Twenty-one

[pattirose]

My used vhs copy from ebay came yesterday and I noticed it wasn't rewound and the previous viewer had stopped it before the end........... They must have been a Rufus fan because they stopped it where Ruf's part ended, lol.

I really really liked the majority of it. It started off great and there were some funny scenes with Ruf. He was very convincing with his portrayal of the role and I loved the Scottish accent.
I liked Patsy Kinset also, she reminded me of a young Sharon Stone.
The last part of the movie fell apart and I wondered why they even bothered to put in most of the scenes. Especially why they made a point of showing her changing her clothes only to have sex with them on? I must have missed the point there.

All in all - great little movie and a very different role for Ruf indeed. There just really isn't any point in watching it after Ruf's part is over, but he is in the majority of the film, thankfully.

[rai]

I loved him in this movie. Everything he did was superb. It was the second movie I saw him in, just by accident when I was flipping channels and saw his face. The guy from Middlemarch!!

Rai

[maxx02]

Actually I thought the picture was interesting if dated (I just saw it for the first time last year). It's hardly risque by today's standards and I question if it was in the 9o's. I don't see the same potential from Rufus as I see in TLR which just startles the crap out of me even if it does have a bit of serious scenery chewing, but 21 is absolutely worth watching.

And I know it's unfashionable but I get a kick out of Pasty Kensit in nearly everything she does. She's not a great actor but she has something that just makes me laugh. I like her especially now that she older.

Of course now that we've started talking about it, I think I need to watch it again. It's been quite a while. I might see something I've missed.

[rosenrot]

Nothing to do with being 'fashionable' but I hate Patsy Kensit with a passion. She is a dreadful actress and has become famous more for who she is screwing than for any miniscule amount of talent that she is keeping well hidden.

She undermines this piece terribly, trying to pull off a similar performance to David Thewlis in 'Naked' and failing so miserably that it is comical. I love that her last scene is on the toilet - which is exactly where her career should have gone.

However, I just adore Rufus in this. His performance is fabulous. He goes from the witty, jack-the-lad to the seriously damaged junkie with such subtelty. You can feel his self desctruction. The fact that he does this against the background of such a terrible film is nothing short of remarkable. His entire persona and physical being morph during the course of this and you can totally believe in the piece of human wreckage that he becomes.

It is a film that I would write off in an instant if it weren't for him in it. But well worth watching for Rooof fans.

[ree]

Its 2:00 Am in the morning and I've just seen twenty-one for the first time. Rufus was heartbreaking as Bobby, disturbingly authentic. In my opinion the only one worth mentioning in this movie.

[GreenEyesToo]

rosenrot said:

Nothing to do with being 'fashionable' but I hate Patsy Kensit with a passion. She is a dreadful actress and has become famous more for who she is screwing than for any miniscule amount of talent that she is keeping well hidden.

Totally in agreement with these comments, Minx - I've never been able to understand the hoopla surrounding her. Another "personality" famous for being famous, with no talent to justify it.

Rufus I would excuse for getting involved with such a dreadful film (early in a career, who wouldn't take any film role to get his name known?), but I cannot fathom why actors such as Jack Shepherd and Patrick Ryecart did.

That said, our lad did his usual trick of putting in a great performance - a class act in a sea of dross. Yes, Ree, heartbreaking to watch Bobby's downward slide.

And of all the "deaths" he's played, I found this one the most difficult to watch.

If I view this again (multiple viewings of Ru's roles are the norm for me, but this could be the exception to that rule), it will be on fast-forward, for Rufus's scenes only.


GE2

[maxx02]

Well, before I commented on this I wanted to watch it again, and I have. My opinion hasn't changed much. I still think it's one of the weakest performances I've seen Rufus give, but he was young and it may have been somewhat out of his reach.

If he'd have played Bobby today by the time we saw his family at the funeral we would have already known most of it. We would have understood his tortured childhood, his fear of ice cream, his love of crocodiles and which were his favorite socks and on what days he wore them, his performances have become so textured and lifelike.

As it is he's all right in the role. But the mistake he makes, and I notice this so sharply here because he's so brilliant at it now, is that he plays being a junkie instead of playing trying to hide the fact that he's as junkie. Heroin addicts with jobs and girlfriends don't want us to catch them at their secret. They want to fool us into thinking everything is fine. Instead, he stumbles and bumbles and stares off into space giving an altogether one note performance -- not a horrible one mind you but nothing like what he's capable of today. He acts like he thinks a heroin addict would act instead of inhabiting his life as if he were a heroin addict. It's one of his few performances where I can see him consciously making decisions about what to do next instead of living the life of the character as it unspools. So I can see the strings--I can see the actor in him working and much like watching a painter paint, it's a dull process. I'd prefer not to see his rough drafts on screen.

