The Indian Runner – The Framing Device

Full disclosure, I haven’t written anything in well over a year – it’s probably closer to two if I’m being completely honest – for a multitude of reasons: a severe lack of confidence, general work-related inability, the pandemic, or just general disgruntlement at the world around me. Inspiration took me by complete surprise when I began looking back over this blog space and I allowed myself to briefly reminisce about the enthusiasm I once had, and the encouragement I received from two wonderful souls. Both of whom are, devastatingly, no longer with us. Anyway I digress… although I’m sure there is something to add about the fragility and futility of life. Do what you love. So, I figured I’d try and write about a subject I love, a bit of an obsession* if you will.

One of the first pieces I published was way back in 2012 for a long-defunct film-site and it got me thinking of my onscreen main squeeze, Viggo Mortensen. Eleven years later, he is still somewhat of a King (and technically a Knight having been bestowed with the honour back in 2010 by Queen Margarethe II of Denmark) and continues to work, thankfully, choosing roles that are fascinatingly complex, interesting, and most of the time utterly unique to him.

“I have no plan. Maybe I should have a career plan but I don’t. I usually wait and hope the right thing will find me.”
The Evening Chronicle

Now a spritely 65-year-old (come October), the dimple-chinned deity has received countless SAG award noms, Golden Globes, EFAs, recognition at TIFF, the Goyas, BIFA, and BAFTA. Plus, wins at Stockholm FF and San Sebastian for his directorial debut, Falling, and a second and third Oscar nom (for Captain Fantastic and Green Book respectively). I can’t say I was a fan of Green Book to be perfectly honest – it was fine, j’adore Vig and Mahershala Ali but I kind of loathed Tony Lip. Thankfully, there has been plenty to enjoy since 2013 (which is where my original Viggo is King piece left off).

The Two Faces of January (Dir. Hossein Amini. 2014)

Based on Patricia Highsmith’s 1964 novel of the same name, Viggo is Chester McFarland, a con-artist married to Colette (Kirsten Dunst), who has to quickly rely on Oscar Isaac’s perfect stranger Rydal Kenner to get him out of a sticky sitch. Cue: frustration, jealousy, paranoia and a slow unravelling. As leading men go, few have looked finer in this tragic murder-flight-redemption mystery thriller. There is an almost Oedipal theme running throughout despite the link to Janus, and with filming taking place in Athens, Crete, Knossos, and Istanbul the emphasis is on heat, sand, and bright light (there are few shadows to hide in). Chester’s Man From Del Monte suit begins to look rather grubby by the end.

Jauja (Dir. Lisandro Alonso, 2014)

In 1880s Argentina, Danish Captain Gunnar Dinsen (Mortensen) is there with his daughter Ingeborg (Viilbjørk Malling Agger) who wants a dog, falls in love with one man, and has to spurn the affections of another… to reveal anything more of the plot would spoil the experience. This is a slow-burn and magical piece of cinema, its gorgeous visuals shot in a 4:3 aspect ratio (Mortensen also served as the film’s composer). The title, Jauja, refers to the once capital of Spanish Peru known as ‘never never land’ and the ‘land of milk and honey’; a mythical El Dorado of sorts. The film itself is existential in tone, hypnotic, and haunting and has me excited for Lisandro Alonso’s next film Eureka – a recent Special Screening at Cannes – which is also anchored by Mortensen.

Captain Fantastic (Dir. Matt Ross, 2016)

Ben Cash (Mortensen), his wife Leslie and their six, uniquely named children live deep in the wilderness of Washington State, “off-grid”. The kids are home-schooled, they hunt, fish, read Noam Chomsky and can be more than a little wild. When Leslie takes her own life, Dad and the kids have to shun isolation and venture into mainstream society, the first time for a lot of them. Vig continues his run of ‘out-of-time’ men, male characters on the cusp of, well, somewhere else. His Ben exudes a childlike simplicity and whimsy but he’s a limiting, almost dangerous, father; selfish, imperfect, and deeply flawed. It’s an incredibly honest and raw performance.

Falling (Dir. Viggo Mortensen, 2020)

Mortensen’s most personal project to date – a work of auto-fiction – based on his own childhood, his parents’ love story, and the last few years of their lives. He directed the film, wrote the screenplay, and composed the film’s score as well as starring as John, a Pilot charged with looking after his father Willis (Lance Henriksen), an unflinching and uncouth, bad-tempered old bastard of a man whose brain is slowly surrendering to dementia. This film is the antithesis of Florian Zeller’s The Father and one which looks at memory, communication, forgiveness, and is evidently made with love.

