Leonardo DiCaprio is an incredible actor, and finally he is being recognized for it by the most well-known film institutions in the world. There are many injustices that have been committed by the Academy since its inception, especially in recent years, but they have amended one of their plethora this year. But it took them a while. I know he has an Oscar now, but I’m still bitter. The following movies are some of Leo’s most popular for a reason. He is talent and marketable. Take that. Spoilers ahead.
1. "What’s Eating Gilbert Grape" (1993)
In this film, Leo plays a teenage boy named Arnie with developmental disability that lives with his family in a tiny town in Iowa. His brother Gilbert, played by the still Oscar-less Johnny Depp (????), works at the local grocery store and sleeps with a married housewife on the side, but longs for bigger and better things. Gilbert cannot leave Endora, though, because he feels a loving responsibility to take care of Arnie after their father’s suicide and their mother’s inability to leave the house for health reasons. Then Becky, an traveler cruising through, comes into their lives and changes everything as breezy drifters tend to do.
Notable Scene: On the day of Arnie’s 18th birthday, their mother decides to climb the stairs to her and her husband’s bedroom for the first time since his death. She is so sick that her heart cannot stand the strain and she dies in their bed. Arnie bounds up the stairs in excitement, only to find her laying peacefully down. He heartbreakingly tries to shake her awake to no avail. Leo’s portrayal of this raw, innocent emotion is enough to drive anyone to tears.
Oscar Nom: YES. He was robbed.
2. "Romeo + Juliet" (1996)
A polarizing indie darling that is over the top ostentatious and rickety in some scenes . Naturally, I love it. The story itself is arguably the most well known love stories in all of history, so I won’t rehash the details. What makes this version special, though, is it’s unique modernization. It is set in “Verona Beach,” which is basically just Venice Beach in the nineties and everything gets a clever update with little nods towards the play’s original content. But, notably, most of the lines are original script. Leo plays the dashing Romeo, who is the son of the leader of the Montagues, one of the warring mafia empires. He is handsome in that captivating way only young Leo could pull off, with swishy blonde hair and too much emotion in those icy blue eyes. He makes Romeo a heartthrob again in printed Hawaiian shirts, spilling Shakespearean dialogue like he was born to do nothing else. He is simply a masterpiece.
Notable Scene: I don't know, man, really any when he is featured. Maybe when he’s wearing that chainmail knight’s costume at the party where he meets Juliet. Maybe when he’s stomping around some cinder blocks smoking a cigarette. Maybe that one in the rain. Take your pick. They’re all going to have a ’96 Leo saying something in Elizabethan English and that is a marvelous thing.
Oscar Nom: No. I mean. I get it but I’m still bitter.
(If you’re following the timeline, this one may be a shocker. JK.)
3. "Titanic" (1997)
You know it. It shattered a couple of release records, made billions of dollars, broke the collective heart of a nation (nay, a world). It’s the doomed story of a pair of star crossed lovers from different sides of the social spectrum that find each other on board what would become one the most notorious tragedies in maritime history. This should be common knowledge, but Leo plays Jack Dawson, a lovely, lovable, loving tumbleweed of an artist who wins his ticket in card game minutes before departure. He finds himself drawn to the enigmatic Rose, played by Leo’s actual soulmate Kate Winslet, and they collide in what can only be described as the most romantic series of scenes ever shot. It doesn’t end well. But he does live on forever in Rose’s heart. And mine.
Notable Scene: I can’t pick. But yes I can. I can quote it as well, but I won’t. It’s the scene where Jack is invited to dine with Rose, Cal, and their ‘respectable’ and wealthy friends onboard. He is out of his steerage clothing and dressed in one of Kathy Bates’s sons’ suits. He clearly isn’t fitting in with the mindless chatter of the upper class and he begins to rub Cal, Rose’s betrothed, the wrong way. Cal bates him with a potentially mortifying question that Jack catches with ease. He meaningfully states that life is what exactly what he makes it and he intends on making it count. After, he meets Rose at the clock tower and they have a real bit of fun dancing in third class. There’s nothing else in the world like an undone Leo dancing an Irish jig.
Oscar Nom: NOPE. Why? Does the Academy not believe in love? I mean, it did win best picture but that's not enough.
4. "Django Unchained" (2012)
Quentin Tarantino is an artist. I am the side of believing that he is also a genius. A crazy, unstoppable, megalomaniac genius. Therefore, I think despite the shell of controversy that surrounded this movie, it is a masterpiece. It is a complicated narrative shouldered by a recently freed slave, Django, and a dentist turned bounty hunter, Dr. Schultz. Jamie Foxx is utterly mesmerizing in his portrayal of the multifaceted, heartbroken, cold, revenge-seeking, Siegfried-esque portrayal of Django. Christoph Waltz shines as the slavery-opposing, surprisingly ruthless doctor that aides Django in his quest to find and save his wife from the notorious Calvin Candie, played by our boy. Leo acts as the perfectly twisted, sweet as sugar villain that plays directly against the no frills characterizations of Django and Dr. Shultz. He is oddly naive and vaguely reminiscent of a child that has fallen into the position of an adult, except when you remember what he is and what he does, then he isn’t. Leo goes from sickeningly genial to cold blooded and hard to look at in moments and it’s amazing.
Notable Scene: The one that people freaked out about. Calvin is in the middle of a heated debate over the life of Django’s wife with Dr. Shultz. He slams his hand down on the table and accidentally shatters an actual sherry glass with his palm. Leo’s hand starts to bleed, but he does not break character. Though it was not on purpose, the sharp shift in personality and needless destruction plays right into the character of Candie and makes the scene golden.
Oscar Nom: No. But they also passed up Jamie Foxx, which enraged me just as must. Christoph Waltz won, though, which makes it a little less painful. I guess.
I mean, he is officially an Oscar-winner now. I guess that should be enough for me. (But, like come on, we all know that it should've happened earlier and that he waited so much longer than he should've and maybe we shouldn't forget that? IDK.)
