Wednesday, May 5, 2010

Chaplin

I found Chaplin to be an engaging film for the same reasons that many had panned it when it was released in 1992, for the fact that it covers much of Chaplin's scandals and shortcomings. Director Richard Attenborough gives us an insider's view of Charlie's life from his early years of squalor in Britain to his unmatched successes during the Golden Years of Hollywood (I actually found a lot of similarities between this film and The Aviator). Robert Downey Jr. is excellent in the lead as he recreates Chaplins well know mannerisms that we are all familiar with while creating a character that not many of us knew. It is also remarkable that Downey Jr. was only 27 when he made this film. Yes it is an imperfect work, and not all the parts add up to the whole, but it is an interesting portrait of a brilliant, talentened, and troubled man brought to the screen with a great career defining performance.
***