Actor

John Carroll Lynch

3: briefs
13:00: average
39 min: in total

On film.briefs3

Face/Off

John Woo · 1997

John Woo’s 1997 action thriller Face/Off stars John Travolta and Nicolas Cage as an FBI agent and terrorist who swap faces via experimental surgery. Built on operatic violence, precise choreography, and dual performances of startling commitment, it uses identity exchange as narrative engine rather than philosophical probe. Shot by Oliver Wood and scored by John Powell, it balances absurd premise with rigorous craft — delivering coherent, emotionally charged set pieces across 133 minutes. Though thin on thematic depth and scientific rigour, its confidence, control, and clarity make it a durable artefact of late-20th-century studio action cinema.

13:00

Fargo

Joel Coen, Ethan Coen · 1996

Fargo (1996) is a black comedy crime film written and directed by Joel and Ethan Coen. Set in Minnesota during a harsh winter, it follows a bungled kidnapping scheme orchestrated by car salesman Jerry Lundegaard, and the subsequent investigation led by pregnant police chief Marge Gunderson. Shot by Roger Deakins and scored by Carter Burwell, the film balances deadpan humour with sudden violence, sustained by precise dialogue, regional dialect coaching and an unblinking visual style. Though framed as 'based on a true story', it is entirely fictional — a fable about incompetence, complicity and quiet integrity.

13:00

Jackie

Pablo Larraín · 2016

Jackie (2016) follows Jacqueline Kennedy in the week after John F. Kennedy’s assassination, framed by a Life magazine interview at Hyannis Port. Directed by Pablo Larraín and starring Natalie Portman, it focuses on her psychological navigation of grief, legacy, and public performance — not as a biographical survey, but as a study in containment. Stéphane Fontaine’s cinematography, Mica Levi’s score, and Sebastián Sepúlveda’s editing sustain a tense, intimate atmosphere. The film received three Academy Award nominations, including Best Actress for Portman.