In Memoriam: Robin Williams — The Gourmand Film Writer

I remember hearing an interview with Stephen Colbert when he was actually himself rather than his persona. He was asked about how and why he felt the need to be funny. In order to explain, he told the story about the death of his father and two of his brothers in a plane crash. Afterwards, his family and specifically his mother were so heartbroken that Stephen felt it was his duty to make her laugh. The cliché, although so often true, is that comedians often are born out of tragedies and darker world views. Robin Williams used his gift as a comedian to lift the soul and spirits of all those around him. In his more dramatic work, a darker edge was revealed that demonstrated a deep, personal understanding of those facing the abyss. But he always returned to his comedy, launching new stand up tours or playing another silly character. On August 8th, 2014, Robin Williams lost his battle with depression.

Robin always will be remembered by me because of his enduring performances in films of my childhood. Who could forgot the Genie from Aladdin perhaps one of the best casting decisions in cinema. Robin always manipulated the world around him. Give him a scarf and I could watch him do comedy with it for hours, transforming himself into different characters and gags. The Genie and the magic of animation freed William’s abilities to soar beyond anything he’d done before. It was perhaps his most perfect character.

There was always something childlike and innocent about William’s comedy. That was captured in Steven Spielberg’s childhood classic Hook. Williams somewhat awkwardly plays Peter Banning, an executive so busy working he’s missing his own children’s childhood. But, when he transforms back into Pan, and we see Robin’s smile as Peter soars through the air in his old Pan costume, magic happens. We understand the innocence and allure of the idea of being young forever and Williams pulls off an incredible transformation from a character we could never imagine being Peter Pan to embodying that famous character. When Peter and Hook finally fight, we feel the exuberance of both Robin and Dustin who must have been having a blast making that film. Another movie of transformation, in some ways on a more subtle scale, is Mrs. Doubtfire. That comedy is engrained in my childhood in part because of how realistically Williams disappears into the role of an older woman, very much reminding older generations of Dustin Hoffman’s incredible role in Tootsie. His Mrs. Doubtfire was the nanny we all wished he had.

However, for myself, it was his dramatic roles where I personally saw the depth of the talent that Williams had. Sometimes in comedy roles, he couldn’t help himself and overplayed his hand, turning his character into Robin Williams rather than who he was playing. But, in dramatic quieter roles, he revealed himself a master. In Good Will Hunting, for which he won his Oscar, it is his therapist that steals the film including a monologue at the pond which will be remembered as a great moment in cinema. There was his underrated film Moscow on the Hudson where he plays a convincing Russian immigrant or Gilliam’s The Fisher King where he played a homeless man. In these later years, he also bite into great villain roles including One Hour Photo and Nolan’s Insomnia.

Suffice it to say, Robin Williams could do it all. He could star in children’s movies, play both outrageous and subdued comic performances (for a small part that is subdued see Woody Allen’s Deconstructing Harry where he plays an actor who is literally out of focus), he could play a monstrous Villain or a socially reclusive doctor. Throughout all of those performances, he never failed to lift our spirits and souls to appreciate life. Life will be a little darker without his presence.

Here are some of my favorite performances of Robin Williams:

1) The Genie in Aladdin

As I previously said, nothing in my opinion gave Robin Williams the freedom to do his comedy in a film than his take as the Genie. He made Jack Nicholson impersonations work in Middle Ages Agrabah. Some of the film has aged, but not his performance.

2) Sean Maguire in Good Will Hunting

Robin Williams put his soul into this film. A man struggling with his own demons of loss realizes that he has the potential to still help others. It is a struggle for both himself and for Will, his patient. Sean realizing that Will needs a smack in the head takes him down to the pond to deliver a monologue about how Will may be smart but he doesn’t know anything. The coming together of these two characters causes both of them to begin their process to heal. It says something of Robin William’s acting that Sean’s path is more believable than Will’s.

3) Dr. Malcolm Sayer in Awakenings

Having gone back to see this movie recently, the only thing I really remembered from it was Robert DeNiro’s incredible performance as a boy who was catatonic for most of his life and then regains his mind thanks to the help of Dr. Sayer. DeNiro’s role and performance is by far the showier of the two leads. Like in Silence of the Lambs, Hannibal Lector outshines the much subtler Clarice Starling, but Jodi Foster’s performance is the equal of Anthony Hopkins and here Robin William’s quiet, neurotic, and embarrassed Dr. Sayer is the equal of the shower role of Leonard Lowe.

4) Walter Finch in Insomnia and Seymour Parish in One Hour Photo

Speaking of Hannibal Lector, Williams two dramatic turns as a villain are some of my favorite of his work. I will admit not to be the greatest fan of either film, but William’s performance sells both. One Hour Photo takes Williams adeptness at playing socially awkward (Awakenings) and turns it into darkness and obsession. His ability to stare usually loving is transformed into something cold and calculating. Although a small man, Williams has the presence of someone larger in this film. Similarly in Insomnia, Walter Finch is intelligent, perhaps too intelligent for a mere writer who claims that this is the first time he’s killed someone. But where the writing fails, Williams excels at turning Finch into a character who once he’s tasted blood, likes the taste. He’s a man who discovers his love of power and control after murdering a young woman he was having an affair with. His one on one scenes with Pacino are the sole reason to see the film.

5) Adrian Cronauer in Good Morning, Vietnam

The film that in many ways put Robin Williams on everyone’s map remains one of his best. Good Morning, Vietnam is a hysterical film where Adrian, a DJ, is assigned to a US Armed Forces Station in Vietnam. Only Williams could bring the level of insane energy to the character that would actually reflect the insanity of the situation in Vietnam.