The Benedict Cumberbatch Viewing Project

Benedict Cumberbatch is, in my opinion, the greatest actor alive, or possibly who has ever lived. It only makes sense that I should start at the beginning of his career and systematically watch, in chronological order, everything he's ever done.

[myclosepersonalfriendbc]

Wreckers Review

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My Close Personal Friend Otherwise Known as Benedict Cumberbatch...

Was lovely, as always. Not a very sophisticated role or performance compared to many of his others, but wonderful to watch anyway. His chemistry with Claire Foy was gorgeous.

The movie overall...

Was a waste of time. And it made me angry.

If you’re going to depict rape, you’d better have a damn good reason. It had better be an ABSOLUTELY CRUCIAL PLOT POINT and actually visually depicting it had better be ABSOLUTELY ESSENTIAL. Because I don’t need to see another image of a woman getting brutalized. Rape can be explored, the truth about it can be told, women’s stories can be amplified and supported, without constantly reinscribing it in image, over and over again. 

Maybe I completely misunderstood this film, but what was interesting to me were the relationships between the wife, husband, and his brother. What was interesting to me was how these brothers related to each other now, and how the wife felt about continuing revelations about her husband. The rape had nothing to do with any of this. It had absolutely no point whatsoever that I could see.

I mean, honestly. I thought: “What the fuck? What does this have to do with anything?” And then it turns out that her husband is infertile, but the rape results in a baby...so there’s this bizarre way in which it’s therefore....a good thing?!?!? I mean, I can’t believe that was what the filmmakers were trying to say, but it was all so clumsy and pointless and depressing...

In short, do not recommend. My delightful Close Personal Friend has given tons of performances that rival and exceed this one, so, especially if you’re a woman, take your business elsewhere. This movie is perfectly fine, but not worth you having to watch a woman’s body get violated. Don’t do that to yourself. Take care of yourself.

[myclosepersonalfriendbc]

The thing is, I don’t know how he does it, but Benedict Cumberbatch...

...he just tells the truth.

That’s the thing. That’s it. He says a line, and it’s the truth. That’s the only way I’ve found to conceptualize how brilliant he is and how fully he disappears into roles. He has mastered the art of telling the truth.

It sounds so simple, but as an actor myself I know it’s incredibly difficult. He makes it look easy. That’s why I love his work so much: he’s not doing anything fancy, he’s not working himself up into impressive waves of emotion, he’s not overthinking, he doesn’t put his characters into boxes, he doesn’t oversimplify them...

He just vanishes into the truth of the character, and then he tells that truth.

It’s total genius. He reminds me, whenever I need to be reminded, what acting can be at it’s best. He reminds me why it’s worth doing, or even attempting.

Acting, at it’s best, is a version of empathy so intense that it opens a portal into another reality that is somehow more real than our own. 

It’s magic. And Benedict Cumberbatch is the best magician we have.

[myclosepersonalfriendbc]

So I’ve been thinking more about To the Ends of the Earth

1. It’s a miracle that anybody ever used a ship to get anywhere. It’s unthinkable that anybody uses a ship to get anywhere now. I am a homebody.

2. The people who made this series did not put enough thought into what point they wanted to make with BC’s character and the lady he hooks up with in the first part. She is portrayed as a caricature of a “loose woman”, while he is also simultaneously portrayed as being a jackass who uses her. But he’s also the protagonist. If they wanted to interrogate his behavior, they didn’t serve that purpose well by the choices they made in the portrayal and writing of the female character. As it was, it came off like they, the project itself, was slut-shaming her. It gave me a bad taste in my mouth. (This does not reflect at all on Mr. Cumberbatch, in my mind. Just a thought about the whole project itself.)

[myclosepersonalfriendbc]

I expected to be blown away by Benedict Cumberbatch's Hamlet, and I was. But it also wasn't exactly what I expected; it was so much better. I expected intensity, fierce intelligence, and his usual elegant spot-on choices, and he delivered all of that flawlessly, as always. What I didn't expect was his incredible vulnerability, openness, and, for lack of a better word, sweetness. I have never gotten through a production of Hamlet without eventually feeling that he's just kinda a brat. I didn't know there was another way to play it. I felt like we, the audience, were Horatio. This Hamlet let us in on his turmoil, his confusion, his love, his anger, his self-loathing, as if we were collectively his closest friend and the only one he really trusts. It was motherlovin' genius, people. But the best kind of human, grounded, unpretentious genius possible.

Bless you, National Theater Live, for allowing me to see this glory. 

[myclosepersonalfriendbc]

To The Ends of the Earth Part 1

Shockingly, I had a difficult time noticing and enjoying Benedict Cumberbatch’s performance because I spent most of the time trying to figure out what I was watching. I had no idea what it was actually about before I watched it, and for some reason I found it hard to follow.

This is a terribly boring review. Sorry.

I mean, Benedict Cumberbatch is always great. This was one of his earlier performances and, as far as I can tell, not an incredibly juicy role, so I didn’t find myself getting the usual thrill that I get from watching him act (that thrill, by the way, resembles the thrill I get watching an expert Olympian figure skater land an impossibly fast, high, dizzying spin).

I hope that I’ll enjoy the next two parts more. So far I’m finding it hard not to be distracted by certain eccentricities about the production itself.

[myclosepersonalfriendbc]

I've been doing a terrible job with this project recently. Mostly because I'm really busy actually living my life..which is good. Obviously.

I did see The Imitation Game for the second time. The first time the rudest man I've ever encountered sat behind me and talked through the whole movie.

I read a piece by someone online saying that they felt that My Close Personal Friend's performance was mannered and overdone. I completely disagree. I thought he was totally breathtaking.

Of course, I always think that, so maybe I'm not the best judge.

What I love so much about Benedict Cumberbatch's acting, and what I loved about his performance as Alan Turing, is that he so perfectly combines intelligence with heart. It's clear from how he speaks in interviews and from the precision and nuance of his performances that he approaches his work with a lot of intellect and training. His acting looks effortless, I'd wager, because he puts so much thought into it before shooting a scene that when he gets in front of the camera there's a whole world masterfully crafted in his mind, and he's imagined his way completely into the character's skin. 

But he's able to do that so well, I think, because he combines intelligence with heart. Of course I don't know this for sure, but it seems to me that he loves every character he plays. And I mean really loves: love that understands, love that is unconditional, love that sees and appreciates every single tiny detail about someone.

And that is so beautiful to me. It's why I want to watch everything he's every done.

[thatwetshirt]

Colin Firth at the 72nd Golden Globes on the role of Alan Turing in The Imitation Game

[myclosepersonalfriendbc]

'Hamlet' Starring Benedict Cumberbatch Is Coming To A Movie Theatre Near You! | Contactmusic.com

If you weren't one of the lucky few who snapped up tickets for Hamlet starring Benedict Cumberbatch in London’s Barbican theatre this August then don’t dismay. Thanks to the National Theatre Live, Cumberbatch’s turn as the Danish Prince will be...

Thanks to National Theatre Live, my viewing project will be that much more complete.

March 16 is now on my Google calendar with three separate reminders. October 15 is also on my calendar.