best film: David Lynch moved his nightmare vision from suburbia (Blue Velvet) to Hollywood to create one of finest films of the 21st century in Mulholland Drive. Since Mulholland Drive is one of the finest films of the 21st century, this gives Naomi Watts (who is brilliant in the lead) a leg up on just about every actor of her generation (and younger). Birdman from Alejandro G. Iñárritu certainly deserves some consideration here as well but at the end of the day, Watts’ best film is Mulholland Drive.
Watts carved out her place in film history in her breakout performance in David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive (2001).
best performance: In Mulholland Drive Watts plays the dual role of the naïve Betty Elms and her doppelgänger Diane Selwyn. Watts is given plenty of room for her character to transform. First, she plays a sort of detective investigating the background of the mysterious Rita/ Camilla Rhodes (Laura Harring). Watts plays jealousy and eventually a sort of madness. She even gets the famous audition scene (how can one watch Emma Stone’s miraculous scene in La La Land and not think of Watts in Mulholland?). Lynch gave Watts such a great role- and Watts knocks it out of the park. Watts’ plays Cristina Peck in 21 Grams and she is fantastic here, too- and there is a transformation in that role as well but again like the category above, it does not take long to figure out the answer to the question of Watts’ best performance.
stylistic innovations/traits: The depth of filmography (thus far- Watts is not one yet necessarily) does not compare with some of her peers (good friend Nicole Kidman, Cate Blanchett) but it seems increasingly unlikely that her peers will be given the chance to match Watts’ high-water mark in Mulholland Drive. Watts was a bit of a late bloomer. She is deep support in 1991’s Flirting (Kidman front and center there) and then she kicked around supporting roles and some television work for about a decade. At the age of thirty-three (33) in 2001 she finally got her break in Lynch’s Mulholland. From there, Watts did most of her damage in this seven year stretch from 2001 to 2007 (four of her best five performances). She is getting choice roles from the likes of a white hot Peter Jackson, Alejandro G. Iñárritu, and David Cronenberg during this period.
Watts as Anna opposite Viggo Mortensen in Eastern Promises. Cronenberg’s film marked a cap to a run for Watts from 2001 to 2007 where Watts appeared in seven archiveable films in seven years- and gave one of the best performances of the year twice.
directors worked with: Alejandro G. Iñárritu (2) and then one film a piece in the archives with David Lynch of course, David O. Russell, Peter Jackson, David Cronenberg and Noah Baumbach.
Lynch is Watts’ key collaborator (even with one film), but the work with Iñárritu is next as these two films are Watts’ second best performance and second best film. Watts as Cristina Peck in 21 Grams here.
top five performances:
- Mulholland Drive
- 21 Grams
- Eastern Promises
- The Impossible
- King Kong
archiveable films
| 1991- Flirting |
| 2001- Mulholland Drive |
| 2003- 21 Grams |
| 2004- I Heart Huckabees |
| 2004- The Assassination of Richard Nixon |
| 2004- We Don’t Live Here Anymore |
| 2005- King Kong |
| 2007- Eastern Promises |
| 2012- The Impossible |
| 2014- Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance) |
| 2014- While We’re Young |
| 2018- Vice |
| 2019- Luce |
Even if it doesn’t compare to Cate Blanchett and Nicole Kidman, Watts still has some depth to her filmography. Unlike her countrywoman and contemporary Miranda Otto (The Lord of the Rings). And had a very respected career. Watts even makes inferior films worth watching (The Ring Two) just because of her performance. With one iconic line delivery.
She was excellent in Twin Peaks: The Return, working with David Lynch again.
@K- Yeah. She is an excellent actress. I love the free swinging and determined nature she brings to her character in The Ring series under extremely dire and exhausting circumstances. A very warm relationship with her son too. The Ring Two was actually a Box Office success and I think worth watching just for Watts. There is a crazy cameo in here from Sissy Spacek as well.
@K – Her second best performance I’m pretty sure. That intimidation scene is legendary.
A good review on The Ring Two here.
https://www.fangoria.com/the-ring-two-review/
The Ring (2002)
https://imgur.com/a/ring-2002-K89Pp02
Hmm. The Ring Two (2005) is not bad. Nakata seems willing to die on the “supernatural” hill rather than being interested in any kind of mystery. But this film has its heart in the right place. The mother-son relationship is the main focus here and it works. I think if we are willing to forgive and forget the wobbly supernatural effects there is a really good film here. With a really good performance from Naomi Watts.
Also, with Nakata being involved there is good use of colour here. Extensive use of blue. It’s definitely fascinating how the first one with Verbinski has a green tinted colour palette while this one completely gets rid of that with a naturalistic colour palette but with a lot of blue (certainly a less eye piercing and more warm colour than green). I think even the detractors of the film would have to admit there is good tension in the latter parts of the film. Especially in the scene the boy speaks with the co-worker and then with her mom after returning from the hospital. Some interesting mirror shots are used in this sequence.
Memorable score. Wild and interesting cameo from Sissy Spacek. Nice production design and lighting at her place. White. A young Emily VanCamp appear in the opening scene. Apparently there is a 16 minute short film released before this film called “Rings” which I haven’t seen. Both The Ring (2002) and The Ring Two (2005) give Naomi Watts a lot to do and be a strong lead.
The first thing to talk about The Ring (2002) is the pervading green colour grading. It’s connected to the material in that the off-putting nature of the coloring depicts the sick world the characters live in. It’s a bold stylistic choice. And certainly after the success of The Matrix using greens must have been heavily in demand. It’s not just the grading though. Everything the characters wear and their surroundings are carefully chosen to match the grading. The set was lit in a way to hide shadows as well. So, these are basically zombies. Horror or no horror this is a very unique and consistent looking film. There is very intentional red, blue and yellow colour splashings to go along with the greens which was used later in A Cure for Wellness as well. I read about The Mexican the previous year using the colours of the Mexican flag as a consistent colour theme. And I could see it.
Can Watts play Toni Colette Hereditary role? You talked about the darkness of her Diane Selwyn, I think that is required for Hereditary. It also requires sort loud explosive representation of grief (opposite of Binoche in Blue) which we know Watts is capable because of 21 Grams.
I think she’ll excel. What about you?
@M*A*S*H- Watts has already shown she can excel in horror/mystery movies like The Ring.