3. Art Garfunkel in Bad Timing (1980)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lxZfzqJ9_Z8 Nicholas Roeg seemed to set out to bring musicians to the screen for charismatic lead roles, first with 1970s Performance then The Man Who Fell To Earth, also with David Bowie, and finally Art Garfunkel in 1980s Bad Timing. The previous two utilised musicians are well known for similar affinities toward the performance side of music. Bowie continues to navigate his career in stages of different representation, and Roeg chose to use him when his act was highly theatrical. Mick Jagger has similarly focused his performance, though his is more a craft of the highly captivating rock n roll front man. If there is one thing Garfunkel is known for, being an outward performance artist is absolutely not that thing. Even as recently as a dispute between the main characters in Judd Apatows This Is 40, Art Garfunkel has always been associated with being the background, the support. And yes, in his work with Paul Simon, he usually did provide more of the backing harmony support, while Simon took lead and generally wrote the songs in the first place. Bad Timing, or the sort of over-the-top full title Bad Timing: A Sensual Obsession, has Roeg using Art Garfunkel in a way that smartly puts his reputation to the forefront of his character, allowing for a stirring and explosive performance. Alex Linden is a psychiatrist who appears with paramedics rushing a woman into a hospital after an attempted suicide. Through flashbacks, the film slowly reveals his relationship to the woman and the slowly boiling water that led to this hospital fiasco. This obsessive, controlling psychiatrist is a very complicated character. Linden clearly must be aware of his own deteriorated mental state, even as he plunges further into a black hole of unrelenting abusive behavior. Garfunkel carries out this character with the exact right level of instability. He is so naturally soft spoken and gentle that when his fierce side pushes through it's honestly terrifying.