Virtuoso’s Award (The Arlington Theater)

Reviewed by Linda Mccomb.  Viewed at the Arlington Theater

Six actors were honored with the Virtuoso’s Award at this year’s film festival. These six actors were Ann Dowd for Compliance, Elle Fanning for Ginger & Rosa, Ezra Miller for The Perks of Being A Wallflower, Eddie Redmayne for Les Miserables, Omar Sy for The Intouchables and Quvenzhane Wallis for Beasts of the Southern Wild. These awards were created to honor actors who left an extraordinary impression on viewers with their performances throughout the past year. The actors were interviewed by Dave Karger.

The first actor to grace the stage was Ann Dowd. She was one of my favorite interviews. She came across as a very smart and likable woman and was also very funny and overall enjoyable to listen to. Elle fanning was recognized next. This 14-year-old girl has a very impressive acting career and is extremely talented. However, she seemed nervous and inexperienced at interviews and I found her somewhat hard to follow. The same went for Ezra Miller who was interviewed next. He was very quirky and although smart and funny, was hard to engage with personally I think he to was nervous. Eddie Redmayne was next and I really enjoyed listening to him speak about the process of auditioning for his role. He was easy to listen to, and definitely charmed the audience. Omar Sy was another one of my favorite interviews. He originally speaks French and I enjoyed his accent, although sometimes it was hard to understand. Even with this being the case he was very humble and entertaining. I enjoyed listening to his story. Last but not least was Quvenzhane Wallis. She was the youngest recipient of the award,and the most inexperienced, however she was composed, entertaining, and adorable. She seemed very comfortable on stage and she was great fun to listen to.

Overall, the Virtuoso’s Awards were very entertaining to watch. The audience thoroughly enjoyed themselves as well as the actors and it was a great experience to be in attendance.