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The dramatic acting in various scenes was hilarious, yet helpful in portraying a hard working immigrant father who tries his hardest to support the needs of his family. For example, early in the movie, the showerhead was not working, and the father strives and tries his best turning the knob until finally, water comes out. The father and the daughters are so exuberant that he gives his daughters the tightest and most joyful hug. The daughters are super happy at the sight of having water to be able to take shower, that they plan to even stay in the showers the whole day. There was another scene that stood out to me, which was when the father went to buy an air conditioner and we see the dramatic acting of him dragging the air conditioner through the streets, interfering with traffic. This was shocking for me to see him walking against the traffic and I’m not sure if this would happen in real life, but I think it adds to the dramatic effects to show how the father will do all that he can, even risk his life and be obnoxious to others, to get what his family needs urgently. The father carries the air conditioner all the way up the stairs, having everyone move out of the way as he rushes into their apartment room and has the windows opened halfway to install the air conditioner. The cinematographic effects of portraying the father sweating and the father almost out of breath, shows how much he has toiled for the family on this hot and humid summer day. Similar to the time with the showers, the family is so exuberant and it is interesting to note that through these struggles that the family overcome, it brings the family together and closer as the father gives the daughters another warm and tight hug, full of happiness. The tedious labor to acquire things like shower and air conditioning that we may take for granted today and the great joy the family expresses when they have these commodities just comes to show how tough life was for this immigrant family, and how they were able to appreciate greatly even these common things we have today.
@Coryweng
That’s a great point, the father’s performance was very touching. I especially think as such because it’s clear that the father still hasn’t processed some of the grief over his son’s death, so his moments of sudden emotion with his family are both sentimental, and a contrast to the lack of emotion, or uncontrolled emotions, he shows in some other areas of the film. Another moment which struck me as very showing of Johnny as a character was the seen at the street fair, where we see him waste some of the family’s precious earned money trying to win a prize for his daughters. The scene is painful to watch at first, both because of the daughters’ blind excitement and trust- they still believe their father cannot lose- and the father’s desperation at what should be a fun game, when he realizes he is losing more and not winning. It’s a sign that quite literally he feels as though he can’t provide for his family, in more ways than a carnival toy. The scene eventually comes to a head when Johnny puts down their entire month’s rent to win the previously spent money back and get the doll, which I think shows Johnny’s extreme desperation in the moment, and as a whole. What started as a two dollar game for a doll has become their entire housing for the month on the table. Similarly, I think that Johnny’s acting career may have started the same way- he feels as if he’s in too far now to give up, and refuses to let go of his dreams in front of his family. He’s a fascinating character, and it’s a very well done performance.I did not know what to expect from the actors in this film from the first few scenes, but by the end of the film I was truly amazed by their performances. The quality of acting was phenomenal; the way the actors portrayed their characters so realistically made the film seem more like a documentary at times; this may partly be due to the film’s focus on such raw topics like illegal immigration and struggling to make rent every month. My favorite performance by far was the scene at the fair where Johnny gambles with rent money just to prove to his daughters he can win. The intensity of the scene was so well-displayed by the father’s recklessness, mother’s anxiety, and daughters’ powerlessness. The public setting
of the scene added to the suspense, as well. With the camera centered on the family and the background spotted with blurred faces in a crowd, just waiting for something to go awry, the scene definitely kept me itching to know if he’d make the winning shot. It was very uneasy to watch the father risk all their money just to prove something so seemingly meaningless to his children. However, it was such a moving scene because it showed me just how important his daughters’ opinion of him meant to him; it showed me what a good father he wanted to be, despite making such reckless decisions that could cost his family the roof over their heads. In addition, the chemistry between the actors contributed to the effectiveness of their performances. This was clearly illustrated by the touching connection between the two sisters and Mateo. It seemed that Mateo was misperceived by almost all the adults in the film, labeled as “the man who screams” by the people in the apartment building; however, the sisters, uncorrupted by the pessimism and negativity that come along with adulthood, only saw him as another person to trick-or-treat from. The girls did an excellent job through their acting in depicting how a little kindness can go a long way in someone’s life. Their genuine curiosity regarding Mateo distracted him from his usual wallowing in despair, leaving an impact on him even that he would cherish until his final moments. Overall, I found the performance of the actors in In America incredibly striking, and it left me thoroughly impressed.The acting in general was exceptional. One of my favorite parts of this movie was when Johnny was on the verge of losing his mind while talking to Mateo. While interrogating Mateo about why he was so close to his family (which by itself was exceptional acting, showing that Johnny was succumbing to the thoughts of his dead son and stress over his soon to come child), Djimon Hounsou gave an incredible performance, showing off how frustrated Mateo was about his life slowly coming to an end, ultimately getting cut short because of a blood transfusion from the hospital. His response to Johnny was truly saddening and really put into perspective how Mateo was coming to terms with his mortality. Mateo says to Johnny, “No. I’m in love with you. And I’m in love with your beautiful woman. And I’m in love with your kids. And I’m even in love with your unborn child. I’m even in love with your anger! I’m in love with anything that lives!” The way Hounsou acted Mateo’s character in this scene was heartbreaking. It showed how sad and also angry he was. This one scene showed how much Mateo appreciated whatever life he had left and whatever it had to offer, going so far as to even say that he was in love with a negative emotion from Johnny. What added to this performance by Hounsou was how he slowly got louder and louder as the scene went on, showing an angry realization towards an unappreciative Johnny: a person who has a family that is there by his side. And even though Johnny lost a child, the family he had was still with him keeping him company, while Mateo didn’t have anyone and was counting the amount of days he had remaining to live. That’s why I was amazed by Hounsou’s performance of Mateo. Through his amazing acting, we were able to see into the mind of a somewhat silent character through words and actions that all had huge impacts on the viewer.
