The Power of Levitt-ation

Upon request last month I compiled a tribute to the always fabulous Rose McGowan, which received plenty of feedback from you faithful readers out there. So this time I’m going to pay tribute to my favourite up and coming actor, Joseph Gordon-Levitt and his cinematic career so far. Odds are you’ll probably recognise him as the kid from the tv shows Third Rock From The Sun and Roseanne . Since then he’s appeared in several films and worked as a camera operator. The 27-year-old’s first big break came playing one of four leads in the teenage comedy 10 Things I Hate About You alongside Heath Ledger. Since then he has progressed to bigger and better things by dodging the nerdy, white kid role he could have so easily been type cast in after 10 Things. Below is a list of my top three favourite Joseph Gordon-Levitt performances and some notable mentions.

3. Mysterious Skin (2005)

Absolutely haunting. That’s the description I would use to describe his portrayal of a teenager still scarred from being molested by his baseball coach at the age of eight. Gordon-Levitt plays Neil McCormick in this spine-tingling drama which stays with you long after the credits have rolled. The fact anyone would have felt comfortable enough with their own sexuality and acting ability to take on a role like this is amazing. What’s more, this film is very explicit showing and talking about homosexuality, rape, molestation, nudity, AIDS and so forth. There’s a saying in Hollywood which goes something along the lines of if you play a gay or mentally handicapped person you win an Oscar, as long as you don’t go too far. Gordon-Levitt goes far, waaaaay far. This film and his portrayal of Neil is so powerful, Mysterious Skin is now screened to paedophiles in American prisons and rehabilitation clinics to show them how the victims are affected years after the incident. A must see.
Best line:
Wendy: "Where normal people have a heart, Neil McCormick has a bottomless black hole. And if you don't watch out, you can fall in and get lost forever."

2. The Lookout (2007)

One of my favourite films of last year. It’s truly a shame this only ever a got a straight to DVD release in Australia. Gordon-Levitt is enthralling as a once promising high school athlete Chris Pratt who is now handicapped in a devastating car accident. He is truly brilliant as this young man struggling to live with brain damage similar to that of Guy Pearce’s character in Memento. Working as a janitor at a local bank he finds himself caught up in a planned heist. It’s hard to pigeon hole the genre of this film. I guess crime, thriller, noir, drama would suffice and undoubtedly Gordon-Levitt is the glue which holds this complicated web of a movie together. With a weaker lead actor this could have spiralled in to a B-grade slosh of a film. Instead, his sincerity and fragility makes this character truly believable and, quite simply, captivating to watch.
Best line:
Lewis: "You know, here I am, sitting at home alone every night while you're out getting blown and God knows what else by Luvlee something, who probably has a friend, and what, you don't introduce me?"
Chris: "Lemons. That's what it is."
Lewis: "That's what what is?"
Chris: "That's her last name."
Lewis: "Luvlee Lemons? That's her name?"
Chris: "Well, it's her stage name. She's a performer. Or she was."
Lewis: "Ah, and by stage I'm assuming you mean the kind with a pole?"
Chirs: "What do you mean?"

Lewis: "Let's move on."

1. Brick (2006)

Perhaps I’m a little biased because yet again this another one of my favourite movies (I realise that’s a long list). Brick tells the tale of high school outsider Brendan Frye, Gordon-Levitt, as he investigates the death of his ex-girlfriend played by Aussie actress Emile De Ravin who also appeared in The Hills Have Eyes. Essentially this is a noir, detective story reminiscent of a Humphrey Boggart film or The Maltese Falcon but in a high school setting. The script is superb, the dialogue is sharp and the performances from the young cast are excellent. However, it’s Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the lead who not only steals the show but carries the whole the film. His portrayal of this intelligent outsider who deals with the death of the women he still loves by taking on the local drug ring is to date one of my favourite performances of all time. How he manages to pull of the quiet strength of Brendan’s character and put up with getting beaten (literally) again and again is worth the 110 minute running time and then some. If you can only ever see one of Gordon-Levitt’s movies then this is it.
Best line: This movie is built on incredibly good lines and I have to say it’s too hard to pick just one. However, two favourites would be:
Brendan: "Come on at me, if you want, Hash-head. I've got all five senses and I slept last night, that puts me six up against the lot of you."
Assistant VP Gary: "You've helped this office out before."
Brendan: "No, I gave you Jerr to see him eaten, not to see you fed." Assistant VP Gary: "Fine. And very well put."
Brendan: "Accelerated English, with Mrs. Kasprzyk."Assistant VP Gary: "Tough teacher?" Brendan: "Tough but fair."

Notable Mentions

In 2005 Gordon-Levitt proved he can not only play a raging queer and male prostitute in Mysterious Skin, but he can also hold his own amongst a star studded cast of veteran Oscar winners in Shadowboxer. The film stars Helen Mirren as a female assassin with terminal cancer, Cuba Gooding Jnr, Macy Gray, Vanessa Ferlito and our Gordon-Levitt as Dr. Don. In 2006 he had a supporting role in Havoc alongside Anne Hathaway, Bijou Phillips, Channing Tatum and Freddy Rodriguez. Although he doesn’t get as much camera time as the other films mentioned here, his interpretation of Sam, a wannabe nigga or wigga (white-nigga) is completely new ground for him. More recently he played Tommy Burgess who’s emotionally scared after serving with the American army in the critically acclaimed Stop-Loss. He stars alongside Channing Tatum again in this movie too.

Coming Up

His latest film is a project called Killshot which is to be released later this year. It’s about a couple placed in the Federal Witness Protection program after witnessing a mob hit. They’re then targeted by an experienced hitman played by Mickey Rourke and a psychopathic young upstart killer played by Gordon Levitt. Diane Lane and Rosario Dawson also star and just quietly this film looks awesome! My heart was pumping overtime just watching the trailer which you can view here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=By23zDhB_-8: In 2009 he will once again appear alongside buddy-ol-pal Channing Tatum in the film adaptation of G.I Joe titled G.I Joe: Rise of the Cobra. He’s also set to try his hand at romantic comedies in 500 Days of Summer where he plays a man who falls for a woman who doesn’t believe in love, played by the always kooky Zooey Deschanel.