There really was a lot of great work done in this
category this year – and sadly, I think much of it has been overlooked.
Runners-Up:
Mary J. Bilge in Mudbound is a tower of strength and
integrity in her debut acting role – the smart, conscience at the heart of the
movie. Elle Fanning in The Beguiled plays
perhaps the smartest of the women in The Beguiled – or at least the one who
knows how best to get what she wants. Betty
Gabriel in Get Out takes a tiny role, and makes it unforgettable. Kristen Dunst in The Beguiled is great
as the most repressed of the women in The Beguiled. Fatine Harduin in Happy End plays the 13 year old daughter, who is responsible
for her mothers death (accidentally, or are on purpose) – and becomes part of a
family she barely knows, and doesn’t much seem to care for her. Melissa Leo in Novitiate seems at times to be in her own movie here
– and she goes wonderfully over-the-top in a not for all tastes, but certainly
stranger performance. Tatiana Maslany in
Stronger is quietly impressive, taking what could have been the boring
“supportive girlfriend” role and imbibing it with something a lot more
interesting. Elisabeth Moss in The
Square only has a few scenes in this two and half hour sprawling satire –
but you won’t forget them – a comic marvel. Ella Rumpf in Raw is full of energy and punk, as the older half of
a sibling rivalry that turns bloody.
Naomi Aicke gives one of the best performances of
the year, even though her character, Anna, barely says a word. In this film,
Aicke’s Anna is the maid to Florence Pugh’s Katherine – who sees almost
everything going in inside this expansive house, and yet can never say a word
about it. There are class dynamics at work of course, but also unspoken racial
dynamics as well, as Aicke has to sit and watch in horror as to what is
happening, and not say a word to protect herself. It is a devastating portrait
that gives a different view of a largely ignored type of domestic servant.
9.
Bria Vinaite in The Florida Project
Vinaite plays Halley, the unemployed, single mother
to little Moonee in The Florida Project – and it says something about her
performance that even though she does some horrible things in the movie, and
isn’t a very good mother, than you still really do feel for character – and
like her right up until the end of the film. Vinaite was a non-professional
when director Sean Baker cast her, and she brings real humanity to her role
throughout – and runs the spectrum of emotions. It is a portrait of life on the
margins – and Vinaite does a brilliant job in her first ever role. 
8.
Allison Williams in Get Out
As Rose, the girlfriend of the main character,
Williams is the character who I think most white viewers relate to the most –
her parents are well-meaning, sure, but they make some boneheaded comments. But
Rose is woke, right? She’s the real good white liberal we all right? Which is,
of course, what makes her ultimate betrayal hurt all the more. Williams is
playing off the persona she built up over the years on Girls, and is a perfect
vision of millennial self-importance and ironic hipsterism. She’s also evil,
and does that brilliantly as well. A great performance.
7.
Natalie Portman in Song to Song
Natalie Portman’s role in Terence Malick’s Song to
Song is a small one – it’s basically an interlude we witness, as Michael
Fassbender’s version of Satan seduces, corrupts and destroys this Texas school
teacher in a matter of about 10 minutes. Portman falls apart wonderfully in
this film, and shows us everything we need to know about this woman in a just a
few short minutes. Malick’s recent approach doesn’t do a lot of actors any
favors – it makes them all kind of blend together, as they are cast for how
they look and move more than anything else. Here though, Portman stands out and
delivers one of her best performances – and certainly one of the most
underrated of the year. 
6.
Nicole Kidman in The Killing of a Sacred Deer
There is probably no other actress with the star
power of Nicole Kidman who so consistently takes risks – working on daring
projects, with strange directors – and the results are usually great. Her
latest is her work in Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Killing of a Sacred Deer – which
stands with her best work. Lanthimos’ style requires actors to drain a lot of
emotion out of their dialogue, and do a lot, with less. Kidman does so much
manipulation in this film, just with her eyes, and the few words she says to
her husband – played by Colin Farrell (there is also the tremendously funny and
horrifically awkward hand job scene as well, but I digress). For some reason,
Kidman doesn’t seem to rank as high as other actresses in terms of the
admiration we have for them in terms of her risk taking, and ability to fit in
any movie. That should change (and the Kidman Bracket game by Guy Lodge this
year helped, I think) – as here, we have another great performance by Kidman.
