The role of Sophie really could have been played by an Asian actor and the story could have been a Korean-language movie about a Korean American woman. (Sigourney Weaver made out on her acting chops alone.) Thankfully, this movie is centered around Sophie and so Farmiga binds the narrative with her honest performance. "Alien: Resurrection" was a just an action movie and the weird delivery by Pinon and some of the supporting cast was noticeable. It's the difference between Jean-Pierre Jeunet directing Dominique Pinon in French and Jeunet and Pinon, respectively, in English. Ang Lee had the same problem in his early English language movies and those actors fresh out of Juilliard. That "ear" is what she will have to develop if she is going to be casting less-gifted or less-experienced talent. Kim isn't a native speaker and so she will have to develop a sensitivity to the sound of spoken English as other non-native directors have had to do. I marvel at actors who can truly act in two different languages. Ha may have had an English tutor in Korea that spent too much time in-country, because he actually does a fine job with lines he speaks in Korean. Something in the cadence and intonation that distinguishes someone reading Shakespeare and someone speaking as Hamlet. There is an odd stiffness to the delivery that sounds "off" to native-speakers and those of us who immigrated to the States at a young age. The lapses in the direction of the actors are apparent when lines are spoken by the male leads. In that particular case, she should have recast those roles. Perhaps she was working within the limitations of the acting abilities of the male leads. While plot and composition worked well, I found Kim's direction of the acting lacking. That "someone" should have been the director. Someone should tell male actors not to grip their hair with both hands when the scene calls for inner turmoil. I can see Ha's delivery fitting seamlessly in a cutesy Korean miniseries. Against Farmiga's acting, Ha's and McInnis's performances come across almost as recitation. While the male leads, Jung-woo Ha and David McInnis, are dutiful journeymen in their roles, they don't reach the honesty that Farmiga is able to bare. That disparity is apparent in almost every scene Farmiga has with the Asian actors. Beyond the novelty of such pairings in film, these scenes underscore one of the peculiar aspects of the movie: while the men in these scenes go through the (ahem) motions, Farmiga actually acts. Much will be made in Asian American circles about the intimate scenes Farmiga has with men of Asian descent. So Director Gina Kim could not have found a better actor to play the role of Sophie, a woman who must make difficult choices involving two men and their respective worlds. I remember seeing her first in that short-lived TV series "Roar." She alone among all the actors in the cast that included a young Heath Ledger seemed to project real emotions in a series that was flirting close to "Xena" territory. Vera Farmiga is one of those rare actors that is emotionally present in roles that require vulnerability and honesty.
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