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| Ryan Gosling in The Nice Guys |
This weekend marks the release of director and writer Shane Black's latest crime comedy The Nice Guys. With reviews pouring in, the film is looking to be one of the funniest and freshest films of the summer. However, there's likely a few who see the name Ryan Gosling and still wonder why he still gets work. Even with a memorable role in The Big Short, he's still often considered the pretty boy who got his start with Disney and made a name for himself as the hunk in The Notebook and Crazy Stupid Love. However, he is so much more. He is actually a very charismatic actor, and one who continues to keep audiences guessing. While he may go down more as a cult favorite than a widely respected talent, here are five titles from over the years that prove just how engaging he is as a screen presence.
1. Blue Valentine
While he had been doing dramatic work for most of the previous decade, this 2010 drama about divorce reflects a shift into more intense adult dramas. It's a story expertly told by director Derek Cianfrance, who had the actors live together in preparation. The results paid off, as both Gosling and Michelle Williams' performances are brutal and passionate displays of affection from over the course of a relationship. It's a film that may at times use a dreamlike score, but its success is that it feels at times all too real and personal to the experience. It is not only one of the best films of Gosling's career, but is looking to be one of the best of the decade. Gosling would team up with Cianfrance for the equally ambitious The Place Beyond the Pines, though with not nearly as much success.
2. The Ides of March
While Gosling has received a lot of praise for his work in the Oscar-winning The Big Short, he starred in a better political film from only five years ago. Starring as a campaign manager who gets into a heap of trouble, Gosling manages to turn in a performance that reflects the complicated tapestry that makes up political elections. In a time where image is everything, his blunders pave the way for trouble for his candidate (George Clooney) and his fraternizing with the opposing candidate and the press only leads to more trouble. With a great script, this underrated film, also directed by Clooney, is more indicative of the modern era - especially in an election year - than one would initially have believe. Thankfully, Gosling delivers every line with an earnestness and charisma that makes him hold his own against heavyweights like Paul Giamatti and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
3. Drive
If one film is likely to establish Gosling as a cult favorite, it's this art house film that pits a stunt driver and ultraviolence into a divisive execution. With one person applying a lawsuit for "false advertising" it as a The Fast and the Furious movie, it's no wonder that this film struck the wrong chord to mainstream audiences. However, it's the charisma of the strong, silent Gosling that makes the entire film click. With excellent direction by Nicholas Winding Refn, the film is a hypnotic portrait of Los Angeles crime mixed with a conflicting story of people who are incapable of escaping their past. With a great soundtrack to boot, this is the car movie for those who like artsy stuff (or want to see a really young Oscar Isaac). Too bad that Gosling's next collaboration with Refn, Only God Forgives, failed to live up to the magic of this film.
4. Half Nelson
It would seem criminal to leave off this 2006 film, for which he received an Oscar nomination and declared the beginning of his transition from child actor to serious actor. Playing an incompetent teacher, this film embodied a complicated figure whose struggle to do his job correctly remains one of the best performances of the decade. It may not be nearly as flashy as later roles, but it reflected his ability to add nuance and passion to the role while still being seedy. It's a film that, more than later entries, suggest that Gosling deserves more credit for his specific style of acting. When it pops like this, it manages to pop loudly.
5. Lars and the Real Girl
In case you were concerned that Gosling's strengths were only in drama, here's an offbeat entry for you. It's a novelty premise in which a man falls in love with a sex doll, and everyone just accepts it. The premise lives and dies on how well you buy into the performances, and Gosling does excellent work in making the humor come to life. While the indie film definitely has subtext about how the world sees relationships (a theme that was ahead of its time), it's still a charming comedy that manages to show the actor's capability to hold his own in the joke department. True, there would be funnier work later on, but this is at least a film that suggests that he was an actor willing to take chances on strange things. It has inevitably done him good to think this way.
BONUS
Lost River
If you're in an ambitious mood, you could check out Gosling's directorial debut Lost River. While it doesn't actually star him, it does feature a strong cast that includes Christina Hendricks, Saoirse Ronan, and Matt Smith. The film itself is a cryptic embodiment of the various directors that Gosling has worked with over the years, with many of the scenes borrowing from the neon surrealism of Refn, the emotional aesthetic of Cianfrance, and the wistful ambience of Terrence Malick. It's not a conventional story in the slightest, nor will it appeal to everyone. However, those wanting to see a demented take on the fairy tale story with a bit of sex and violence, then it might be worth a watch. He's still a little rough around the edges, but he's still a compelling force nonetheless.
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