Posted: 12/15/15 at 9:42am
Another viewing of the "Carol" screener convinced me: Chandler is a wonderful actor. He takes a pivotal but minimal (in terms of screen time) role and makes the most persuasive case possible for a tortured man, one whose knee-jerk, aggressive retaliation against his wife is the entire force of antagonism in the story. What could be one note is rendered with utmost compassion. He could be snarly and even creepy, villainous in the obvious sense; yet he's bewildered, unable to understand why he cannot hold this woman in his arms and his life. In a key sequence late in the film he barely speaks. Yet the way(s) he watches Blanchett's bravura self-defense are heartbreaking for merely being human. He's hardly off anyone's radar, but he certainly has become a player in middle age. I remember seeing him opposite Ashley Judd in a very unmemorable "Picnic" back in the day. He was discussed for his pulchritude, not his ability or even presence. He's a the real deal, and "Carol" is all the better for it. I hope his film career takes off. He seems poised to inherit ... one way to put it ... Alec Baldwin roles.
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