Hello all! It's been a LONG time since I've been on here, haven't really been inspired to write about anything but boy-oh-boy do I have something I want to talk about!
GEOFFREY RUSH!!! (!!!)
I mentioned in passing in a previous blog that Mr. Rush is one of my favorite actors and has been since around 2000. I was 15 and saw "Elizabeth" for the first time. As soon as Geoffrey appeared onscreen as Walsingham I was intrigued. His character quickly became my favorite in the film and I soon was enamored of his work, I had to see EVERYTHING I could get my hands on. His performances are always sublime and deeply moving. I've seen nearly ALL of his films, including "The King's Speech" which won the Oscar for Best Film a little over a week ago. I actually have gone to see it twice already and would in no way be averse to seeing it again in the theatre! It really is that wonderful and repeat viewing is richly rewarded where this film is concerned. Needless to say a Blu-Ray copy will be purchased as soon as it's released (April 19th).
Let's take a closer look at some of Mr. Rush's best know work:
1) "Quills" - I cannot say enough how much I love this film. The entire cast is splendid but of course the show belongs to Geoffrey (as it often does). We first see him as the Marquis de Sade only in small glimpses, a face peering from behind milky glass, ink-stained hand, a hunched figure writing at a desk, blue eye through a peep-hole. Our introduction is over the credits, a seductive voice telling us a "naughty little tale". When he is finally revealed to us completely, we see a man of average looks, not some beautiful Casanova. But it is in his manner that he seduces: his voice, his lascivious writings, the glances filled with heat and barely contained sexual lust for Madeleine. When he's on screen you can't take your eyes off him, he commands all of your attention. Brilliant film!
2) "The Life and Death of Peter Sellers" - Geoffrey won the Emmy and Golden Globe for this film and well deserved those wins were! This, in my opinion, is one of his top three film performances. Anyone who's seen the film and is a fan of Sellers knows that he had a serious personal identity problem and was never comfortable being "Peter". But Geoffrey succeeds in creating a character out of virtually nothing, drawing from Sellers' film performances and home videos to try and flesh out a person. The result is a triumph and a brilliant performance. Although the two men don't bear much resemblance physically, Geoffrey managed to get the voice right and does a stellar job recreating some of Sellers' most famous characters. The makeup artists are also to be commended here, as are the other actors in the film. The scenes involving the "Strangelove" characters and Inspector Clouseau are a riot, as are the scenes in which Rush, as Sellers, also becomes the other people involved in the story; Peter's mother, father, wife and others. A must-see for any fellow Rushies out there!
And finally...
3) "Shine" - This is one of my all-time favorite films, and Geoffrey's finest performance. He captivates from the moment the film starts. It opens on a blank screen and slowly we hear the sound of rain, then a man gibbereing away about nothing and everything all at once. His profile comes into view and we see a man with heavy-lidded eyes hiding behind large spectacles, talking and laughing to himself as the opening credits roll. The man is David Helfgott, former piano prodigy. He endures a difficult childhood at the hands of his forceful father (a superb Armin Mueller-Stahl). Alex Rafalowicz plays the boy David. The father wants his son David to be the very best, to always win, and pushes the young boy mercilessly. He often gives him pieces of great difficulty that require a passion unable to be conveyed by a boy so young. The father becomes cruel and withholds affection from young David when the child doesn't perform well; when David wins competitions the father lavishes attention and love on him and becomes more tolerable around the home.
When the story moves on it has become evident that young David has some sort of mental impairment. Noah Taylor plays David in adolescence. His unique speech pattern and schizoaffective disorder is just blossoming and the father recognizes this, as does his piano tutor and others close to David. Most of this they dismiss as artistic eccentricity. As David becomes a teenager he starts to win many competitions and gains attention from the international music community, even being offered a chance to study in America. His father at first accepts this offer and tries to bring it to fruition, but he later changes his mind and forbids David from leaving. Later David is offered a scholarship to the Royal College of Music in London and wants desperately to leave but he knows his father won't let him. He confides in his benefactor, Katherine Susannah Pritchard and her kind words give him the strength to stand up to his father and leave his family. As a result of his bold actions the father completely cuts David out of his life and refuses to even write to him or read his letters, marking them always "return to sender". At school David is tutored by Cecil Parkes who sees in David a touch of genius and molds him into a piano virtuoso. David trains to compete in the concerto finals, wanting to play Rachmaninoff's 3rd Concerto, a piece taught to him all his life as the epitome of piano prowess. He plays the piece beautifully and wins the competition but it triggers a nervous breakdown.
The years following are a blur, and the next time we see David he's sat on a bench at a mental hospital, hunched and puffing away on a cigarette. His sister comes to visit him and he doesn't recognze her until she tells him she's his sister. His eyes seem unfocused, glazed and distant. He confuses her with his other sisters as he talks his stream of conciousness gibberish. The David we see now is Geoffrey, and he gives the performance of a lifetime. Years go by until David meets Sylvia, a waitress in a bar. He runs in one night out of the rain and she takes him home, not before he's been made fun of by the bar's snooty manager. A bit later David returns, intrigued by the piano in the corner of the bar. The patrons make fun of this shambling, haggard looking fellow as he sits down in front of the instrument and strikes a few pretty notes. The sheet music he's brought with him falls to the floor, a cigarette is held in his mouth. As Sylvia comes over to try and help David he attacks the piano and launches into a rapid-fire version of "Flight of the Bumblebee". The bar patrons, and bar manager, are shocked into silence as David plays. When he finishes the piece they all go wild, the bar manager looking more than a little non-plussed. David later moves into the bar and stays with Sylvia on the weekends. His performances in the bar get some press attention and his father comes to see him. David, now a grown man, still cowers in the presence of his father, once a tyrant, now a withered old man. David is presented with the medal he won in London for his Rach 3. Their interaction is touching and melancholic; one senses this will be the last time David sees his father. Through Sylvia he meets Gillian, the woman he will go on to marry. She gives him some ballast, helps make his hunched body stronger and essentially brings him back into the light out of the darkness. Their love is sweet and tender, a counter to the aloofness of his father. At the end we see David back in the public eye, giving a recital which receives thunderous applause from all in attendance. Such an outpouring overwhelms David who breaks down into tears at the emotion and approval directed toward him. But David doesn't need the adoration of many, he only wanted one person's approval, his father's. Geoffrey's performance in this film is a thing of beauty from start to finish. The musical parts are done with great zest and wonderful execution. No one else in the world could have played this part better than Geoffrey, it would be blasphemy to suggest that they could. But the film touches me deeply on a different level as this is the film that launched Geoffrey into international stardom and a great film career. I love to think of what lies ahead of the Geoffrey on the screen, so many great films, awards galore, a lifetime of security. No one could have been more deserving.
And that's my little treatise on my favorite works of Geoffrey Rush. But I leave you all with some honorable mentions. In no particular order:
1) Lantana - Superb!
2) Candy - not for the faint of heart
3) The Tailor of Panama - good acting all around, nice story
4) The Children of the Revolution - hilarious! He and Judy Davis are great together
5) Swimming Upstream - another great performance, heart-breaking
6) Both of the "Elizabeth" films
7) Shakespeare in Love - one of my favorites
In closing I implore you to see all of these films and more and to go see "The King's Speech" while it's still in theaters. Also please try to make sure it's the R-rated version and not the butchered PG-13 one. The PG-13 film is missing a key scene that shouldn't be missed. And with that I bid you all adieu and thank you for reading! I hope some of you come to love Mr. Rush and his work as much as I have. Your lives will be all the richer for it...
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