I'll preface by saying I'm probably going to re-watch River Wild. I prefer Defending Your Life because the part left Streep with a lot more room to build her own character. There's something unique about Julia, and it would be interesting to see more of her life back on Earth or her growing relationship with Daniel in the next world. Gail is more locked into the requirements of the script. Streep plays the notes beautifully, but River Wild gives her a guitar riff, while Defending Your Life is jazz guitar.
That's a fair description. Thanks for elaborating.
You list off the hoops that Streep has to jump through, but what does she do in River Wild that surprised you? Something where she took a scene to a new place with a line reading or reaction shot. With Defending Your Life there's the way she eats spaghetti, how she reclines for her trial, her explanation of how you don't feel sad when you die. At the stand-up club, she smiles at the comedian, but she's genuinely amused by Brooks.
One moment in particular comes to mind. When she's whispering in Kevin Bacon's ear trying desperately to get him to change his mind. It's a build up to a restrained kind of hysterical pleading, and then she has to dial it right back to zero. I just love how she (Streep) acts her way through that scene. It gets really raw, and you see a person about to break down.
I think she brings a dignity to the part which also gives it a fresh feeling. When you look at the character as writen it could so easily have been played with a tom boy quality, or as a woman trying to prove herself in a male dominated environment, or some other cliche. But the film literally never touches the question of gender roles. It's over it. And it's smart enough to know that the audience is over it too. And Streep doesn't give the character any kind of axe to grind in the respect either. A lot of times you see a film or a person go out of their way to prove how not-racist or not-sexist or so-homophobic they are by having a character do something to specifically reinforce that position, or state it outright. "My best friend is black". But really, a film that can just go ahead and
exist without pointing to it's own neutrality is much more refined. So, not a preachy movie or character. Streep is just this really experienced rafter. She's not super hero good, just regular good. And she's an average good mother and good wife and good person. She's not an extraordinary person caught in extraordinary circumstances, she's an ordinary person caught in extraordinary circumstances. Unlike a lot of her roles she is normal here. This could be a lot of people's moms. She's admirable, but in an achievable way. How she handles herself. That she doesn't lose her head. That she doesn't just show all her cards. That she's patient, and if her only weapon is mind games she'll play mind games.
So it's kind of about what she doesn't do as much as what she does.
And being such a "locked in" character that exists within a very familiar genre, you have some experience with how it might be played. To go back to your music analogy, you might think you know what a guitar riff for a rock song might sound like roughly speaking. But then Streep comes out and she's like a double-necked bass guitar hybrid and you hear something that you didn't ever really conceive of for the genre. Maybe because you didn't know that particular instrument existed.
I'm familiar with the thriller genre, and I never have much in the way of performance expectations when I watch them, but with River Wild it was like "wow, I guess that's what happens when you stack top-teir actors in mid-teir movies". And now that sets the bar. I'll no longer settle for less.