In Praise of Joseph Gordon-Levitt

Pretty much everyone who knows me has heard me blab about this bizarrely young-looking and creepily talented actor. He’s 24 years old but will probably be stuck playing teenagers for the next ten years… however, so far in his career that hasn’t really been a problem. He stars in three of my favorite movies in the past few years: Manic, Mysterious Skin, and Brick (unreleased so far, but I caught it at the Chicago Film Fest).



Think about it, if you were primarily known as that kid from Third Rock From the Sun, wouldn’t you be desperate to throw yourself in the limelight and shed your reputation as a child actor on a television show? True, he’s done the Sundance thing, and he’s been in indie movies… but he’s in the indie movies that everyone’s ignoring, and is still known by everyone as that kid from Third Rock From the Sun. And somehow he must be all right with that, because he’s not doing any big Hollywood productions, and he’s not dating any starlets, and as far as I know he hasn’t been in Star Magazine even once. So good for him.

I would bet money that he and Gael Garcia Bernal are the best actors of their generation. I would bet every penny I have at the moment (OK, so that’s $21.22 because of my recent stolen money fiasco, but even if I had more I would bet it). I’m not going to go on and on about why I think he’s such a great actor, but it’s a testament to his skills that I loved Manic in spite of its stomach-churning hand-held camera techniques. He also managed to be utterly convincing in Mysterious Skin and Brick, which both were great movies, but full of artificial situations that would have been ruined by a lesser actor.

All right, enough of that. Time to go out and eat. Hooray for Joseph Gordon-Levitt.