Kin Hankman

Chauncey 2021-12-08 08:01:44

Jin Hankman is one of my favorite actors. The first time I saw his movie was not his most famous tough guy character, but a gay comedy "Bird Cage," in which he played an extremely conservative Republican senator, a serious hypocritical and utilitarian character. At the moment when he fell for that outspoken, funny and charming housewife, Hankman showed the warmth and the authentic nature of his diligent performance when he suddenly hit the weak underbelly of a married man. After learning that the beautiful woman was actually a gay man, he performed the ignorance of a conservative man just right. It was so wonderful that when I came to see his famous work "The Male and Female Thief" later, I couldn't believe it was performed by himself. His tough guy and macho roles reached the top in "French Relations". It was a role full of male hormones and could only belong to Hankman. Later, he played mostly villains and gradually became singular. It's the "Superman" series that combines the villain with the comedic genius. It's self-contained. In short, tough guys, comedies, and villains can cover almost all his roles.

In Coppola's "Dialogue", I saw a Hankman I had never seen before.

He is by no means a tough guy. He is an eavesdropping expert, carefully protecting his privacy. Even going to his girlfriend's house is full of doubts and fears. This is not a villain either. He does the job of monitoring other people, and at the same time he tries his best not to get involved in murder and blood. His role is even more unrelated to comedy. This person who has been deprived of his basic sense of security, his first-class monitoring technology makes him feel that there is nothing in this world that can be kept secret. His life disappeared in the conversation of others. This middle-aged man wore a low-quality single-layer raincoat all day long, and only the word pitiful can describe him more accurately.

This movie reminds me of the German movie "Other People's Lives" a few years ago. In the end, the monitor cannot separate himself from the life of the person being monitored. Even if it is not for money and career, if each of us is given a chance to peek into other people's lives, we are probably eager to try. But this kind of voyeurism is not without a price. It's like reaching out to explore a bottomless cave, and it's possible to bring out mushrooms, rabbits, or poisonous snakes, or to be eaten by the arm.

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The Conversation quotes

  • Harry Caul: [from dream sequence] He'll kill you if he gets a chance. I'm not afraid of death. I am afraid of murder.

  • Martin Stett: I'm not following you, I'm looking for you. There's a big difference.