Indie film news, reviews, commentary, interviews, podcasts and more, updated throughout the week.
Going Full... What?
By Alison Willmore
, Matt Singer
on 04/20/2009
"The Soloist," DreamWorks SKG, 2008
At the press conference for "The Soloist," Robert Downey Jr. took issue to a journalist's asking what his "Tropic Thunder" character Kirk Lazarus would make of co-star Jamie Foxx's role as a homeless, schizophrenic, Juilliard-trained musician in the new film. Is it even fair to equate the two? This week on the IFC News podcast, we discuss the best and worst portrayals of mental illness and mental disability on screen, and debate whether what Lazarus labeled as going "full retard" actually has the Oscar-grubbing overkill effect he claimed.
Download now (MP3: 33:12 minutes, 30.4 MB)
Subscribe to the podcast: [XML] [iTunes]
ADVERTISMENT
We have updated our Privacy Policy. Please click here for details.
I can't see an awards telecast without thinking of a skit "Mr. Show with Bob and Dave" had. It was an Oscars-esque awards show and every nominee's clip showed them either: sobbing uncontrollably; dealing with a disablilty; or sobbing uncontrollably about their disability. I particularly think of it every time I watch the Oscars (though it was particularly appropriate when they showed Halle Berry's overemotive crying scene from Monster's Ball where she overacted to such an extent that it bordered on parody itself) . . .