Mark Rylance is Perfection: Seasoned Actor Proves The Power Of Being In The Moment In 'The Outfit'
Mark Rylance shines in The Outfit.
The newest gangster drama to hit the screen The Outfit, follows the story of a cutter (not a tailor) working in Chicago in the 1950's. While Leonard Burling, the sophisticated character played by Rylance, tries to maintain an orderly life, allowing the crime he obviously notices circling around him while staying removed from it himself.
Rylance is perfect in this film. While his refined English accent would threaten to make him stick out like a sore thumb, it instead solidifies his place in the complex world. He masterfully wields an aura of both innocence and intelligence, encouraging the audience to care for him, root for him, and wonder about him. In a quiet way, Ryalnce commands the screen. He also makes you REALLY want to do more research into what the job of a cutter entails.
On top of Rylance's compelling performance, the film is cinematically stunning. The clean cut lines and staging are stitched with remarkable precision. The lion share of the film, if not the entire thing, takes place inside the confines of Burling's shop. This confined drama combined with the passing of letters elevates The Outfit to the refined standard of early modern theater thereby giving heightened credence to the time period in which it is set.
The film is NEARLY gripe-less. I have almost no gripes...I have one gripe. The only thing that took me out of the film was the consistency of dialects. While the cast across the board gave stellar performances, the discrepancy in the dialects left me recurrently re-calibrating the time period and location. No, I'm not talking about Rylance's character defining English accent. The dialects of the Americans ranged from old timey, Guys and Dolls style tough guy to very modern day English. This is not the fault of anyone or a commentary on the performances overall, but I think the collective may have needed one more group discussion on the dialect of the location and time.
Overall, The Outfit is a new, fun and intriguing watch that I highly recommend to anyone debating whether or not to see it.
