The shocking death of Phillip Seymour Hoffman is a massive loss to film. His prowess as an actor is canonical and the tragedy of his untimely end is universally regarded. The only silver lining to this untimely end is the power of film to keep alive his legacy. Everyone dies, but most people have not so well captured human experience in a way that is permanent, and accessible to the masses. Here are some of the roles to remember this beautiful man by:
4. Boogie Nights – This is the film that put Paul Thomas Anderson, the wunderkind behind There Will Be Blood, on the map. Unfortunately, I could not find a school appropriate clip to include, so I have attached the trailer. It documents the perversion of material culture and celebrity in American culture, placing Phillip Seymour Hoffman right at its center. Both Hoffman and Anderson would enter the upper echelon’s of Hollywood after this, and go so far from there. But that does not mean they were not both at their best in Boogie Nights.
3. Magnolia – If I were ranking films, this would be at number one. But this about Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and to be honest, though wonderful he is not the dominant presence in this movie – but for a specific and fascinating reason. The director chose to shape the Hoffman’s character, Phil Parma, after Hoffman himself. Parma is a male nurse, who proves himself to be angelic and capable of great emotional depth. Soft spoken, but intelligent and a bit bodacious, Parma might be the best glimpse into who Phillip Seymour Hoffman really was.
2. Synecdoche, New York – From the brilliant and twisted mind of Charlie Kaufman (Adaptation, Being John Malkovich, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind),Synecdoche, New York, a film not half as praised as it deserves. Hoffman is magical. The film moves through a substantial portion of the life of a theatre director(enough to see Hoffman age). Not many actors could portray such a thing with the delicacy Hoffman does. This feat alone is enough to merit the status he has attained. It is a movie much better watched than read about it. I’ll stop talking, go see it.
1. The Master – Though brilliant, it is not my favorite film on the list. Yet, it is Hoffman at his best. He plays the enigmatic cult leader Lancaster Dodds, loosely based on Elrond Hubbard and Scientology, in the conflictual era of post-war America. As some of the country is swept away in the great wave of post-war prosperity, much of it wallows in the shadow of World War II, shell-shocked and stagnant. The collective post-traumatic stress is crystallized in veteran Freddie Quell, played by Joaquin Phoenix. The film is defined by the friendship of Quell and Dodds. Quell, unconcerned with the true nature of the universe, accepts Dodds teachings because he is friendly to him. Dodds accepts Quell’s limitations because he needs someone to believe he has the answers. Hoffman achieves the amazing feat of playing a man who appears to understand the world around him, but is continuously portrayed as not understanding. Ultimately Dodds needs Quell’s support more, suggesting that “The Master” is not Dodds, it is Quell. The enigma of this leading man, hopelessly lost himself, is as tough a challenge in acting as I can imagine. I think it will be the film that reminds the world what a precious loss Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s death really was.
