Opinion Weekdays #9: Kate Beckinsale in ‘The Only Living Boy in New York’
Last night, at exactly 2a.m., I randomly stumbled upon ‘The Only Living Boy in New York’. I then saw bits and pieces of the trailer and impulsively decided to give the film a shot. It was late at night and I was exhausted after quite the day, but nevertheless determined to expand by cinema culture.
‘The Only Living Boy in New York’ is not critically acclaimed. With 33% on Rottentomatoes.com and mostly low ratings on Letterboxd, this isn’t a movie that usually would’ve been my first choice. But something about the concept fascinated me and I didn’t feel like watching anything heavy, so why not check it out, I thought.
Here is the tl:dr of my thoughts on ‘The Only Living Boy in New York’: a brilliant script telling an absolutely amazing story overshadowed by rather mediocre direction. The film itself is not perfect, but the story it tells is. The storytelling is wildly original, very layered, and builds itself upon really realistic and interesting characters. Tonally, the film suffers a great deal and the direction is rather chaotic, but I choose to ignore and focus on storytelling.
But something really struck me:
Kate Beckinsale.
Who is actually is really talented actress, overshadowed by that sh*t ‘Underworld’ epidemic. I couldn’t help but be dazzled by her performance in ‘The Only Living Boy in New York’.
In this film, Kate Beckinsale plays a rather unique character; a strong, yet gentle woman, stunningly beautiful, awfully tortured. She is the mistress of a successful publishing agent, who then starts sleeping with that man’s son as well.
The amazing thing is, unlike a lot of tonally similar projects, the beautiful woman in ‘The Only Living Boy in New York’ is not a plot device. There is a lot to the character of Johanna, mainly due to the great script, and Kate Beckinsale does an absolutely brilliant job at portraying her.
Furthermore…
Beckinsale is charismatic and uses her beauty very efficiently to further develop the character. She creates fantastic arc and sustains it throughout. Her chemistry with both male interests (played by Callum Turner and Pierce Brosnan) is spot-on and works brilliantly for the story.
Most impressive of all, however, is probably the way she delivers her lines. Contextually, it’s absolutely spot-on. It’s brutally realistic and even if a line sounds cheesy on paper, Kate Beckinsale manages to bring that through the character and sustain it properly. Everything she says, we believe. She is 100% in the moment, listening and reacting to what everyone else is saying. Johanna is all-throughout a beautifully sustained character.
There is clear passion in Kate Beckinsale’s eyes in ‘The Only Living Boy in New York’. She has probably put a lot of work into this character. As she should’ve. As all actors should. No matter the project, even if it is something as seemingly mediocre as ‘The Only Living Boy in New York’ (although I don’t think that’s true), the actor should always give the best performance they possibly can. Which is why I had an urge to talk about Kate Beckinsale in this film. I was left utterly impressed, she brought the character to life and provided an awfully realistic performance, which is something admirable.
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Do you like Kate Beckinsale? Why or why not? Share your thoughts in the comments section below! Don’t forget to LIKE and SHARE this article if you enjoyed it and also to SUBSCRIBE to Our Movie Life!
As always, thank you so much for reading,
Pouty Boy