It is really a shame that the recent Train Dreams was reserved for small screens. In the first place, attention to the natural environment, elevated to character with evident inspiration to the cinema of Terrence Malick. But there is also the interpretation of Joel Edgerton and his Robert, a man of few words. Despite the strong scenic presence, it is a common person, even humble and impotent in front of the world, whose tormented inner life is rendered by small behaviors and expressions more than by poor dialogues. Thanks to these nuances the film manages to be an intimate portrait and at the same time a long historical tale. The character is a point of arrival for the actor’s career, Australian class 1974, mostly spent in independent cinema and with not always striking roles, but often subtle and ambiguous.
After years of secondary roles also in great Hollywood productions (including Star Wars II and III episodes), Warrior (2011) is one of the first films with Edgerton protagonist, here alongside Tom Hardy. In fact, both actors are, from the robust appearance and severe faces, suitable for similar characters. In this case, the Australian is more in the balance between an imaginary traditional masculinity linked to physical violence, and a sensibility that will often distinguish it in his later career. If the explosive Hardy becomes after a peak name in Hollywood, Edgerton remains on the margins, in smaller and authorial productions, conveying the use of his physicality for a more introspective relationship with the characters.
Over the years he is not satisfied with the simple work of actor, often seeking greater involvement in his films, as a producer, screenwriter and also a director. In his debut in the direction, The Gift (2015), Edgerton writes for himself a character who also has few dialogues, succeeding in being both intimidating and vulnerable, thanks to a game (narrative and interpretative) on the constant ambivalence between victim and executioner. A similar tension between two poles is found in the typical anti-hero of Paul Schrader de The master gardener, involved in a rough path towards some form of hope or redemption.
In 2019 he wrote the screenplay of The King, four-handed with director David Michôd. Edgerton’s appearances lend themselves naturally to the historical epic, and in this Shakespeare’s “realistic” revisitation, Falstaff is a role full of history both at theatre and in cinema (was one of Orson Welles’ favourite characters). The character differs from the precedent for his buffonesca vein, which the Australian actor resizes to predilise the solemn tones of the film, but succeeding in keeping undertrack these comic roots. And inside another medieval frame also appears in David Lowery’s The Green Knight (2021), as the strange lord of the castle, contributing to the hallucinatory atmosphere of the film.
In these years, attention remains constant for wear and a certain count that never results in overacting, however applied to a variety of characters for which the actor claims to always have a different method: “I find it difficult to talk about acting, partly because I find it difficult to explain how I move. If I see anything that works or I have an idea that works, I put it in the basket. And every time I go to work, it seems to me that the basket is full of different things, because every movie needs its approach. “
As evidence of his ability to work with other actors there is also his second film as director, Boy Erased, which net of a busy but predictable story stands out for the quality of the cast, led by Nicole Kidman, Russel Crowe and Lucas Hedges. For Train Dreams the actor is accredited as an executive producer, denoting the commitment and very personal approach to certain projects. And the film by Clint Bentley is a crown for the actor, his best interpretation and perhaps the most decisive for the success of the work. After the limited projections and the release on Netflix, the word of mouth has brought a lot of attention to this intimist western, even in view of the season of prizes. Edgerton was nominated for the Golden Globe, and it would be a fair recognition for an actor according to many underestimated, always halfway between the mainstream and author and independent cinema.
The article A few words actor: Joel Edgerton between indie and mainstream comes from SentieriSelvaggi.
