubt! That's what magic is made from.
And that Ralph can swing so effortlessly from that bared-teeth f-bomb snarl in Bruges to that quiet bruised stare in The Reader... I haven't seen it but he appears to have made powerful work of the part of Doris Duke's swishy butler in the TV movie Bernard and Doris opposite Susan Sarandon... then earlier this year he was seducing and destroying Keira Knightly in The Duchess... and then there's his recurring gig as the Evilest Evil To Ever Evil called Well I ask you, where does Ralph's never-ending parade of talent slam into the critical praise that he so richly deserves, that's what I want to know. Somebody tell me where that place is, cuz I'm booking a room. Me and Ralph and a medieval f@$%ing bowling alley for two!
.