(339 words)@Cory the air conditioner scene was my favorite in terms of an acting performance from Johnny. Everything was sort of perfectly set up to convey just how hot, tense, and climactic the scene was. I could almost feel the sweat glistening on his forehead, and the struggle to get the air conditioner up the stairs was so palpable and real, I felt like running up to Johnny and helping him carry it. When Johnny tried to plug in the AC but had the wrong outlet type, his outburst of rage and frustration actually scared me a little bit, and I felt like I was one of his daughters, watching worriedly as my father was struggling. Of course Johnny gets beaten down again and again, not having enough money and having to go back home to get some bottles to recycle and make up the change. And yet, when Johnny gets the beer bottles from Sara, Sara and the girls exchange a look of laughter, making light of the situation and make me feel less tense. I think that all the characters in that scene, and especially Johnny, were great at making me feel the mood.
The acting in In America is quite phenomenal. The characters of Matteo and Johnny were especially well done, as they perfectly expressed their extremely complex relationship through subtle and excellent acting. Being that Johnny wanted to be the man of the house and was feeling low from not getting any acting callbacks, he is at first very mean to Matteo and unaccepting. The actor shows this uncomfort perfectly through his distaste whenever Matteo wins the food challenges and finds the money and doll in his food. It shows while Matteo is trying to connect to their family, Johnny feels threatened and pushes him away as much as possible. It’s wonderfully close to what would actually happen in the real world, with the hard-working not being very tolerant of strangers, especially when they have lower self-confidence. Not everything is a Disney movie where everyone loves everyone, and the griminess and reality of this scene’s acting drips with this fact.
Also, Matteo had an amazing scene when Johnny comes to confront him about talking to his wife about her baby. There, he is able to express that he is dying perfectly through body language and intonation well enough that the audience goes for the same emotional ride that Johnny has to express in the scene. From anger at Matteo for telling Johnny’s wife to risk her life for the baby, to sadness and guilt at the fact that Matteo is a dying man. An extremely powerful line Matteo shouts as the tension between him and Johnny rises is, “I’m in love with anything that lives!” Johnny, thinking he’s trying to get with his wife, is fully taken aback by the power in Matteo’s words. Hearing him shout that in the face of angry Johnny and watching Johnny’s expression of anger melt into one of deep regret paints a very realistic picture; everyone has their own personal struggles and no one is ever a simple, stereotypical character. Such a great piece of acting lets the audience feel like they are transported into the scene, that they are fighting with Matteo themselves. This scene achieves this with ease with great acting from both characters.
Finally, Johnny’s performance of pain while watching Matteo die is so beautiful and real. Once he knows he always acts with the intention of trying to cherish all of Matteo’s last moments. Heartbreakingly, Matteo gets hospitalized right when Johnny needs a friend most, and Johnny does a great job of slowly devolving his character into a crazed and stressed out man that just longs to lean on the shoulder of his best friend, Matteo.
These performances are all heartbreaking and uplifting, and Matteo’s and Johnny’s actors deserve Grammys galore. Through tension and realistic, painful acting, they expressed the beauty and tragedy of life in 70s New York City.Matteo’s acting stood out to me as a performance that could have been more coherent. Matteo’s jump from “crazy artist” to “loving family man” could have used a better segue. Gradual development from these two axes would have created a more fluid transition. Gradual development could be seen by keeping the same axes of Matteo’s development from the beginning and the end. However, this direction might not be taken because of concerns about the length of the film or too much scene changes.
Another way in which Matteo’s character development could have improved is by decreasing the range between Point A (Audience’s first interaction with Matteo) and Point B(Audience’s last interaction with Matteo. If Point A is brought closer to Point B, then Matteo will be softer and not as extreme of a character. This would make Matteo’s interactions with the other characters more seamless, but at the cost of shock value. If Point B is brought closer to Point A, then Matteo will stay as a wild card with a smaller change. If this approach is taken, then the movie will need to reckon with how this changes Matteo’s spiritual connection to the new baby and his $30,000 donation to the family.
