January 24

Charlie Chaplin has been a staple of several of my DailyViews and watches. I have truly enjoyed many of his shorts and movies, including most recently The Great Dictator during this year’s Genre-ary. So when I noticed that this biopic on Chaplin, starring Robert Downey Jr., was listed as a Comedy/Drama, I added it to the list for this month.

I had watched some of this film when I was younger, but I remember stopping it because I was not interested. I was too young to truly appreciate the artistry of the story.

According to IMDB, “An elderly Charlie Chaplin discusses his autobiography with his editor, recounting his amazing journey from his poverty-stricken childhood to world-wide success after the ingenious invention of the Little Tramp.”

This has a remarkable cast, led by RDJ, who would receive an Oscar nomination for his brilliant performance. Other cast members included Paul Rhys, Anthony Hopkins, Dan Aykroyd, Marisa Tomei, Moira Kelly, Kevin Kline, Penelope Ann Miller, Milla Jovovich, Kevin Dunn, James Woods, Diane Lane, Nancy Travis, David Duchovny, and Geraldine Chaplin.

The definitely strongest aspect of the film is Robert Downey Jr. He is amazing with his physical performance as well as his Chaplin replica. It was said that Charlie Chaplin’s actual daughter was in the film and she was impressed and unnerved by his creation of Chaplin.

The film ended with the Academy Award night where they gave him an honorary award and they showed the actual clips from the real movies with the real Charlie Chaplin. It was very powerful.

I thought this movie was really great, led by Robert Downey Jr. I would have liked maybe more about some of the controversies that were brought up during it. Still, I liked this a lot.