The Essentials: Nicolas Cage’s Best Films

You can analyze Nicolas Cage’s eccentrically eclectic career all you want. We certainly have scratched our heads over it too. Once an indie darling, Cage’s career transformed and morphed over the years into a kind of studio grotesque, but as he explained in the interview quotes linked below to the actor, it was all part of a restless, try-anything, break-all-rules plan. With David Gordon Green’s “Joe” arriving in theaters this weekend—featuring one of Cage’s best and most restrained performances in years, a real return to his roots, and real acting—we thought, we’d revive this still-very relevant feature retrospective from last year. “Joe” is a small film (review here, recent interview with Cage here) and could certainly use the extra love.

“Wild At Heart” (1990)
“This snakeskin jacket is a symbol of my individuality and belief in personal freedom,” is the oft-repeated maxim declared by Cage’s character Sailor Ripley in “Wild At Heart,” David Lynch’s swooning, sexy, creepy road trip to Oz, and applies to the kooky Cage as well (the jacket used in the film was his own). Could this be Cage at his peak? His embodiment of Sailor is sensual, menacing, and just plain cool– but his smoking chemistry with Laura Dern is some of the hottest ever onscreen. The Elvis nut swaggers and drawls like the King himself, crooning his ballad “Love Me,” but brings a looseness and relaxed humor to the performance, a greater feat than the high-tension campy scenery chewing evinced by the rest of the cast. He turns in a highly stylized physical performance (a rare commodity in this day and age) and manages to ground the universe of wacky characters swirling around him, with a skilled nuance and real genuine emotion. In the special features, Dern describes her mother Diane Ladd as the perfect Lynchian actor (and she is truly amazing and transcendent in this), but it could be argued that Cage, with his laissez-faire theatricality, willingness to fully engage in Lynch’s absurd hyperreality, and commitment to the truth of character and story is, in fact, the real perfect Lynchian actor. Can we cross our fingers for a reunion? [A]

“Vampire’s Kiss” (1988)
While not as lauded as say “Raising Arizona,” god, Nicolas Cage was never better than he was in the late 1980s. Directed by Robert Bierman, most people have long forgotten this B-movie vampire comedy, but there’s one key thing to remember: it’s written by Joseph Minion, the man who wrote Martin Scorsese’s dark, strange and surreal 24-hour classic, “After Hours,” and tonally the picture is just as weird. The film centers on a douchebag yuppie publishing executive (Cage) who thinks that he’s turning into a vampire when he has a random sexual encounter with a woman with a fondness for neck biting (Jennifer Beals). Of course, it’s all in his head (or is it?), and he goes to bizarre lengths to prove to himself that he’s become a bloodsucker, including losing his shit and torturing his poor assistant (Maria Conchita Alonso) with an impossible menial task. The role, notoriously known for Cage eating live cockroaches, is essentially a descent into madness, and it’s Cage at his unhinged, manic best, but it’s well calibrated, knowing exactly when to pop like a madman and when to simmer like a deliciously semi-sane fruitcake teetering on the edge (oh and the Looney Toons facial expressions throughout are a laugh riot). [B+].

“Leaving Las Vegas” (1995)
In this loose, jazzy, and affecting performance that won Nicolas Cage the Academy Award (and seemingly gave him the financial leeway to do tepid action movies for the next decade-plus), he plays a surrendered man who has decided to completely bail out on life (and strangely happy with his decision); an alcoholic Hollywood screenwriter who goes to Las Vegas to drink himself to death, only to fall in love with a prostitute (played by a superb Elisabeth Shue). Just, you know, not enough to not drink himself to death. In the skilled hands of director Mike Figgis, he turns a prolonged, potentially hard-to-watch tragedy into something artful and heartrending. And thanks to Cage’s wet performance, which wonderfully sidesteps any potential parody (since “the drunk” is a cliche as old as Hollywood itself), you feel for this character, no matter how reprehensible or irresponsible his behavior might be. What happens in ‘Vegas’ breaks your fucking heart, and it certainly convinced the Academy. [A-]

“Moonstruck” (1987)
Thinking about it now, it sounds positively absurd. Cher and Nicolas Cage in a romantic comedy? But back in the mid-to-late ’80s, it made perfect sense and resulted in the now classic Norman Jewison-directed love story “Moonstruck.” The clever turn by Cage here channels his eccentric energy into the character of Ronny Cammareri, the mutilated bakery chef who lives in the shadow of his brother, with a grudge to spare, but who is also deeply romantic. It’s Cage in a very rare role as the everyman heartthrob. And it’s the actor’s easy charm that allows the story of Loretta (Cher) having an affair with Ronny while being engaged to his brother Jonny (Danny Aiello) have the audience not only sympathize but root for the coupling. Cage is not just raw masculinity here; he’s an opera lover, and his wild emotional outbursts (“Chrissy, over on the wall, bring me the big knife. I want to cut my throat.”) mark him as both vulnerable and sexy. Yep, those are not words one would associate with Cage today, but with “Moonstruck,” the actor delivers both in spades, playing a key part in the wonderful ensemble that makes the film such a pure, romantic (and yes, very funny) pleasure. [A]