While Will Smith has been at the heart of the news since the 2022 Oscars ceremony, here are 3 feature films worn by the famous comedian that we advise you to (re) discover on Netflix.
IN SEARCH OF HAPPINESS (2007)
Inspired by a wonderful true story – that of Chris Gardner, a modest salesman dreaming of becoming a broker in a prestigious firm – The Pursuit of Happiness is without a doubt one of the most moving and inspiring films that make up the career by Will Smith.
This ode to courage and determination, a contemporary fable to the glory of perseverance, is also a little gem of authenticity, since Will shares the bill with his own son: a very young Jaden Smith, barely 8 years old, in his very first film role.
After this feature film, which earned Will Smith an Oscar nomination for Best Actor – he finally won the statuette this Sunday for The Williams Method – the actor reunited with director Gabriele Muccino for the no less moving Seven Lives (also available on Netflix). In this other drama, which we also advise you to (re) discover, the actor embodies the mysterious Ben Thomas, a man resolutely determined to do everything to save seven people around him.
ALONE AGAINST ALL (2016)
Is it possible to bring out the truth when the latter risks losing millions of dollars to one of the most powerful American institutions? Response in Alone Against All, inspired by another absolutely staggering true story, and recounting the fierce fight of the neuropathologist Bennett Omalu against the National Footall League.
The mission of this doctor from Nigeria and played by Will Smith : to alert public opinion to the significant risks of cerebral disease in professional football players, after repeated shocks during their career. In the tradition of Dark Waters, Revelations or even the recent Dopesick series, this thrilling investigation tells above all the courage of a whistleblower, engaged almost in spite of himself in a titanic showdown against the most powerful colossi of American sport. .
I AM LEGEND (2007)
If the purists of SF literature had been offended by the liberties taken by Francis Lawrence’s film compared to the original work by Richard Matheson (already adapted in 1971 and worn by Charlton Heston in The Survivor), it is not remains that according to many viewers, I Am Legend has offered to Will Smith one of his most notable performances.
Admittedly, the vampires of the novel have here been replaced by bloodthirsty “infected”, and the conclusion of the feature film no longer has anything to do with that of the book, but the main themes addressed by Matheson – namely loneliness and preservation of humanity in a world that lacks it – have remained intact. They are revealed in particular through the eyes of a Will Smith inhabited by his role, and whose remarkable performance remains the major asset of the feature film.
A sequel, in which Will Smith will be joined by Michael B. Jordan, has also been announced recently.