A scene where the difference in these two viewpoints would be clearly expressed is the Trick-or-Treating scene. Matteo looking outside the door over and over again appeared highly suspicious in the movie. Matteo gave off the impression that he would harm the children and was looking to see if the parents were following their children. After this scene, him hugging the children is an example poor character development. If this scene was taken with the “Point B oriented” approach his acting in this scene would have been friendlier. This could be expressed by having opened the door much earlier, and the development might be easier if he went from sad to happy, as opposed to angry to happy. If Matteo’s character was closer to the Point A axis, this scene could bring a lot of interest in terms of shock value. Fighting with Johnny or scaring the kids could be a way that his wild side is expressed. Whether the movie choses to take the A or B approach, the original character development does not fit. The children reacting to Matteo as completely non-threatening and laughing at him after the whole movie up to that point diminishes Matteo’s depth as a human being.
In most great movies, character development is logical and fitting to the context of the character and the overall movie. An example of a movie that does this well is Stanley Kubrick’s “The Shining”. While Jack Torrance is a completely different character at the end of the movie versus the beginning, the scenes in between make his devolvement into an axe murderer perfectly sensical. A similar logical development in Matteo would have greatly improved Matteo’s acting and the film itself.
@Javier This was a noteworthy observation, Javier. I’m glad you brought this up because I was also displeased with Mateo’s character development. You really hit the nail on the head; something that’s important to realize about this film is that virtually all the characters are dynamic and undergo major physical, mental, and emotional transformations. When the Sullivan family first arrive at their new home, they’re asked if they are cops, because “all cops are Irish”. We are immediately confronted with the damaging impressions of stereotypes, which the movie fails to resolve in a logical manner. Like you said, our initial observations of Mateo present him as suspicious and even dangerous. There was absolutely no transition into overcoming this form of judgment; we are just shown in a split second that he is hospitable and compassionate, and therefore the effect of his hidden persona was less potent. In the trick-or-treating scene, I was even convinced for some time that his kindness was insincere, and that he had sinister intentions.
Despite their innocence and naivety, it is truly a mystery that Christy and Ariel were not even in the slightest frightened or startled by Mateo’s appearance and apartment. Clearly it takes courage to confront a stranger in a new land but this courage is blind if there is a complete absence of proper judgment. Your mention of Jack Torrance in The Shining was interesting; Kubrick indeed was brilliant at painting a uniform portrait of his characters as with the drill sergeant in Full Metal Jacket, who we are able to like and dislike at the same time despite our limited knowledge.@Eric Yeah I’d agree, those two characters’ performances stood about the most, and they were also the most direct versus some of the characters, as they are both very outwardly expressive of their emotion. This kind of tells us about the characters, as they oppose Sarah, who does not outwardly express emotion but instead the actor does it subtly, because of the fact that she is trying to seem strong for her kids. On the other hand, Johnny feels a great burden in addition to having been defeated by his son’s death, and so he freely expresses his anger and frustration, and his feeling that life is unfair, without caring about his appearance, and this is expressive of a somewhat archetypical idea of an overworking father with a temper. Finally, Mateo is so outwardly angry and screams his lungs out because he knows he is going to die, but doesn’t know what life means, and in his search for the meaning of life, a main part of that being his art, he is angered immensely, as our whole purpose on earth is to find meaning. Then, when he gets close with the family and finds great meaning in that, he is satisfied with his life and accepts his impending death, and so stops really screaming, except for when he expresses his intense love for all life.
@eric I wrote about Mateo, but definitely didnt notice before how complex the interplay is between those two characters. I was able to appreciate Johnny’s dynamic character when watching the film, but never really considered how they would be incomplete without each other until reading the post. And @Liam I think you make a great point too, their outward expression was definitely inseparable from the qualities of the characters. I wonder if their being the only two male protagonists has something to do with the way that the characters were written in terms of visual emotion. The roles could have been reversed a bit in the film, as in a prototypical family, the male usually is under the expectation to appear as the stoic yet determined foundation of the family. However, Johnny is portrayed as an emotional, lost man whereas Sarah assumes the patriarchal role in the family. This switch-up could be a testament to the theme of abnormality throughout the film.
@Anna, this is a really good point and I completely agree that Johnny’s acting at the fair as well as the relationship between Mateo and the girls were noteworthy parts of the performances within the movie. In terms of the scene at the fair, as Ash and Cory said, Paddy Considine seemed to bring an intensity to Johnny’s character which was integral to the main themes of the film. After Frankie’s death, Johnny frequently describes feeling like a ghost. He acknowledges his grief at the conclusion of the film, but his occasional moments of intensity fit perfectly into his journey away from numbness and towards humanity. Considine’s acting highlighted this change and, as you said, was a particularly moving representation of the relationship between Johnny and his daughters.
I agree with @elange about the emotional resonance of Paddy’s confrontation with Mateo. The skills required in having one’s expression melt away completely on camera, as Paddy Constantine does, is a very difficult task to perform, and it involves specifically understanding your facial muscles and how they automatically relax or tense up when you’re either understanding or angry.
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