16 December 2004

Virginia Madsen



yesterday I fixatd on a movie star who died 7 years before my birth. today my concentration is on one who was born when I was already 20.

I'm not sure what I first saw Virginia Madsen in but I felt an immediate appeal. she seemd a young Lana or Kim. despite working with such important directors as Lynch & Coppola she never became a superstar. but she also never disappointd. & she never stoppd working & growing as an actress.

in the past week she's been cleaning up this year's supporting actress awards for a little picture calld "Sideways." so I went to see it this afternoon. & sure enuf Madsen delivers. it's a quiet performance but a deep one. she creates beauty from a speech abt why she "got into" wine. for a moment she's so incandescent I felt tingles shooting thru my body.

I like picking young talent for stardom. sometimes I'm right     sometimes not. & sometimes -- like with Virginia Madsen -- it's taken 2o years but when that happens it's certainly all the sweeter.

2 comments:

Steve said...

Ahh, Good Rec, Alex! Will have to go see that one. There's not much playing that I'm attracted to right now, but this one IS on the list and I'll have to check it out, maybe this weekend if there's time.

:) Steve

richard lopez said...

alex,

don't know if madsen is my age, 37, or older, but i remember her films of the early to mid 80s. wonderful, shlocky movies such as _creator_ costarring vincent spano and peter o'toole, and _electric dreams_ where a computer becomes conscious and causes all kinds of mischief with madsen and her love interest in san francisco. she is also in a pretty good horror movie based on a short story by clive barker _candyman_ from the late 80s or early 90s. have not heard of _sideways_ must seek it out. anna and i saw madsen commenting on the 100 scariest films ever made and broadcast on the bravo channel in october. as always, she is luminous.

richard