Is Puberty the End of Talent?

Is there something about puberty that just ruins an actress’s talent? Now, I’m not trying to be sexist or anything like that-I’d be bitching about male actors if there were any talented actors under the age of thirty working in relatively accessible films or television, except for Hayden Christensen-it’s just something that I’m noticing more and more.





First of all there was last week when I saw Natalie Portman's marvelous performance in Beautiful Girls. She also does great in Leon and later on in her career in Anywhere But Here-both excellent films. But then in movies like Star Wars it’s like all of that wonderful natural talent has disappeared. Granted, she doesn’t have the best dialogue or character to work with, or director for that matter, but still, some of that old talent should show through. Come to think of it, pretty much everyone but the CGI characters are wooden in that movie. Liam Neeson and Ewan McGregor have excuses though as the Jedi aren’t supposed to show emotion and remain passive. And Jake Lloyd, the kid who played Anakin is one of the worst and annoying child actors I’ve ever seen. So that leaves Ms. Portman as the only human character to empathize with. And, unfortunately, it’s just not there in her performance. Of course, she does pick up in the other two installments, but the naturalistic nuances of style are still not like her earlier work. Maybe it’s the daunting task of being in a movie with such high expectations from the entire global community and whatever extraterrestrial life forms may have picked up the signal when the films were broadcast. Of course, I haven’t seen Closer, or anything non Star Wars she’s done since Anywhere But Here, so maybe the Star Wars performances were just a fluke.



Which brings me to my next point. I’ve never been a huge fan of Reese Witherspoon; I didn’t really care one way or the other. I’d only seen her in a few movies, and while she wasn’t bad, I didn’t see anything spectacular in her performances. Her role in Pleasantville, for instance, anyone could have done. Last night (Monday) I was watching the first two things she did, The Man in the Moon (not to be confused with the Jim Carrey flick) and Wildflowers and I was completely blown away. While Wildflowers is a so so made for TV movie, Withersoon, along with Patricia Arquette, bring the movie up. But what really got me, and has forever contracted me as a Reese Witherspoon fan is The Man in the Moon, her first film. She’s terrific, and such a natural that I forgot I was watching a film and felt like I was experiencing it as the character Witherspoon plays in the film. There are no mannered affectations in her performance, just a simple and naturalistic style that I wish more actors had. Even some of the greats could learn a thing or two from her performance in this movie. Then a few years later she’s in Freeway, not a bad film, but her performance lacks the naturalness of her earlier work. Here’s hoping she has some movies coming out that showcase this talent instead of the crappy flicks she’s been in lately.

And that’s the way it is at the Rabbit Hole.