And I have to ask myself, if I wasn't a fan would I care if died? And sadly the answer is 'not really'.

For me the nicest moment in the thing from Rufus is when he leaves Katie's house after she catches her mother with the music teacher and he is so out of it, he stops to say thank you or good night or whatever he says. It's the one moment where we have just a brief flicker of his upbringing and know the tiniest bit about him. But for the rest of it, it's flat and emotionless lacking in depth and interest.

At least for me.

Otherwise, it's not a bad film. It's just been said a million times before and often more interestingly such as in The Mother.

And I have to say, though I know it won't make me any friends, in this film he's about on par with the rest of the performances. Other than the pretty face, I would never single him out for the huge amazing talent he's become.

[ree]

Maxx said:
If he'd have played Bobby today by the time we saw his family at the funeral we would have already known most of it. We would have understood his tortured childhood, his fear of ice cream, his love of crocodiles and which were his favorite socks and on what days he wore them, his performances have become so textured and lifelike.

Yes, this occurred to me too, thanks for articulating this point.

Maxx Said:
For me the nicest moment in the thing from Rufus is when he leaves Katie's house after she catches her mother with the music teacher and he is so out of it, he stops to say thank you or good night or whatever he says. It's the one moment where we have just a brief flicker of his upbringing and know the tiniest bit about him.

I noticed this also, and rewound to try to understand. I think he mumbled nice to meet you, or maybe it was just thank you, but it did stand out. I wondered if if was something he added on his own.

(I've evidently done something to loose my text blocking)

[ukelelehip]

rai said:

The guy from Middlemarch!!

Ha ha!! I wonder if you still think of him like that. Oh my gosh, you're the guy from Middlemarch!

I thought Roof was TERRIFIC in "Twenty-One".

[rosenrot]

I doubt if the more obvious things that Rufus did had anything to do with his acting ability. Rather I reckon it was down to a poor script and poor direction. As a young, undiscovered actor, he would have to follow the direction and stage notes he was given - without question and with limited scope for interpretation - and if he was told to stare into space and bumble he would have done it. (The rest of the film is abismally directed and I think it is a fair bet that Rufus's part wasn't any better directed than the rest).

What comes through in this piece is his subtlety, which shines through even in a horrible, misdirected film like this. I think there is nothing 'weak' about his performance at all - most actors would drown in cack like this.

[ree]

I watched Rufus's scenes again, & I still think given his youth, inexperience, & all the factors he did himself proud. A less talented young actor, no matter how pretty, wouldn't have made me feel anything other than revulsion.

[rai]

Maxx wrote: Heroin addicts with jobs and girlfriends don't want us to catch them at their secret. They want to fool us into thinking everything is fine. Instead, he stumbles and bumbles and stares off into space giving an altogether one note performance -- not a horrible one mind you but nothing like what he's capable of today. He acts like he thinks a heroin addict would act instead of inhabiting his life as if he were a heroin addict.
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! I couldn't disgree with you more, Dear Maxx. I thought his portrayal was spot-on. I've known a few heroin addicts/users and I found they may *think* they're not behaving obviously so, but when things are bad, they act exactly like Bobby did.

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Uke wrote:
Ha ha!! I wonder if you still think of him like that. Oh my gosh, you're the guy from Middlemarch!
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He'll always be "My Lovely One" from Middlemarch and he knows it!

Rai

[maxx02]

thought I'd pass this along in light of our conversations on this picture.

www.timeout.com/film/features/2542.html

But let me fill in some background. Richard was perfect for this part. I’d admired his work all my life and had particularly loved his performance in ‘This Sporting Life’, Lindsay Anderson’s great movie about the rarefied world of rugby league. Before meeting him in early 2000, I sent him two of my films – ‘Twenty-One’, which had several terrific performances including Rufus Sewell as Patsy Kensit’s drugged-up boyfriend

I mark this as proof that this one of Rufus' weaker performances. The director thought he was brilliant.

[ukelelehip]

I'm with Rai, I thought he was so amazing in TWENTY-ONE. Like a man possessed.

[frances]

He was great in 21.