By Rob Fagin
SOMETHING ABOUT PHILIP
comedian Russell Brand, "the efficiency of
heroin in neutralizing pain." This absolutely
is not meant to excuse Hoffman's tragic decisions, but the words should hopefully be
potent enough to inspire the humble reflection that we do not know what he was going
through, for the simple reason that we were
not him. Life is mind-boggling and gargantuan; it cannot be defined by one event, it
does not fit into a box.
First up:
Hard Eight (101 min)
Watching the right pair of movies back-to-back can
illuminate wildly different details, create a whole new
viewing experience and, just maybe, BLOW your
MIND. Plus, it's fun! Here's your monthly guide:
P
hilip Seymour Hoffman, a ferociously
vulnerable and inventive actor, died
last month with a needle in his arm.
We know that already. We have the intoxicating luxury of ultimate knowledge, and so,
seemingly, we can take his life and box it up
and label it.
Of course, he had no such luxury.
Obviously, as someone who was living as a
sober, recovering addict for well over twenty
years, he probably had fears of an addict's
death. But, even though the fates had in store
for him a lonely apartment with heroin as his
Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson, 1996
Availability: DVD, Netflix Streaming,
Amazon Instant
"There's that guy again!" was the familiar
reaction to his face in the late '90s. He specialized in small but dynamic roles: A loathsome social elitist in The Talented Mr. Ripley,
who single-handedly amped-up the nauseous tension as the first character to see
Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Talented Mr. Ripley
through Ripley's game. As the sleepily
only company, Hoffman certainly did not unflappable, relentlessly uncool rock journallive his life as though that were all he had to ist, Lester Bangs, who crashes down perspective on his impressionable protégé in Almost
look forward to.
The father of three young children, he Famous. A perverted prank caller in
was constantly promoting with profound Happiness; a snobbishly flustered personal
enthusiasm his projects, the craft of acting assistant in The Big Lebowski; a caring nurse
itself and the honor of an intense work ethic. desperate to help a dying patient in Magnolia;
Since his first splash in Scent of a Woman and a sad, smitten, self-hating porno boom
(1992), he averaged two to four movies operator in Boogie Nights.
And yet, today I'll take the opportunity to
almost every single year - in fact, he's got
three in the can for 2014. He directed and direct you to one of