Film Savant

Riding the tide of indie acclaim, actor Willem Dafoe remains in control.

- Jennifer Piejko

Wearing a neatly pressed T-shirt and a weary expression, Bobby Hicks, the Magic Castle motel’s manager played by a stern but warm Willem Dafoe, climbs a precarious ladder to begin repainting the massive building’s exterior. His son Jack sulks at the scene of his father taking on yet another DIY home-improvement project, this time coating the sagging motel a flushed shade of orchid with a single paintbrush. He comments that Bobby is wasting $20,000 on the endeavor, before turning away and exiting the parking lot without a single look back. Steel-blue clouds hang heavy and skim the rooftops from the Orlando sky; waxy emerald palm fronds sway from the tops of flimsy, lanky trunks; the soft graphite of the sprawling pavement below looks like it might swallow up and absorb anyone or anything that might hit it. Pausing on the rung of the ladder for a single breath, Bobby takes the long view of the wall, exhales, and picks up his paintbrush again.

There are so many moments like this in