What do pairings such as Sigourney Weaver and James Cameron, Catherine Keener and Spike Jonze, and Guy Pearce and John Hillcoat all have in common? These are working director-actor relationships that resurfaced in 2009. I’ve always been a fan of this fermentation process that spans over the course of two or more films – it often produces some fine results and some of film history’s better screen performances/moments.
Coined ‘Repeat Offenders’, this year-end/top ten retrospective is perhaps my most favorite of the items you’ll read this week. This year we saw the likes of Jim Jarmusch, Steven Soderbergh (with Damon), Judd Apatow (with Mann and Rogen) and even Grant Heslov (with Clooney) work with thesps they feel most comfortable with, but this year’s batch of notable pairings is distinctly European. We begin with…
#10. TALES FROM THE GOLDEN AGE
It was Cristian Mungiu who first introduced us to the clinic cold Vlad Ivanov in 4 months, 3 weeks and 2 days — perhaps the role that convinced other filmmakers to cast the Romanian actor in his expanded repertoire of other films (The Concert, Police, Adjective and The Whistleblower). The two paired together in Mungiu’s Tales From the Golden Age – oddly, I’m not entirely sure if Mungiu actually directed the actor – as the portmanteau film doesn’t specify who directed what or who directed The Legend of the Chicken Driver. Mungiu did pen the shorts. This sees Ivanov play a truck driver fall victim to loneliness and his irresponsibility ultimately costs him more than a stolen egg or tire (see pic above).
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