MovieChat Forums > Meet Joe Black (1998) Discussion > Odd performance or odd writing/directing...

Odd performance or odd writing/directing?

posted 3 years ago by Seperatrix (1348)
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The only pleasure for me in this film is Hopkins performance, and it's substantial. The rest of the cast does a great job, but Hopkins is superb.

But the one thing that bothers me about the film is how the character of Death is inconsistently portrayed.

I don't understand why the director chose to use Hopkins voice -- as the voice of Death -- early in the film, it's nonsensical. Then there is the problem of when death actually takes on a body and interacts with others . . .

The thing with Pitt’s performance is that Death comes off like a cross between Tom Hanks character in Big and the Dougie Jones character from season 3 of Twin Peaks. While I can understand the concept of a spirit feeling a sense of wonderment when inhabiting a body for the first time and experiencing the new sensations (e.g., spinning in a chair or tasting peanut butter) it’s hard to reconcile how he doesn’t seem to know how to hold simple conversations or how to interact with others most of the time. Odd for a being that even knows the details of how someone cheated on their test to get through school. Before becoming incarnate, Death was almost sneering at Parrish, mocking and mimicking. After becoming incarnate Death mostly seemed aloof and playful for the most part. Quite uneven in my opinion.

[–] Melton (5491) a year ago

I agree that the Hopkins performance makes this film essential viewing, but the whole thing really is a modern Capra-esque classic, using the concept of death to inspire us to live a first rate life.

As to your other concern, I don’t have a problem with how Death was portrayed. It starts as something born from Bill Parish’s interior - only he can hear the ‘yes’ voice. I like this because the seeds of our death exist within us, our mortality and our awareness of it hibernate at the deepest levels of ourselves. Death communicates with Bill from this place. Then it shifts into human form using Pitt’s body.

I love how the film has zero special effects. We’re dealing with something as insanely supernatural as Death itself taking human form. It doesn’t try to nail down ‘the rules’ and expresses itself in ways we cannot fully understand. ‘Now multiply that by infinity, take it to the depths of forever and you’ll barely have a glimpse of what I’m talking about’ Mystery is core to how Death is portrayed. We can only catch glimpses of it.

[–] Seperatrix (1348) a year ago

"It starts as something born from Bill Parish’s interior - only he can hear the ‘yes’ voice. I like this because the seeds of our death exist within us, our mortality and our awareness of it hibernate at the deepest levels of ourselves. Death communicates with Bill from this place. Then it shifts into human form using Pitt’s body."

I like this interpretation. I can go with that certainly.

As for the film nailing down the rules of or for Death, I don't ask that it does necessarily, I just felt that there is a distinct incongruity that stuck out a bit too much for me. But, I roll with that and sit back and enjoy the film nonetheless.