A Healthy Does of Heath

Today is/was Heath Ledger's birthday. In the lead up to Brokeback I feverishly defended Heath against all oncomers. I've always been a fan. Sure, he had that a few movies that weren't too flash, but if people were willing to actually watch some of his stuff then they'd find some great movies (these are the ones i've seen. i can't speak for the others).

BLACKROCK (1997, dir. Vidler)


A group of friends' relationships are tested after the rape of a girl at a party. Was nominated for Best Film at the AFI awards along with a few others. Vague memories of this movie. If they released it on DVD I'd be able to watch it properly.

TWO HANDS (1999, dir. Jordan)


A great Aussie crime gem. Heath plays a young man in debt to Bryan Brown. Occasional hysterics occur. The film won a bunch of AFIs including Best Film and Best Direction, and gave Heath Ledger his first nomination for Best Actor. He didn't win but should have (somewhow Russell Dykstra won for Soft Fruit). The world meets Rose Byrne in the process.

10 THINGS I HATE ABOUT YOU (1999, dir. Junger)


Okay, the performance isn't his best (aussie accent and all) - but the film is a beaut. While not being quite up to the standard of teen classics such as Clueless and Mean Girls, this Shakespeare-twisting movie has it's own delights. The casting all seems so perfect and there are surprising amounts of funny lines. My two favourites? "There's a difference between like and love. I mean, I like my sketchers, but i love my prada bag" and "I know you can be under whelmed, and you can be overwhelmed, but can you ever just be, like, whelmed?" Heath get's bonus points for saying the director should include aussie band Spiderbait's ace "Calypso" in the film.

THE PATRIOT (2000, dir. Emmerich)


The film was absolute shite, but Heath was decent (better than Mel or anyone else if I remember correctly). Was a continued trend of Heath and horses (that started with tv series Roar and continues... to this very day)

A KNIGHT'S TALE (2001, dir. Helgeland)


Hey look! More horses! And this time set to music by Queen. Again, the film doesn't really work (way too long for starters) but it's quaint enough and Heath is fun. However, how odd was it that this movie and Moulin Rouge! were released one week apart yet both used the same musical device of modern day songs in a period setting. Stranger.

MONSTER'S BALL (2001, dir. Forster)


A small role, yes - but a great one. This was one of the first signs to foreigners that Heath had more in him, and not a horse in sight! Unfortunately this film is a devil (Halle's win, the beginning of my hatred of this director...), so...

NED KELLY (2003, dir.


Heath mounts a horse (multiple horses) again and grows a shaggy beard in Gregor Jordan's (Two Hands) movie to portray one of the hardest characters in Australian film. After the VERY FIRST FEATURE FILM EVER MADE was made about him, filmmakers have been messing the story up. Why on earth did they cast Mick Jagger many moons ago? Well, Heath acquaints himself actually quite well in this decent-but-not-great film. He received his second and currently last AFI Best Actor nomination (although, surely he will get the International Prize at this year's awards - if Russell Crowe can get it for Cinderella Man..), he lost to David Wenham for Gettin' Square which i don't think anyone would argue with. I still don't understand why Orlando Bloom is in this movie though or how he got nominated for Best Supporting Actor. Anyway, a decent telling of the Ned Kelly tale.

BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN (2005, dir. Lee)


Well, there's not really much to say about this movie. How ironic that Heath's greatest performance involves riding a horse! It was fate i tellsya. Everything lead up to this one performance. While I hope there are many more like this inside him, for now I think we're going to have to live with this one and cherish it. It is a perfect performance. I still can't quite decide whether it's the best or second best male performance of the '00s (the other male in question will be revealed in the list I will be starting up in a day or so... except towards the end. oh you get what I mean). It's a stunning powerful piece of craft. I... I... I start to get choked up thinking about it.

Coming up for Heath? All he has is the Australian film Candy that looks promising if for no other reason than it's cast! Apart from Heath we have Abbie Cornish, Geoffrey Rush, Noni Hazlehurst, Tony Martin, Tara Morice (who people will remember as Fran from Strictly Ballroom and Nathaniel Dean. Looks to be a contender.

(Did you get that Brando reference. Sigh. We can't even say "he couldn't win them all" because he barely won any. Oh well...)