So we're watching the film Defiance on DVD the other night. It's not the greatest thing Daniel Craig's ever done, but it's a hell of a lot better than Cowboys & Aliens*. It's the tale of three Jewish brothers who escape the Nazis in WWII and build a community of exiles in the Belarussian forest where they survive for years until the end of the war. It's based on a true story, one of those "triumph of the human spirit" gems that Hollywood adores. It's all very worthy and dramatic, with fine performances from Craig, Liev Schreiber and Billy Elliott. However, the image it scored into my mind was not of valiant heroes fighting against all odds in dire circumstances... but of the huge spot on Daniel Craig's neck.
You can't see it on the image above, because Bond is wearing a big woolly scarf to hide it from the photographer... but it's a belter. The sort of zit that makes you think you're growing an extra head. I should know, I spent most of my teenage years caked in Clearasil, unsuccessfully fighting the damned things off. Still, you don't expect to find one of the neck of a celebrity beefcake noted for his washboard chest, solid sixpack, sandpaper stubble and piercing blue eyes... even if he's been living in a forest for three years.
Digital film stock and HD TV make it easier than ever to see the pimples, wrinkles, cellulite and saggy bits of our favourite actors and actresses in crystal clear quality. (It's only because I'm a gentleman that I haven't mentioned the crimson carbuncle on Sarah Lund's nose in one episode of The Killing last week. You can forgive her the skincare neglect: she works long hours in a permanently dark city and eats all her meals straight from the pan.)
Cinema's come a long way since the grand dames of Hollywood only ever allowed themselves to be filmed with a heavy gauze or thick layer of petroleum jelly smeared over the camera lens to mask their imperfections. We should cherish these days of scabby stars and spotty starlets though... how long before they insist on CGI-airbrushing away their every blemish? It's already a staple of magazine shoots, and if you ask me it makes our idols far less human... and less attractive... with each Photoshopped brushstroke. And don't even start me on plastic surgery!
*Review to follow, once I can bring myself to face up to the awfulness of it.
