Mila Kunis

In this chapter of ‘the filmmaker’s guide’ we’re going to be thinking and rethinking about actors that I have personally called ‘awful’ in the past and seeing why I was wrong, and actors whom I called ‘great’ in the past and seeing why I was wrong. Hopefully, this helps you to identify how your opinion can change as a human being and how, through research and observation, you can make a more informed conclusion even if your previous one was the entire opposite. Film and literature is all about changing our opinions and if our opinions remain static throughout our study then we probably haven’t had the full experience of the subject at hand. We need to be open to change in our thought processes and really, that’s what criticism and theory is about. If we start by opening our opinions up to change on particular base level types, then we can slowly build these up to see how we could possibly change our opinions on a grand scale. I will start by rethinking actors and actresses I have either previously thought as not very good at their job or very good at their job and will be arguing the opposite; demonstrating my change of opinion. So, if you see the ‘rethinking…’ line in my title, you can bet it is a part of this series.

Mila Kunis

A few years ago, I watched "Jupiter Ascending" and to me, all hope and faith in Mila Kunis was pretty much lost. I spent a very long time trying to figure out why that movie was even made and how her acting could've been so incredibly bad. From then on, I pretty much didn't go out of my way to watch anything she had acted in or starred in (even though to my surprise, I had been watching "That 70s Show" when I was even younger than that, so there we go). After also viewing her attempt at "American Psycho 2", I was pretty much in the gutter with my opinions of Mila Kunis, but I kept them to myself.

Then came her role in "Black Swan" which I started to explore more after I looked more into her filmography shortly since turning 21. I had only seen "Black Swan" once before that and that was back when I was about sixteen (my mother was interested in the film as well). I was not old enough to understand the complexities of the role when I was sixteen and so, at twenty-one, I gave it another chance. At twenty-three, I gave it another chance and I recognised things about her performance that I had failed to see before in all the preparation and dedication to it. Then I began to investigate other sections of her filmography, including her much forgotten role in the film "The Book of Eli". Keeping in mind that I had seen this film before, I had never actually paid attention to her role and to my surprise, I thought it was pretty wonderful and her performance was very thorough. Yet, it was entirely different to her role in "Black Swan".

When it comes down to it, she may do many films that are considered to be 'rom-coms' and 'teen movies' but she is good at them. However, once in a while she manages to stun us with her performances in films directed by Darren Aronofsky and the like. She does not fill her filmography up with this since she knows the value of shocking her audience on the rare occasion. Mila Kunis has managed to give us a wide variety of performances, from fun films to serious ones, from independent movies to Oscar Winning Film and from teen cinema to psychological thriller.

I have severely underestimated her talents and since I have now concluded that she is a pretty good actress, I will continue to look out for her roles in more complex films as she gets older and widens her perspective on acting choices. Hopefully, there will be more roles like “Black Swan” in the future and she will be taken on by the directors who expect some brilliant pieces of work from their actors and so much more.

Join me next time for "Rethinking Rami Malek..."