Welcome to 5 Favorites. Each week, I will put together a list of my 5 favorites (films, performances, whatever strikes my fancy) along with commentary on a given topic each week, usually in relation to a specific film releasing that week.
This week, a period Knives Out knock-off arrives at theaters with Saoirse Ronan as a rookie detective helping to solve a murder. It may not be a knock-off and might in fact be closer in spirit to films like Murder by Death and Clue, but coming in the wake of the exceedingly popular Knives Out, with its lackluster murder mystery, it’s a safe bet that Rian Johnson’s film is the reason for this renewed attempt to revive the comedy-mystery genre, which seldom gets its due. Ronan was on a list of my 5 favorite young actors that I put out in December of 2020 and now she gets her own entire article looking at an array of tremendous work she’s done. While some actors I struggle to find five to highlight, with Ronan, I struggled to narrow the list to five. So, while this might be my current batch of 5 favorites, that list is sure to be updated and revised over time.
Atonement (2007)
While director Joe Wright has always been fascinated with period dramas, his entry into war-set period dramas began with this film. Set during World War II, Keira Knightley plays a young woman who falls in love with her household’s housekeeper’s son (James McAvoy). Ronan plays Knightley’s younger sister who mistakes an encounter between the two as a case of abuse. As an aspiring novelist, she weaves this into a complex story that risks damaging McAvoy’s reputation and ending Knightley’s attempt at a relationship.
Ronan’s performance landed her an Oscar nomination, one of the film’s seven total nominations, but is the only member of the cast cited in spite of career-topping work by Knigthley, McAvoy, and Ramola Garai in Ronan’s role as a young adult. Even with Ronan gone for large swaths of the film, hers is a looming presence in the picture, which helps to explain her nomination. A win would have been deserved for an actress so young to deliver such a searing and provocative performance. Throw in veteran Vanessa Redgrave in a solid performance as the older Ronan and you have a film filled with wonderful actors doing terrific work in a picture that’s warm, contemplative, and filled with technical achievements of meritorious effort.
The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014)
In The Grand Budapest Hotel, Ronan plays the main character’s girlfriend, an apprentice baker. Hers isn’t a huge role, but it’s impactful in its way. The film stars Tony Revolori, a young bellhop who agrees to assist concierge Ralph Fiennes retrieve the bequeathed assets of a wealthy patron of the hotel, which has fallen on hard times in recent years. The film is a comedy-drama that distills the essence of Wes Anderson’s long career of unique perspectives into perhaps one of his best films to date.
The cast is filled to the brim with mainstays of Anderson’s films along with several new faces who fit perfectly with his style. In addition to Ronan, Revolori, and Fiennes, the estimable cast includes Willem Dafoe, Tilda Swinton, Edward Norton, Mathieu Amalric, Jeff Goldblum, Harvey Keitel, Tom Wilkinson, Bill Murray, Jason Schwartzman, Léa Seydoux, Owen Wilson, and an actor I’m seldom impressed by, but who seems to fit well in this type of dynamic, Adrien Brody. The film is as lavishly appointed as any Wes Anderson production with sets, costumes, and makeup work that was better than almost anything else he’s done to date and that’s saying a lot.
Brooklyn (2015)
John Crowley is a subtle filmmaker. His unobtrusive style brings out the best in his actors and gets out of the way of the narrative so that it can play out naturally and emotionally. Brooklyn is about as nuanced as a film can get and follows Ronan as Ellis Lacey, a young woman who is dissatisfied with her small town life where she has no interest in the young men and is struggling to find work. When a chance arises for her to take a journey to America at the behest of a local priest, she uncovers a whole new world of opportunity and a new life in Brooklyn, New York begins.
Ronan had turned in countless strong performances before this, but Brooklyn may well be her best. It’s a mature and finely tuned performance that belies her age. She’s given able support by the likes of Domnhall Gleeson, Emory Cohen, Jim Broadbent, and Julie Walters. The film’s screenplay is written by Nick Hornby and based on Colm Tóibín’s novel of the same name. This coming-of-age/fish-out-of-water drama is as naturalistic as they come and while it’s devoid of grand flourishes and gestures, Crowley’s capable hand guides the narrative to a believable and satisfying, if melancholy, conclusion.
Lady Bird (2017)
The remaining two films on my list both come from longtime indie actor and neophyte director Greta Gerwig. While Gerwig doesn’t star in any of the films she solo directs, her years of experience in cinema help give her the discerning eye and knowledge that’s required to tell great stories. This was her first film as a solo director and it’s a delightful little comedy that very easily fits in Gerwig’s wheelhouse. Ronan stars as self-named Lady Bird, a frustrated high school senior who longs for a life in the big city where culture is more readily available. She spends her final year trying to convince her mother that she can go off to college on her own and not tough it out at one nearby.
Lady Bird is a coming-of-age story that is as earnest as it is biting, a comedy that gets at the heart of religious schools and their domineering curriculum while also showcasing the mother-daughter dynamic in a unique and compelling way. Ronan is superb as always, but Laurie Metcalf is also terrific in a rare non-television role. Gerwig’s screenplay is incisive and compelling while allowing Ronan’s Lady Bird to feel like an authentic teenager frustrated with her place in life while also subtly frightened of giving up the sometimes controlling, always loving family relationship she’s grown up in.
Little Women (2019)
Little Women continues to be one of the most celebrated works of young adult literature written about young women growing up in difficult and troubling times. While it’s been adapted so many times it’s almost ridiculous, the material is so strong that nearly every outing is a wonderful one. Katharine Hepburn and Winona Ryder both played the role of Jo March to great success in their respective 1933 and 1994 adaptations. Here, that role is taken on by the always sublime Ronan who gives the headstrong figure more depth than we’ve typically seen. The character has always been strong-willed and full of conviction, but Ronan’s interpretation of the character is equally warm, frustrated, and uncertain. It’s not to say that Hepburn and Ryder weren’t also wonderful, but Ronan feels like this is the character she was born to play.
The same can be said about Gerwig’s adaptation of the film. While George Cukor was a good fit for the 1933 version and Gillian Armstrong a suitable choice for the 1994 edition, Gerwig has the perfect modern sensibility to refresh the story while keeping it fitting to the period in which it was written. She does so by paralleling Jo’s journey with that of author Louisa May Alcott and she does so with clear-headed observational wisdom. It’s a film that fits within an age where women are finally getting the chances they have long been denied when Alcott faced similar struggles trying to become an author in an industry dominated by men.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.