Though he hardly needs an introduction, here’s a quick one anyway, for Willem Dafoe, who’s been around forever, or at least it feels that way. The ubiquity of Dafoe is largely due to him being prolific, and having started acting in movies back in the early 1980s. He’s never really slowed down, and he’s also appeared in a wide range of films, being recognizable for superhero movies (Spider-Man), some of Wes Anderson’s films (like The Grand Budapest Hotel and Asteroid City), and a fair few Lars von Trier movies, too (including Antichrist and Nymphomaniac).
He’s been in so much, and he’s pretty much always great in whatever he’s in, even if the movie’s not. But when he’s great in a movie that’s also great, then you’ve got a potential masterpiece on your hands. The following films are just that: Willem Dafoe movies that are masterful, or otherwise close to masterpiece status. The following will only include movies where he had sizable non-cameo roles (sorry, Spider-Man 2), and it also won’t include any voice roles (though, to its credit – and in the interest of giving it an honorable mention – Finding Nemo is pretty much perfect).
7
‘Mississippi Burning’ (1988)
To hold your own when sharing the screen with an actor like Gene Hackman is no easy task, but Willem Dafoe does so in Mississippi Burning surprisingly well. Frances McDormand is also in this, and is pretty great, with her and Hackman both earning Oscar nominations, but nothing for Dafoe. He’s not been totally snubbed at the Oscars, considering he’s earned four nominations in total, but considering the quantity and quality of his body of work, you’d probably expect it to be higher, in the same way it’s weird to think about Al Pacino only having one Oscar.
Anyway, back to Mississippi Burning. This is a very intense crime/mystery movie that’s set during the civil rights movement of the 1960s, with Hackman and Dafoe both playing FBI agents looking into the disappearance (and possible murder) of three civil rights workers in a small town. It has a set-up and narrative that might sound familiar, but Mississippi Burning gets elevated thanks to the acting and the way it just propels forward constantly, successfully keeping you on edge at every turn. It’s familiar at first, but then it reveals it has some tricks up its sleeve, and ultimately feels far from conventional. It’s not an easy watch, but it is an important one.
6
‘American Psycho’ (2000)
Willem Dafoe appears in American Psycho in more than a cameo role, but only just. It is, after all, a movie that belongs to Christian Bale, who narrates the whole thing and is in every scene of the movie, if not every single shot (possibly). Bale plays Patrick Bateman, who is one of many awful people who “work” on Wall Street and live an empty, expensive, and ultimately tedious life. Though, to the credit of some of his co-workers, Bateman is a little worse than they are on account of the fact that he also kills people.
Seemingly. American Psycho is the sort of psychological horror/thriller/comedy(?) movie that doesn’t entirely let you know what’s real, and what’s in the head of its central character, and it’s all the more effective for it. It’s a mind-bending movie at times, and it’s also a surprisingly funny/satirical one, too. Also, whenever Willem Dafoe and Christian Bale share the screen, they’re pretty great, with Dafoe playing a private investigator looking into the disappearance of a man that Bateman might’ve caused. Again, it’s hard to say for sure. But rather than making that feel frustrating, the not-knowing/anxiety is kind of the point.
5
‘The Lighthouse’ (2019)
Few actors have the skill to drop a line like, “Yer fond of me lobster ain’t ye?” and have it work, but that’s the Willem Dafoe magic touch for you right there. In The Lighthouse, he plays a character who’s ridiculous, hilarious, intense, frightening, and oddly pitiful. He’s also flatulent. And he shares a tiny island with Robert Pattinson’s character, both of them playing lighthouse keepers who are driven mad by the isolation of where they’re staying, and also because of each other.
The Lighthouse seems keen on making you feel like you’re going a little mad alongside the main characters, and on that front, it works eerily well.
It’s a movie that starts slow and offbeat, but builds dread very gradually. The Lighthouse seems keen on making you feel like you’re going a little mad alongside the main characters, and on that front, it works eerily well. It’s a sometimes gross-looking movie that’s not without moments of beauty, and both Dafoe and Pattinson are so well-utilized here, both of them giving potentially career-best performances. You may not understand everything The Lighthouse is going for (and good luck picking up on everything Dafoe says without subtitles, too), but you will undeniably feel something if you sit down to experience this film, and that’s the main thing.
