by Cookie N Screen
Being talented and celebrated in your own country is a phenomenal thing. It’s one of the most heart-warming aspects of being an artist (and I sound like I’m speaking from experience, I’m not at the moment but from watching home-grown talent give their heartfelt speeches, I can only imagine how it feels). It’s that stomach tingling feeling that the nation you love and have grown up with loves you. That sense of accomplishment that your family, friends and, oh yeah, entire country are 100% behind you must be a wonderful and brilliant experience.
So imagine if it’s not just your home country that you are excelling with – but a whole world.
Being talented and celebrated in your own country is a phenomenal thing. It’s one of the most heart-warming aspects of being an artist (and I sound like I’m speaking from experience, I’m not at the moment but from watching home-grown talent give their heartfelt speeches, I can only imagine how it feels). It’s that stomach tingling feeling that the nation you love and have grown up with loves you. That sense of accomplishment that your family, friends and, oh yeah, entire country are 100% behind you must be a wonderful and brilliant experience.
So imagine if it’s not just your home country that you are excelling with – but a whole world.
It seems that is what is happening with Alicia Vikander, the girl whose face is seemingly in more movies than Benedict Cumberbatch these days. Although, we can’t say we are annoyed. For one, at the age of 26 (a fact that has made us really re-consider our live choices), she is an incredible actress and two, she is an astonishing actress. Need I say more?
Of course, Alicia Vikander is only a rising star in our eyes. Our lives are just being awakened to her skill whilst falling a little bit in love with her, each project that she does. However, the lucky Swedish folk have been brimming with her superb acting since she stared in popular drama Andra Avenyn. A show sort of similar to a soap opera, but much better than our, say Eastenders (it doesn’t have Danny Dyer, at least). I digress. Vikander’s popularity saw her transcend into cinema. Her first critically acclaimed roles included The Crown Jewels and Pure – a movie which, as her character Katarina, saw her win the Sweden’s Guldbagge Award for Best Actress which is the equivalent of The Academy Award. Her evocative performance as a woman inspired by Mozart after a rough childhood is both captivating and stunning.
In our humdrum British lives, we weren’t aware of Vikander’s excellence until the Danish film A Royal Affair, one of those films that after its release in Scandinavia trickled into our English lives. Playing opposite the formidable Mads Mikkelsen, A Royal Affair was a triumphant Oscar nominated period drama of the utmost brilliance. Vikander not only speaks Danish but also English and combines the languages into poetry as Caroline Matilda of Great Britain: a married off monarch who becomes involved in an affair with her mentally ill husband's physician. Capturing the pain of a loveless marriage as well as a secretive but passionate affair, Vikander is spell-binding and enraptures you into this poignant story.
Of course, Alicia Vikander is only a rising star in our eyes. Our lives are just being awakened to her skill whilst falling a little bit in love with her, each project that she does. However, the lucky Swedish folk have been brimming with her superb acting since she stared in popular drama Andra Avenyn. A show sort of similar to a soap opera, but much better than our, say Eastenders (it doesn’t have Danny Dyer, at least). I digress. Vikander’s popularity saw her transcend into cinema. Her first critically acclaimed roles included The Crown Jewels and Pure – a movie which, as her character Katarina, saw her win the Sweden’s Guldbagge Award for Best Actress which is the equivalent of The Academy Award. Her evocative performance as a woman inspired by Mozart after a rough childhood is both captivating and stunning.
In our humdrum British lives, we weren’t aware of Vikander’s excellence until the Danish film A Royal Affair, one of those films that after its release in Scandinavia trickled into our English lives. Playing opposite the formidable Mads Mikkelsen, A Royal Affair was a triumphant Oscar nominated period drama of the utmost brilliance. Vikander not only speaks Danish but also English and combines the languages into poetry as Caroline Matilda of Great Britain: a married off monarch who becomes involved in an affair with her mentally ill husband's physician. Capturing the pain of a loveless marriage as well as a secretive but passionate affair, Vikander is spell-binding and enraptures you into this poignant story.
Furthering her career into English speaking cinema, she appeared in films such as Anna Karenina and The Fifth Estate that – whilst not great movies, she certainly show cased her appealing and engaging skill. But it’s the recent Ex Machina that really has sparked off our 2015 with style. Her performance as AVA, a robotic experiment with supposed sentience and sexuality, is exquisite. Anointing AVA with robotic fluidity whilst similarly enchanting audiences and the naïve Caleb. Alicia Vikander greatly gifts the electronic being an immediately engaging curiosity and owning the entire film. If there is one film that you need to be sure of the talent of this compelling actress then it is this one.
2015 sees Alica Vikander in seven movies. Last week’s Ex Machina and Testament of Youth beforehand, Son of a Gun which is out this Friday, The Man from U.N.C.L.E, Seventh Son, Tulip Fever and Adam Jones. The actress is set for more critical acclaim, certainly more awards and a phenomenal career in cinema.
2015 sees Alica Vikander in seven movies. Last week’s Ex Machina and Testament of Youth beforehand, Son of a Gun which is out this Friday, The Man from U.N.C.L.E, Seventh Son, Tulip Fever and Adam Jones. The actress is set for more critical acclaim, certainly more awards and a phenomenal career in cinema.
Want To Read More?
You can read our reviews of this weeks Son of a Gun, Ex Machina and Testament of Youth.
Also catch our other Rising Star pieces on Ex Machina's Oscar Isaac and Domnhall Gleeson. Or our essentials on Son of Gun's Ewan McGregor.
Son of a Gun is out now!
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