Some see Nicolas Cage as the epitome of over-acting, others as one of the few performers working today able to plunder the true depths of rage and self-hatred to which humanity is capable of sinking. At times, he’s a grimacing, gurning force of nature who keeps one’s eyes glued to the screen in awe. On other occasions, it’s like watching a multiple vehicle pile-up in bullet time.
Now someone rather more hardy than myself has put together this YouTube compilation of Cage’s most intense on-screen eruptions, titled Nicolas Cage Losing His Shit and set to Clint Mansell‘s stirring theme from Darren Aronofsky‘s Requiem for a Dream. From the sublime (the great old lady terrorism in Werner Herzog‘s Bad Lieutenant) to the ridiculous (“not the bees” from another remake, of The Wicker Man) these are Nicolas Cage’s best and worst moments, maybe both at once.
For the curious thing about Cage is that when he’s at his most appalling, he’s also at his finest. Would you, like me, put up with a hundred 8mms for just one moment of Vampire’s Kiss-like brilliance? Or would you be quite happy to see him never work again? Oh and while we’re at it, has mysterious compiler Harry Hanrahan missed anything out?
Nicolas Cage medley is all the rage Ben Child | Film | guardian.co.uk.
Slinking Toward Retirement 