Crimes of the Future (Dir. David Cronenberg, 2022)

David Cronenberg’s 2022 body horror is the fifth time he has worked with his favoured leading man (a safe assumption by now, right? For anyone questioning the five films, Cronenberg plays a staid proctologist in Falling). After Tom Stall, Nikolai Luzhin, and Sigmund Freud comes Saul Tenser, he of tender soul – and still a man ‘undercover’ or in hiding. This is a vulnerable Vig. His Saul is a performance artist whose body leaves him in constant pain – he has the ability to produce multiple new body organs, which are then removed during a live show by his partner Caprice (Léa Seydoux). He is then approached to go undercover to infiltrate some radical evolutionists. The world is changing (again) and “surgery is the new sex”. There are visual nods to The Man Who Laughs (1928), The Passion of Joan of Arc (1928) and call-backs to Videodrome (1983), Crash (1996) and Existenz (1999). Viggo is, as ever, compelling but I think the women of the cast, Seydoux, Kristen Stewart (who is fantastic), and LifeFormWare Techs played by Nadia Litz & Tanya Beatty shade him at times.

My admiration goes way back to The Indian Runner (Dir. Sean Penn, 1991), I was 15 when I discovered the DVD in 1998, I’d just seen him in another directorial debut (ugh) Albino Alligator (1996) and wanted to see more, beyond the bespectacled and besuited moustache he played. Aside from the obvious aesthetically-pleasing exterior, there’s a quiet intensity, and nuance to his performances. He’s not a method actor but I find him as mesmerising as Brando (unsurprisingly, I’m a huge fan of Bud too). 27 years later, Mortensen is still my go-to, one of a select group of actors who I’ll watch anything and everything they churn out.

This has resulted in a wealth of work to look back on and dip in and out of from the multi-hyphenate artist. As well as the new projects he completes to look forward to. Perhaps, I will even, finally, get to those elusive three that I have yet to watch – La pistola de mi hermano (1997), On the Road (2012) and Far From Men (2014).

It’s rare for him to give a bad performance even if the film itself is a dud. Whether he’s onscreen for one brief scene or the King of a 682-minute trilogy, he tends to bring his kind of magic to it which keeps you enthralled or at least pique your interest. Next, however, will be his sophomore outing behind the camera, The Dead Don’t Hurt, an 1860s-set western love story, in which he will play Danish immigrant Holger Olsen opposite Vicky Krieps’ Vivienne Le Coudy. Can’t wait.

*“Without obsession, life would be nothing.” – John Waters

Viggo is King

It was announced in early October that Viggo Mortensen would be delivering the final Screen Talk at the 56th BFI London Film Festival, in part, to discuss his new film Everybody Has a Plan (2012, dir. Ana Piterbarg), while also revisiting his time in the film industry and on his birthday no less. Some will know him as Aragorn from The Lord of the Rings; a testament to his memorable turn – thanks to a last minute casting decision – in Peter Jackson’s Middle-Earth saga, while most will recognise him from his recent David Cronenberg collaboration, A History of Violence (2005), Eastern Promises (2007) and A Dangerous Method (2011). Throughout a twenty-eight year career, his first film role was as blink-and-you-miss-him Moses Hochleitner in Peter Weir’s Witness (1985); Mortensen, who appears more youthful than his fifty-four years, has been far from predictable with his film choices. This is an actor who has numerous award nominations and wins under his belt including Oscars, BAFTAs, Golden Globes, even a Goya and was inducted into the Empire Icon Hall-of-Fame years before the acting powerhouse that is Gary Oldman.

Born to a Danish father and American mother in Manhattan, New York Viggo Jr. spent several years in South America and, then later, Denmark culminating in a degree in Government and Spanish and linguistic fluency in the Danish, Spanish and French language. A man of many talents he owns Perceval Press, writes poetry, is a celebrated artist/photographer and an accomplished musician. Everybody Has a Plan is his second starring role in a Spanish-speaking film following 2006’s Alatriste (and fourth to date); his enigmatic and introspective performances are inherent with the hope that his pensive, dimple-chinned, splendour continues to grace the big screen for the foreseeable future. Certainly, with releases of On the Road (2012, dir. Walter Salles) and The Two Faces of January (2013, dir. Hossein Amini) to come that will surely be the case. Mortensen has worked with directors of every genre, from Jane Campion to the late Tony Scott and he is responsible for some truly memorable performances:

The Indian Runner (1991, dir. Sean Penn)

As black sheep Frank Roberts in Sean Penn’s directorial debut, Mortensen exudes danger, melancholic misunderstanding and self destruction in equal measure in this accomplished and brooding, if overwrought, commentary on the Vietnam War.

