Man In the Chair

Christopher Plummer transcends the dimensions of the silver screen in his role as Flash Madden, the cantankerous, aged gaffer who lives in a Hollywood home for the aged, but spends most of his time shuffling around town resenting the world. Plummer's acting is nothing short of astonishing, because it seems he's not acting at all. You feel that unbekownst to anyone, as you sit in the dark and watch the story unfold, you're watching a man live his life and express his thoughts--not as an actor in a film, but as a man caught on film, unaware.

He spews and spits. He takes a slug of the hard liquor he's always got in his pocket, he flips through pages of a tattered paperback, and shuffles through his days--full of memories, aggravations, resentments, and profound realism about the world around him. We can almost smell him--reeking of alcohol, of cigar smoke, of clothes that are in dire need of cleaning. and we know Flash likes it this way. It's his signature statement, his last hurrah as he lives inside his foggy stupor, seeing the world all too clearly.

In a small movie theatre showing A Touch of Evil, Fash rises from his seat and spews epithets at Charlton Heston on the screen--lambasting his limp performance as a Mexican police officer, and then mumbling that the best thing he ever did was Ben Hur. An irate member of the sparse audience yells at him to sit down and be quiet. Flash retorts that he's "made more movies than you've ever seen" and continues his rant. A flashback shows us a much younger Flash working as a gaffer on a set for a domineering orson wells. The director comes within an inch of ordering Flash off the set, but instead bestows on him the name "Flash" with the decree that he will find more success with this new name.

Another member of the audience watching Citizen Kane is a high school student, Cameron Kincaid (played beautifully by Michael Angarano) who oberves Dlash and his rants with obvious amusement. You know right away the boy likes the man. And you also know that the two are linked somehow, in spite of Fash's initial annoyance and outright rudeness in reaction to Cameron's subsequent numerous attempts to connect. Cameron wants to make a movie for a student project, and he just knows Flash is the guy he needs to make it happen.

Man in the Chair is not just a story about a kid who meets his mentor, or the making of the film the two embark on. It's a stark commentary on how the aged are treated in this country, how the "unwanted" --be they people or hapless dogs, are handled. Not a pretty sight.

Directed and written by Michael Schroeder (who was the first assistant director on The Big Easy), the film is undoubtedly headed for multiple oscar nominations. Plummer could very well take an oscar for his performance, which surpasses any in his career so far, and is a testament to what good acting is all about. Where the acting ceases to be recognized, and the character emerges--whole, strong, and real.