Monday, October 02, 2006

For Your Consideration: Forrest Whitaker, Best Actor



(image via ctv)

We are putting all of our Entertainment Weekly-ignored buzz (Where's the love EW? Where's-the-love?) behind an organic, homegrown campagn for Forrest Whitaker to be nominated as "Best Actor." This is -- sotto voce -- some sort of an "Africa moment" (Exaggerated cough suggesting feigned detachment), brimming with the attendant African Dictator chic (Averted Gaze). Having seen "The Last King of Scotland" over the weekend, we are, quite simply, marvelled to the cockles of our Being at the level of his game.

Regular readers of this blog know that The Corsair's early life was shaped -- oddly -- by our experiences in and escaping from Amin's Uganda (Think: Dali times Strauss's Tryant minus The Baganda Kings divided by Oedipus Tyrannus). The role of Amin, a pathological tyrant is, for the Method Actor, the meatiest of grounds for psychological experiment. And, on that count, Forrest Whitacker does not there disappoint.

Physically imposing though not overly ferocious himself -- see "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" and Jarusch's exquisite "Ghost Dog" -- Whitaker added onto that charm, the serpentine charm of an international smoothie thug. Words would fail to precisely convey the nuance involved so, just see the goddam movie. Really. We heartily recommend it.

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