The list is alphabetical.
AND Grand Budapest Hotel… AND The Zero Theorem…
A bit of cheating here, yes, but so what? When you’re as f*cking cool as Tilda Swinton, you get a pass. Swinton gifted us with so many splendid performances this year, it’s like she used 2014 as her own personal flipbook to display her omnipresent talent. ONLY LOVERS LEFT ALIVE shows off a quiet, luminous side to the actress that is wholly seductive and mesmerizing. On the flipside, Swinton dishes out a bug-eyed, big-toothed, borderline-hysterical performance in SNOWPIERCER, which sees her play the crass personification of an obsolete wealthy class hurtling toward the definitive end of the world. This is Swinton having a blast, going way over-the-top in cartoonish fashion, and it’s glorious. If she isn’t the most well-rounded actress working in films today (who isn’t named Meryl Streep), I don’t know who is.
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Urg, I know. Everyone and their mother has been thoroughly blown away by Fletcher, the intimidatingly antagonistic music teacher at the heart of WHIPLASH. Brilliantly played by everyone’s famous insurance salesman, J.K. Simmons, Fletcher is the most compelling monster we’ve seen on the screen in some time, and it’s almost beside the point to lend him praise, seeing how he’s the hands-down favorite to win every Best Supporting Actor award available. But there’s a reason for all the high praise: he’s just too damn good. Certain actors naturally command the screen; Simmons grabs it, makes it his own, tosses it aside. Fletcher is a monster, alright, but he also keeps us wondering: does he care about the results of his insane teaching method, or is he just getting off on his own brutal showmanship? Even the film’s end doesn’t truly answer the question, which is exactly the way it should be… (I hope I never hear “Not quite my tempo” again.)
“Amazing” Amy Dunne is not an easy role to play. She has to conceal so much, not just from her husband Nick (Ben Affleck) but from us, the audience; we just naturally assume (early on) we should take things at face value, that Amy is a victim. Once we learn what the character is really about, we’re on a rollercoaster ride: she’s sympathetic, she’s wounded, she’s vengeful, she’s psychotic, she’s scary, she’s sexy. No ordinary femme fatale, this one. Rosamund Pike deals with the many sides of Amy masterfully, effortlessly crawling under the character’s skin as the character gets under ours. What’s so interesting is, in the end, we still can’t be convinced we know her… and that’s because it feels like Pike still hasn’t played all of her cards.
This may read as a flippant statement, but it’s one I had in the back of my mind all throughout SELMA: no one will ever embody Martin Luther King Jr. the way David Oyelowo does, so they shouldn’t even bother. Oyelowo simply is the great doctor. SELMA is an unbelievably powerful experience, full of heartache, anger, sadness… and hope, and Oyelowo does a flawless job bringing to life King’s passion, intelligence and humanity. It could be an over-the-top performance if handled the wrong way, but, remarkably, no wrong step is ever taken by this actor, who is emerging as one of the most promising in the field. By the time he’s orating in Birmingham at the end, we feel like we’ve actually just watched a portion of this man’s life unfold, and we’re much better for it.
So many of my favorite performances this year came with large, theatrical flourishes. Of course, it’s only natural for the dramatic turns to grab the attention, but once in a while a performance of subdued intensity is even more eye-catching. Case in point: Tom Hardy in LOCKE, a real-time drama involving a simple situation and a mostly quiet leading man. We know Tom Hardy can be extremely intimidating on screen when the part calls for it, and that’s why his Locke is so compelling: Here’s a man struggling to keep it together on what may be the most anxiety-filled day of his life. Hardy is just so good at emanating the character’s simmering anger, regret and fear. Take this ride with the man if you haven’t yet.
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Maybe my favorite performance of the year. Somewhere along the line, Jake Gyllenhaal went from just another good-looking, marginally talented actor to one of the most interesting, dynamic thesps in Hollywood. END OF WATCH, PRISONERS and ENEMY all showcased just how good he can be, but what he brings to NIGHTCRAWLER is exceptional in every way. Louis Bloom is off-putting in his social inadequacies, scary in his ugly determination at self-improvement, detestable in his willingness to go over the line, and, shockingly, admirable in just how adept he is at accomplishing his goals. Never for a moment does Gyllenhaal’s performance ring false, and though we sometimes want to shrink away from Bloom’s frighteningly wide eyes, we just can’t. We too are victims of one of his calculated sales pitches.
What a joyous thing it is to watch Ralph Fiennes as M. Gustave in Wes Anderson’s impeccable, delightful GRAND BUDAPEST HOTEL. He’s always been a tremendous actor, but we can’t pretend he’s not associated with dour roles. Here, as the harried, exceedingly polite but flawed concierge of a fantastical hotel, Fiennes exudes sheer enjoyment, as if the actor has been waiting forever to sink his teeth into a character as wonderfully wild as Gustave. It’s his best performance to date, if you ask me; no easy feat considering his remarkable filmography. Bravo, M. Fiennes!
THE BABADOOK doesn’t gain its sudden cult popularity without the unforgettable presence of Essie Davis, who delivers one of the best performances in a modern horror film. Actually, make that any horror film. Of course, those who have seen Jennifer’s Kent’s movie know it’s more than just a scare fest, but no matter how you define it, it’s certain that Davis’ performance, which begins as pathetic and gradually turns terrifying, is one for the ages. It’s a shame the work Davis puts on display will predictably be ignored by awards committees everywhere this year, because if the people who vote actually paid attention they’d realize there’s so much more than meets the eye. Kind of like The Babadook itself.
This isn’t just another one of those “comedian wants to ACT!” performances we’ve seen throughout the ages from funnymen who needed to be taken seriously. As John Du Pont, the weird and pitiful scion of a wealthy family who simply needed to do prove he was his own man – to himself, to his family, to strangers – Carell is startlingly good, never for a second less than convincing. Yes, he’s got a nice head-start with a gruesome prosthetic nose and receding hairline, but what we’re really watching is an actor fully committing to a role, making it his own. Du Pont could be just a creep, a rich kid looking to buy friends and who throws tantrums when he doesn’t get what he wants, but Carell infuses the man with such palpable loneliness that we can’t wholly be repelled by him.
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Talk about a consistent performance. Patricia Arquette knocked it out of the park for over a decade as the mom in Richard Linklater’s fascinating accomplishment BOYHOOD. At turns strong, somber, vulnerable and willful, the character’s arc is just as solid as that of Ellar Coltrane’s Mason; his literal growth is obviously front and center, but I found watching Arquette’s progression just as interesting. She’s always been a good actress, but her talent has never had such a stage; if she doesn’t win the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress there’s something very wrong afoot.
Now is when we stop dancing around it and start recognizing what Andy Serkis is doing as an actor. It’s been obvious before – certainly Gollum proved there was something special going on “behind the mask” – but Serkis-as-Caesar is without a doubt a brilliant piece of work. We’ve stopped marveling at the technique; now we just bask in the excellence of the performance. Caesar is as complex and well-rounded as any character in a franchise right now, and Serkis (with much help from WETA) is fully in charge of bringing the thoughtful, conflicted ape to life. We know the Academy won’t recognize this type of performance – they won’t for a very long time and that’s a shame. But, thankfully, that won’t stop us from applauding what is a flat-out magnificent acting job by a true artist. (Side note: let’s stop calling this a “Supporting” role in the vague hope it does grab an Oscar nod. Caesar is the lead in these APES films.)