Sharq TV
What makes the American actor Tom Cruise a star present in the first ranks of the cinematic scene for more than three and a half decades, and he is still very shining and strong despite the passage of years?
There are several answers, but one of them lies precisely in the nature of the work that one does. The continuous work of the theater actor, for example, allows him to be among the old, because the daily performance for hours on stage comes like daily muscular, intellectual and psychological training or the “gym”. We wanted to use the language spoken today.
And a quick look at the achievement of this star over the past years, we find within his record a mixture of fraught with physical hazards that require continuous physical training, such as his roles in “Top Gun” and “Mission impossible” all the way to works that entered the high dictionary of art such as “Rain Man”. and “Eyes Wide Shut”.
This work was accomplished by the late director Stanley Kubrick and was not completed until months after his death in 1999, starring Cruz and his wife at that time, the Australian star Nicole Kidman, and a group of senior actors, led by Sidney Pollack, Mary Richarson and others.
Cinema fun in the “Lounge”
Despite the great anticipation at the 75th Cannes Film Festival for the second part, and perhaps not the last, for the movie “Top Gun maverick”, the best role, in my opinion, was what Cruz played off-screen when confronted, and for more than 60 minutes straight with Over a thousand spectators, despite fears about the coronavirus, thronged the Debussy Arena to hear him at the Master Class.
Regarding the cinema in particular, Cruz presented himself as a model, and called on his audience not to “abandon the cinema,” saying: “If you want to watch me and see my work, then come to the hall,” adding: “Every time I have the opportunity, I go to the hall and watch movies, because The joy of live cinema can only be achieved in the hall.”
Cruz did not nurture illusions or promote the image of “the one who can do the impossible” to the Debussy audience, but rather gave clear, varied and frank answers about the need for “dedication, perseverance, constant curiosity, audacity to test and experiment, and then more care for my physical fitness, the constant desire to Learning is not by resting on glory, but by facing and bearing risks.”
The 60-year-old star, whose features of advanced age are not evident on his face and stature, added that his career “starts from love and passion for cinema.”
He added, “I always go to the cinema when films are shown. I take off my hat and sit in the audience with everyone. I spent a lot of time with the audience.” Cruz does not believe that the current (digital) film platforms can achieve the same fun, knowledge and passion.
He concluded, “Although I understand how the film industry works today, I do not see that these platforms are capable of achieving the same thing, so when I make a film, I make it for the big screen, my films are made for the cinema, and only there they can be valued.”
Arabic Post
In addition to Cruise, his academic studies, and the slick adventures of Captain Maverick, the festival screens feature a number of performances in which senior directors alternate with young adults looking at the world’s largest festival audience for the first time.
In addition to veteran Jerzy Skolimowski (84 years), who is bringing to the festival his new movie “EO” starring French star Isabelle Huppert, there is “Armageddon Time” starring Anthony Hopkins, Anne Hathaway and Jeremy Strong.
There is also the young Tunisian director Lotfi Nathan, among the group of Arab filmmakers participating in this edition of the festival, who is participating with his first feature film “Al-Harqa” within the “Ministers’ Half Month” program. The film narrates the daily life of a young man who struggles to earn a living by trading and selling smuggled fuel. .
The film stars Iqbal Harbi, Najib Al-Talabi and Omar Salima Maatouk, and its story deals with a young man who takes the responsibility of taking care of his two sisters, after the death of his father, as he realizes that the time has come to rebel again, 10 years after the Tunisian revolution.
Lotfi Nathan resides in the United States, where he studied cinema and made his first documentaries, “Midday Sons”.