The Two Towers: Gollum

[jducoeur]

So I've been thinking about it, and have been struck by something that I definitely wouldn't have originally expected. While The Two Towers, as previously mentioned, is a fine movie, I'm taken aback to realize that the standout character, the one that most sticks in my mind a day later, is Gollum. Mind, I've never had much use for Gollum: in the book, I largely found him annoying. I've never really understood him, and especially never understood Frodo's attitude towards him. Now, I think I do.

The portrayal of Gollum is really quite remarkable: ferocious and nuanced at the same time, swinging from savage joy to vicious paranoia with almost fluid body language, yet expressing the most important emotions by the positioning of an eyelid. The voice acting, the motions that were captured, and the CGI combine to produce the first really great synthetic performance I've seen.

The directorial choices are fascinating, as well. There's one particularly creepy scene that really gets into the fundamental schizophrenia that defines Gollum, managing to be funny, unsettling and somehow just a little poignant all at once.

The result is, I finally see it. The portrayal is complex enough that I can simultaneously see why Frodo so terribly wants to be able to redeem Gollum and why he thinks it possible, and why Sam so utterly dislikes and distrusts him. Both are entirely reasonable reactions, depending mainly on which side you focus on. And I find that, for all that this is Aragorn's movie in terms of plot and focus, Gollum kind of steals the show...

Comments

[learnedax.livejournal.com]

I agree, Gollum is a great piece of work, possibly the best-defined character in the movies so far. Part of the realism that they achieve with him may be due to the method: Andy Serkis wore a motion capture suit and went through all the Gollum scenes with the other actors, as I understand it getting more painted over with CGI than inserted later.
In an interview Peter Jackson likened it to an actor wearing a prosthetic, but still being able to fully emote. What it actually reminds me most of is the Bakshi paint-over technique.