Nicolas Cage: You Are A Cinema
Nicolas Cage: You Are A Cinema
At the end of the 2012 BAFTAs, the Benny Benassi Song “Cinema” played out over the credits and I was at once filled with a myriad of thoughts on cinema, film actors and awards. Having just watched an awards show where everyone politely dressed in their impeccable best were either giving or receiving an award or maintaining an unwavering smile as their nomination turned into dust, i was struck by the polarity..between this world and the actual world of film. Martin Scorsese, deservedly, was given the Academy fellowship, but I couldn’t help thinking how bizarre this ceremony was, as he stood tuxedoed on stage just after a montage of gritty classic gangster snippets from his movie, and although it was the films themselves that were the ‘fiction’ I found myself thinking, between the awards show and the films, which is more in touch with the real world? For me there was something incredibly unreal about the ceremonies that took place on that stage that night. On top of this, when ‘The Artist’ pretty much swept the board in every category, and ‘Drive’ won none I also had to ask myself. what does this say about the relevance of awards? Nicolas Cage himself has of course won a host of film awards for his performances and his lifetime contribution to film in his extrordinary career, but since receiving his academy award for Leaving Las Vegas in 1995, as an actor he has continued to side step the swamps of self expression, consistently changing it up and bringing newer and newer material which defies categorization and definitely does not fit into the narrow box definitions of BAFTA, pehaps the ulitmate irony being that Nicolas Cage is the most enduringly diverse and experimental actor of today, who’s choices of films, style and portrayals challenge the status quo of what is considered ‘actorly’ …which is perhaps the definition of art. Can you think of any actor who has such range and diversity in his film library, with as long and enduring film career, who is still consistently bringing newer and newer material? If you visit the cinema in the US this coming weekend, you could see two Nic Cage films: Ghost Rider: Spirit Of Vengeance a baddass adrenalized synergy between gritty maverick Crank directing duo Neveldine and Taylor, who bring an energy saturated cool cutting edge unique style, with a darker intnsity charged Nicolas Cage portrayal of the Baddest Superhero; and Seeking Justice (formerly released as Justice here in the uk November last year) a clever vigilante thriller where Nicolas Cage delivers a nuanced performance. And this is a mere snapshot of a multi genre and genre defying filmography that is unrivalled in it’s contribution to the history of modern cinema. To cut a rather rambling story short…I must, in the end, thank the BAFTAs and the Benny Benassi song for making me realise that Nicolas Cage is my Cinema and for inspiring a 24 year long fan to to create and share her first fan tribute in celebration of a unique actor with other fans!
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