hat's striking about Ethan Hawke's personification of the militant abolitionist John Brown in "The Good Lord Bird" is the grime. Road dust cakes his face, already a topography of freckles and lines without the soil. His beard is a wild advertisement for the character's unpredictable nature, and when a notion stokes a fire within his soul Hawke bellows erratically, spittle flying in repulsive globs.
So much spittle.
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This cruddy mask has a point beyond announcing the sustained ferocity Hawke brings to this role, which is . . . the filth really brings out his eyes.
Serious, the contrast between muck and iris further shouts Brown's mercurial mindset at us, helping us to understand why the man's fire and brimstone speeches ensnare the imagination of everyone he encounters. He's also comically waving his pistols at them in some scenes but mostly it's the charisma holding them hostage, not the threat of taking a bullet.
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