Paul Giamatti, The American Patient 

In the Oscar-nominated Best Picture "The Holdovers," Paul Giamatti plays Hunham, a literature teacher at a private high school. Due to his eccentric and harsh personality, as well as a uniquely unpleasant odor, he is disliked by colleagues and students alike. During Christmas break, he is reluctantly stuck at school with a student named Tully. Within the set proximity, Tully can no longer tolerate the odd and unsociable teacher, and he confronts him with the collective complaints of both teachers and students, saying, "You smell like a salty fish."

Hunham remained completely unruffled and calmly explained, " Trimethylaminuria. It means my body can’t break down trimethylamine. That’s the smell." This is a condition that is rarely heard of in any culture and there really are some real-life cases. As early as the 1610 play "The Tempest," Shakespeare described Caliban, Prospero's servant, as having "a very ancient and fish-like smell."

“It’s really a lonely, lonely condition,” said Dani Reed, a geneticist and chief science officer at the independent research institute in West Philadelphia, “There’s no health consequences other than the smell that we’re aware of. It just never got traction in the medical community.”

Paul Giamatti, this unassuming middle-aged solid actor, often portrays characters with illnesses in various low to mid-budget arthouse films. These illnesses are typically quirky conditions that are far from life-threatening but so annoying that others dislike them. With his convincing acting skills, he has successfully established a category of ordinary people - those who are either socially awkward or constantly plagued by troubles. Here, let me just refer to them as "American Patients."

My personal encounter with Paul Giamatti on screen was likely during the 2003 Sundance Film Festival premiere and award-winning film "American Splendor." At the age of 36, Paul portrayed the character of Harvey Pekar in this biographical film about an ordinary cartoonist, a disenchanted, balding middle-aged man who had no enthusiasm for life but refused to accept mediocrity.

The film begins by showcasing the protagonist's unique personality during a childhood Halloween scene. While other kids dress up as superheroes to go trick-or-treating, young Harvey wears his usual clothes, and a puzzled neighbor can’t help asking, "Who are you supposed to be?" He replies, "I'm your neighbor's kid!" He has rejected societal conformity games from an early age.

As Harvey hits middle age and loses his voice, he seeks the help of an ENT doctor, only to be dismissed with a diagnosis of minor hypochondria. Temporarily mute, Harvey struggles to convince his wife not to leave him and fails. Later, Harvey gains fame through creating anti-superhero comics. He meets Joyce, a woman who runs a comic book store, and bluntly says, "I've had a vasectomy." There is no love, no romance; just two individuals with languishing lives seeking companionship, and not wanting a child to add the burden. Several years later, Harvey is genuinely ill, having diagnosed with lymphoma. Under Joyce's persuasion, he reluctantly completes a new comic titled "Our Cancer Year." Miraculously, he not only finishes the comic but also experiences a mysterious recovery from his illness.

Paul Giamatti's short and stout physique led him to be chosen by Tom Hooper to portray the second President of the United States in the limited series "John Adams," where he shaped the character referred to as "Mr. Round." His perpetually lackluster expression contributed to his portrayal of a lonely and sorrowful falconer in "The Hawk Is Dying," a husband struggling with infertility in "Private Life," and a theater actor who mistakenly receives the soul of a Russian woman in "Cold Souls" for the sake of experiencing "Uncle Vanya."

Two years ago, there was a post on reddit worrying about Paul's health that read “He's visibly lost weight, his hair is greyer, and the beard is gone. The man does not look healthy. Are we supposed to pretend we can't see his worrying change in appearance? It looks like he has cancer or some ailment.” There were some worried commenters who responded to the post, and some who scolded the poster for his random thoughts, “His heart, his lipids and his arteries don't give a shit about your opinion. He is healthier now than before.”

Many times, the on-screen characters played by Paul are closely associated with alcohol, and alcoholism is no doubt a kind of illness.

In the latest film "The Holdovers," Hunham, the teacher who gets expelled for resisting the outdated education system, is consistently seen sneaking sips of whiskey. In the movie's conclusion, he even takes the opportunity to pilfer the headmaster's prized bottle of the world's most expensive cognac, Louis XIII. In "Barney's Version," the protagonist's three marriages are accompanied by countless toasts and clinking glasses. In the second marriage, where Barney weds a Jewish tycoon, both Barney and his father drink to the point where the bride's father orders the bartender to stop serving them. In the pursuit of true love, Barney's date in New York, set in an elaborately prepared luxury suite, ends with him passing out drunk. Eventually, severe alcoholism also hastens the onset of Alzheimer's disease in Barney.

Barney's life can be likened to a journey through the cup of wine. In contrast, the 2004 film "Sideways," directed by Alexander Payne and awarded the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, appears to involve just a casual drink or two. Paul Giamatti again, portrays characters as struggling writers, high school English teachers, or divorced middle-aged men. In "Sideways," he showcases the flavors of life during nights of wine-tasting with friends in California's wine region. It seems to be just a few sips of wine but full taste of whole life, even though it may smell like the unsavory "The American Patient".