Carlito’s Way (1993, dir. Brian De Palma)

On screen for barely four minutes and looking a little rough around the edges as former playboy now paraplegic Lalin; it is an affecting cameo, in a critically acclaimed Hitchcockian-Gangster film, made unforgettable for the delivery of the ‘cocksucker’ line.

The Prophecy (1995, dir. Gregory Widen)

Again, an incredibly short time on screen – here Mortensen is a deliciously camp Lucifer with a penchant for dip-dye hair and taste for human hearts in this average sci- fi/religious thriller hybrid where angels wage war on “God’s favourite” humans.

G I Jane (1997, dir. Ridley Scott)

Few remember this flawed film save for Demi Moore’s head-shaving and one-armed push-ups but Mortensen delivers a solid, and largely overlooked, performance as Master Chief John James Urgayle. A beguiling bastard who recites Walt Whitman, teaches that “pain is [ones] friend” and gets the best Navy Seal out of Lt. Jordan O’Neill (Moore) irrespective of gender or political ideology.

A Perfect Murder (1998, dir. Andrew Davis)

The second Hitchcock remake to bear the Mortensen name (best we forget the other one). He plays struggling artist David Shaw enjoying an extra-marital affair with millionaire’s wife and U.N. alum Emily (Gwyneth Paltrow). Torn between blackmail, lust and greed Viggo’s David could have been lacking and tawdry in the hands of another actor but he brings a real depth to ‘the other man’. And yes, we would want to leave Michael Douglas for him too…

LOTR: The Two Towers (2002, dir. Peter Jackson)

Difficult to choose from this trilogy given that he is the titular King of the third instalment, however, it is in this film that Aragorn truly comes into his own as warrior and leader of the Rohirrim and Fairies alike, during the epic battle of Helm’s Deep. It is also the text which cements Mortensen has a honest-to-goodness action hero; combat ready whilst never losing the emotional gravitas of the character despite being knee deep in mud and soaked in rain.

A History of Violence (2005, dir. David Cronenberg)

Based upon the John Wagner and Vince Locke graphic novel of the same name, this film saw the first teaming of Cronenberg and Mortensen and surprisingly the first real leading role for the now well-known Danish-American. He plays Tom Stall, a small town diner owner who is hailed a local hero when he kills two armed thugs in self defence. After playing such a recognisable character of literature Mortensen proves that he can play average-Joe-Bloggs-with-a-past with equal vigour. His performance is excellent in a thrilling film which boasts the most convincing marital chemistry since Sutherland and Christie in Don’t Look Now (1973, dir. Nicholas Roeg).

Eastern Promises (2007, dir. David Cronenberg)

As Nikolai, the driver and surrogate son to Russian Semyon (Armin Mueller-Stahl) who may or may not have links to the Vory v Zakone, Mortensen plays it mysterious and alarmingly charming as the fetishised tattooed driver who first dominates the screen by cutting the fingertips off a corpse and stubbing out a cigarette on his tongue.

The Road (2009, dir. John Hillcoat)

Whilst it could never match the sheer brilliance of Cormac McCarthy’s Pulitzer-Prize winning novel upon which it is based, this faithful adaptation comes very close. Mortensen delivers a haunting and devastating performance as The Man facing a post-apocalyptic world determined to keep his son alive. It is a harrowing and, at times, traumatic watch made all the more emotive by the beautifully portrayed relationship between Mortensen’s father and Kodi Smit-McPhee’s son.

A Dangerous Method (2011, dir. David Cronenberg)

In his third outing with director Cronenberg, Mortensen adorns a prosthetic nose and brown contact lenses to play the founding father of Psychoanalysis and purveyor of repressive sexuality Sigmund Freud; acerbic and utterly charismatic as the elder statesman to Fassbender’s youthful Carl Jung in this intellectual costume-drama romp tinged with black comedy.