She attracted a lot of attention in the 80s beginning with Fast Times at Ridgemont High, and continued to earn critical praise in the 90s with Last Exit to Brooklyn and, a personal favorite, The Hudsucker Proxy, but I prefer the Jennifer Jason Leigh from the 2000s and onward, spanning from The Machinist to her Noah Baumbach collaborations, Margot at the Wedding and Greenberg.
It’s these Baumbach movies that allowed her to shine in a way she hadn’t before, playing simpler and yet more emotionally complicated characters than she had in her younger days. Where she once played innocent and naïve, with a face to match, she now has a look that gives off an ironic detachment and a sense of understanding without a need to necessarily say anything.
I might just think this because I watched her recently in Synecdoche, New York, where she’s besties with Catherine Keener, to whom I find her similar, and who would probably be on this list if I were more familiar with her earlier work—I assume Catherine Keener has always been this way.
But two movies from the past year further confirm my hunch that Leigh is doing some of the most interesting supporting work of her career lately: The Spectacular Now, where she plays the protagonist’s loving but troubled mother, and Hateship Loveship, which played at TIFF, where she’s essentially the trashy foil to Kristen Wiig’s sheltered house aide. She has always brought a certain irresistible star power to her roles; now she just needs the leading roles to suit her talents, which seem to be at their highest level yet.
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Published: Jan 27, 2014 11:56 am