“the torch” #35 – in the crux: Acting - what role does the actor play?

To identify and empathize – these are two of the most fundamental capacities and distinguishing us as human beings as to set us apart from the animal world. What the arts can provide us with, in the best of cases, is a deepened insight and heightened awareness of our shared condition and nature, by giving a representation that we can relate to – if the part is convincing. And this too often proves to be the crucial point and Achilles’ heel in much of what we can observe in the contemporary film landscape: the acting. What is being neglected, or wherein exactly do we need a renewal of effort to improve the record on this count to successfully enhance the performance of our movies and to make the cinematic real have an impact again? The actor nowadays, in a world of constant and all-inclusive display of self-re-enactment (the simulacrum-dilemma of modern times you might call it), appears more challenged than ever and therefore must get back to the very basics of their craft. Such is the appeal made by “The Torch” this week, here.

(pic©mo)