5.
Taliah Lennice Webster in Good Time
In her first screen role ever, Webster is asked to
keep up with Robert Pattinson, delivering one of the very best performances of
the year, for a huge chunk of the middle of the movie – and succeeds
wonderfully. In the film, she plays Crystal, the teenager granddaughter of a
woman who has unwittingly let criminal Pattinson into her home. Throughout
their time together, they will run the gamut of emotions, and he manipulates
her time and again, and she doesn’t quite realize she is being used – until the
last moment together, when she realizes everything – and stays silent anyway,
knowing what will happen if she speaks. A great performance, from an actress I
want to see more from. 
4.
Allison Janney in I, Tonya
There are some actors and actresses, who do brilliant
work on TV for years, and never get the perfect role for them to cross over to
movies. Until I, Tonya Allison Janney was one of those actresses. The 6 Time
Emmy Winner (and 13 time nominee) finally gets her prime movie role as LaVona-
the monstrous mother of Tonya Harding. Without LaVona, Harding probably never
would have been as good as she was – but she also wouldn’t have crashed and
burned so spectacularly. Janney nails the complicated relationship there –
supportive and yet, a woman who sacrifices for her child, and abuses her. She
is also downright hilarious from beginning to end. We’ve all known for a long
time than Janney is as good as any actress out there – she just finally got a
movie role to match her TV work.
3.
Michelle Pfeiffer in mother!
One of the great, underrated performances of 2017
is Michelle Pfeiffer in mother! as a nameless woman, who shows up with her
husband (Ed Harris), and precedes to pretty much destroy the place. To keep
with the movie’s Biblical themes, Pfeiffer is playing some unholy cross between
Eve and the Serpent, coming along to both revel in the garden, and destroy it.
Pfeiffer has often taken long breaks in her career, so it’s nice to see her
reappear with something like this – it’s seductive, certainly, but it’s also a
study in an extremely annoying woman who just will not listen. It’s silly that
Pfeiffer doesn’t have an Oscar at home already (I mean, come on), and sadly
this year won’t change that – but that doesn’t stop this from being some of the
best work of her career – and one of the great performances of the year.
2.
Laurie Metcalf in Lady Bird
Laurie Metclaf has been a favorite of mine since
her days on Roseanne (one of the first TV shows I took seriously). She is
always great, but much like Janney, she never really got the movie role to show
it. As Lady Bird’s mother, she gets that chance. The two of them go at each
other hard – never quite realizing how much they have in common, and just how
much they are hurting each other, while at the same time, letting that love
shine through. It’s a great performance, because it’s an honest one – this isn’t
a mother knows best movie, because she makes almost as many mistakes as Lady
Bird does – just like a real parent. Like Janney, we’ve known for years that
Metcalf is capable of greatness – it’s just nice to see a filmmaker take
notice.
1.
Lesley Manville in Phantom Thread
As Cyril Woodcock, Daniel Day-Lewis’ sister, is
Phantom Thread, Lesley Manville gives a masterclass in background acting
through many of her scenes. She plays the woman who keeps her famous, genius
brother’s schedule in tact – and basically controls everything he does, even
while not letting on that is what she is doing. She sees everything, and
throughout the film, you often see her in the background, observing everything
– a Mrs. Danvers-like character. Yet, throughout the movie, her role gets more
complex as well – and her Cyril is not the evil, domineering woman we initially
think she is. At first, she is deliciously cruel as she sizes up Vicky Krieps’s
Alma, but as the film goes on, she grows to respect her, and even defends her
to Reynolds. She is the brains behind the brains, the one who controls
everything. Manville, who has been a great actor for a long time now (one of
the greatest recent Oscar injustices is that she didn’t get nominated for her
heartbreaking turn in Mike Leigh’s Another Year) – but here, she takes things
to another level. Perhaps the performance is too subtle, too quiet for awards
season – but it will be remembered for years. 
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