It’s far easier to be swallowed by a quagmire of mediocrity than it is to rise above it and emerge with something approaching quality, or even watchability.
And that is what happens, almost all the time. Most movies are average, that is just the nature of the beast. They have average scripts, average direction and relevant to this question, average performances.
Joy and Southpaw are, in the grand scheme of things, two distinctly average movies. There’s nothing particularly exciting about either of them. The two movies, released within six months of each other in 2015, are fairly run-of-the-mill efforts. They are “mediocre.”
But for brief moments, they rise above mediocrity. They are dragged out of the sinkhole through the sheer magnetism of their two leads, Jennifer Lawrence and Jake Gyllenhaal.
Both actors have different brands of magnetism. And I think it presents an interesting dichotomy. Lawrence is all effortless charm and swagger, and Gyllenhaal is all about the effort and intensity.
Lawrence is such a natural performer, a trait that best shines through in Winter’s Bone. In Joy, she appears effortless, and she’s effortlessly captivating. Her Joy Mangano is made of grit and steel, but she’s also vulnerable and unsure.
I am fascinated with Lawrence’s ability to appear as if she was just plucked out of the street and thrust into a scene, she’s never “trying,” she’s always “being.”
This offers a great contrast to Gyllenhaal’s work in Southpaw. Ever the consummate performer, he spent five months training to come across as a believable boxer. And he was mighty convincing.
There is ferocity here; a raw, naked aggression that colours all his character’s actions and interactions, whether he’s belting out punches in the ring, or reckoning with tragic events off of it. Gyllenhaal wholly inhabits his character, as is his wont. He is phenomenal.
Although the two actors take separate approaches, the result is identical – their work is the best thing about their respective movies, and through the strength of their performances, they elevate their respective movies.
Joy and Southpaw are both deeply formulaic, particularly the latter. They are “mediocre.” But their two lead actors, two of the best of their generation, are anything but that.
They do not go gentle into that mediocre night. They rise above it and they do their best to drag their movies along with them.
Picture Source Wikipedia
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