The Six Greatest Performances In Mike Nichols’ Films
RIP Mike Nichols. From Dustin Hoffman to Robin Williams, this is where to start your retrospectives.
Robin Williams
The Birdcage (1996)
I’ve spoken before on William’s role in this film, and it stands out not only from the rest of the movie’s pretty great cast, but also from the rest of his own career. Nichols has long been a master at capturing the resigned weary of those both proficient and uncelebrated – from Burton’s bleary small-college academic in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Wolff to Shirley Maclaine’s drunken diva mother in Postcards from the Edge.
Here amongst the farce and drag is a lovely portrayal of a man who questions the life he has, the choices he’s made, and how strongly he stands behind them. It’s Williams at his warmest with none of the mawkish sentiment, and he grounds the caricatured campiness with that humanity.