Althouse: "The actor embodies his subject right down to the hesitant flare of his nostrils."

February 26, 2006

"The actor embodies his subject right down to the hesitant flare of his nostrils."

Nostril acting, praised!

(Nostrils and acting, an ongoing topic on a blog called Althouse.)

5 comments:

SippicanCottage said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/26/06, 5:22 PM
Craig Ranapia said...: SippicanCottage said...
I can't remember where I read it, but someone's already brought up the fact that Truman Capote is one of those people that almost anybody can impersonate...

I reply:
Nah, Capote (at least the ten Madi Gras float pile up he was toward the end of his life) is one of those people everyone thinks they can impersonate but end up doing a stereotypical campy Southern queen. Anyway, watching a lot of file footage tends to be the kiss of death for any actor doing a biopic. To paraphrase Mr. Capote's acid assessment of jack Kerouac, that's not acting, it's SNL.; 2/26/06, 6:41 PM
vbspurs said...: Quoting Romney's article:

Hoffman's exotic, piss-elegant Capote is an exquisitely thorough physical performance. The actor embodies his subject right down to the hesitant flare of his nostrils;

Ohhhhhhhh, baby!

That's the shite right there.

Although I am reminded, by seeing a film review in FEBRUARY of a newly-debuted picture, of how long I had to wait for movies to arrive in the UK, back when I was still there...

Sure, sometimes it's the same. But sometimes, it took 6 months. Sigh.

Cheers,
Victoria; 2/27/06, 1:36 PM
vbspurs said...: As for the general topic of Nostril-acting on Althouse, I can add this morsel:

I once read an absolutely wonderful review by film guru Halliwell, regarding Rudolph Valentino's nostril-acting in Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.

(This film, BTW, recently was shown on TCM, during it's usual Sunday at midnight, silent film spot -- it was cheesier, but also, better in parts, than I thought it would be)

I don't remember what he said word-for-word, but it went something like:

"If you watch Valentino closely, you will see the camera linger on his nostrils, with the same cinematographic interest one would expect on Crawford's legs, or Harlow's bottom.

He grabs Alice Terry [ed. - in The Sheik], and slowly, but passionately kisses her.

With one motion of his right nostril, he expands it, sucks her lips, and breaks away, letting the nostrils unflare, but quaveringly so, until he kisses her again."

He then mentions he has a similar trick, when he is lighting a cigarette, which single-handedly made smoking de rigueur around the world with both sexes, with that sensuality born of post-WWI desperation.

I love nostril acting.

Cheers,
Victoria; 2/27/06, 1:44 PM
vbspurs said...: This entire thread is yet more confirmation that no one cares about nostril-acting!!

Cheers,
Victoria; 2/27/06, 11:41 PM