4
‘To Live and Die in L.A.’ (1985)
One of the earliest great Willem Dafoe movies was To Live and Die in L.A., which ended up being released the year he turned 30. He fit right into the grimy world conjured up by William Friedkin, who took the sorts of thrills, themes, and set pieces found in The French Connection and gave them a 1980s polish. The result was a darker and more intense film than the already down-and-dirty The French Connection, to the point where To Live and Die in L.A. might’ve felt a little too gruesome, rough, and cynical for most people back in 1985.
But watching it now, it’s a movie that really impresses, since you have to keep reminding yourself that something so relentless, effortlessly stylish, authentic, and gritty is actually 40+ years old. Dafoe makes for a fantastic villain in this, too, and it was far from the last time he’d play a bad guy (duh). Thankfully, it didn’t result in type-casting, though, and as the following entry here will hopefully demonstrate, Dafoe can be at his best when he’s playing warmer and more down-to-earth characters, too.
3
‘The Florida Project’ (2017)
In The Florida Project, Willem Dafoe gets to shine as a pretty ordinary guy, and also a relatively nice one, all things considered. He’s not a villain, and he’s not a weirdo, and it’s wonderful to see Dafoe play villains and weirdos, of course, but it’s a demonstration of his range that he’s able to do, you know, the opposite. In The Florida Project, he plays the manager of a budget hotel who lets some people stay there, even if they’re not always able to be on top of things financially.
He indirectly cares for two young girls who are probably the central characters of The Florida Project, while time is also spent with their mother and the struggles she’s going through. It’s an odd film tonally, and it doesn’t move at a fast pace or anything, but there is an authenticity and empathy to it that’s inevitably quite striking. It’s the sort of movie you enjoy enough while it’s on, but then it ends up lingering in your mind for a while after it’s over, in turn kind of getting better the more you think (or feel) about it. That’s the sign of a good drama/slice-of-life film, really.
2
‘Platoon’ (1986)
After The Deer Hunter, filmmakers started to embrace the Vietnam War a little more, with Platoon being similarly successful to The Deer Hunter, in terms of Oscar recognition. But it’s also a very different sort of Vietnam War movie, focusing entirely on the experience of being a soldier in an unfamiliar country, and also focusing in a truly uncompromising way on the damage that can be done to innocents and bystanders during wartime. Platoon is grim and also feels unfortunately authentic in its most horrifying moments.
Elsewhere, Platoon can get a little more heightened and dramatic than real life during this particular war might’ve been, but those moments still leave an impression and continue driving home an anti-war message. Also, Willem Dafoe is phenomenal in this, and it’s another one of his great non-villainous roles, too. The whole film is a tough watch, but at the end of the day, few other great war movies have the same sort of impact that Platoon does; it’s a real shock to the senses sort of thing.
1
‘The Last Temptation of Christ’ (1988)
Leading an absolutely fantastic (and eclectic) cast, Willem Dafoe gives probably the best lead performance of his entire career in The Last Temptation of Christ. He plays Jesus, but not necessarily the Jesus who appeared in the Gospels, since The Last Temptation of Christ is a reinterpretation of the familiar story regarding Jesus’ final days. This Jesus seems to have doubts, and the possibility of indeed being tempted, with the final act of the film (its most controversial) dealing with Jesus experiencing said temptations.
The controversy is confusing, though, since he does succeed in not being tempted. Maybe the idea of Jesus even coming close is crossing a line for some, but others might find the attempt to humanize Jesus more – or otherwise explore what he was going through psychologically – interesting. Even above all that, though, The Last Temptation of Christ is a beautiful and extremely well-directed film, and the score is also one of the all-time greatest. It’s long, sometimes slow, and challenging, perhaps, depending on how you feel regarding some of the bolder choices made here, but The Last Temptation of Christ has so much to offer. It does deserve to be more than just a controversial movie, since it’s not trying to be shocking for the sake of being shocking. It wants to do something new, moving, and even a little challenging, and if you’re okay with that, then the entire film is quite the monumental success.
