2016 Year End Report: Best Actress

For the second year in a row, I think it’s clear that Best Actress is the best of the four acting categories – and the deepest. Among the performances I would have liked to include but didn’t have room for: Amy Adams in Nocturnal Animals is not a normal role for Adams, but she nails it anyway – right up until the memorable final moment. Kate Beckinsale in Love & Friendship reminds everyone what a wonderful comic actress she is in the right role. Annette Bening in 20^th Century Women is excellent as a mother in the 1970s trying her very best to do what’s best for her son, even if she has no clue what that means. Sonia Braga in Aquarius anchors a movie that can sometimes drag, but is always interesting if for no other reason than her performance. Lauren Ashley Carter in Darling wonderful, as a woman slowly going insane in this gory horror film. Elle Fanning in The Neon Demon is a wonderful, blank slate for everyone to project unto. Royalty Hightower in The Fits is that rare child actor who is able to completely hold the camera without seemingly doing anything. Isabelle Huppert in Things to Come wonderfully, subtly plays the type of character we’ve seen a thousand times before, but never quite in this way. Min-hee Kim in The Handmaiden has almost three different characters to play in the films distinctive three acts – but they all feed off of what came before. Jane Levy in Don’t Breathe added some needed humanity and complexity to the typical horror movie heroine trying to survive. Morgan Saylor in White Girl goes full bore into her privileged, naïve, ultimately horrible character really bravely. Kate Lynn Shiel in Kate Plays Christine is not a typical performance by any means – but whatever it is, it’s brilliant. Kalieaswari Srinivasan in Dheepan plays a woman who just wanted to get out Sri Lanka, who ends up a “wife” and “mother”, and doesn’t know how to handle that. Hailee Steinfeld in The Edge of Seventeen joins the ranks of the great teen movie heroines – neurotic, funny, relatable and wonderful. Tilda Swinton in A Bigger Splash spends most of the movie not speaking, and that doesn’t diminish her performance in the slightest. Anya Taylor-Joy in The Witch doesn’t quite know what to do when her whole family turns against her – another great horror movie performance. Mary Elizabeth Winstead in 10 Cloverfield Lane slowly finds her inner strength, as she has to fight against one monster – then another – to survive.

 

10. Ruth Negga in Loving

As Mildred Loving, Ruth Negga exudes a quiet strength. At first, it looks like she may weaker than her white husband – when they are first arrested for being married – because he’s white, and she’s black – she seems nearly scared to death in the jail cell. As the film moves along though, you start to see her steel will as she decides to stand up to the bullies, stands by her man, raises her kids, and refuses to back down. It’s a quietly powerful performance – and the perfect embodiment of this film, which never uses bombast or grandstanding, when quieter moments of strength will do.

 

9. Krisha Fairchild in Krisha

Krisha Fairchild has been acting for a long time – basically in tiny roles, voiceover work, etc. – but with Krisha, she is given the role of a lifetime, and will not relinquish it. In the film, written and directed by her nephew, she plays a drug addict and alcoholic – now purportedly clean – and returning home for Thanksgiving for the first time in years, looking forward to reconnecting with her family, and forge a new relationship with them – and of course, screwing it all up. She’s at the heart of nearly every scene in the film, and she carries it. It’s a heartbreaking performance – you cannot say she doesn’t bring everything on herself, because she does, but it breaks you done watching as she – and the film – become slowly unhinged. Brilliant work by an actress who has clearly waiting a long time for this moment.

 

8. Tao Zhao in Mountains May Depart

Director Jia Zhangke’s wife/muse is in top form in his latest film Mountains May Depart – anchoring the first two thirds of globalization movie, before mainly being absent for the third (before the brilliant final shot anyway). In act one, she plays a woman torn between two men – one rich, one poor – who both want to marry her, and she knows whatever decision she makes, it’s going to hurt someone. Flash forward a few years for act 2, and her decision certainly did hurt – and now she’s alone, her husband has left her, and her son has all left her life completely – as the reunite for one final, sad visit. I know there are some who feel that Zhangke’s concentration on the larger picture often hurts the humanity of his films – but whenever I see Tao Zhao in one of his films, I always object to that. She is one of the best actresses in the world, and she brings the humanity with her – Zhangke certainly has a wide view on the world, but her performances always bring it back down to earth.

 

7. Emma Stone in La Land

Emma Stone’s work in La Land is the best work of her already fine career. In many ways, her Mia is a Hollywood cliché – the young ingénue from Middle America, who heads to Hollywood with dreams of stardom. But Stone embraces Mia whole heartedly, clichés and all, and makes the audience kind of instantly fall in love with her, and then gradually deepens her character. She’s wonderful throughout, but by the time she sings Audition – the movie’s best moment, she is fully, completely comfortable with herself for the first time. As the film moves towards its climax, she breaks your heart with little more than a look. Stone is a full-fledged movie star to be sure, and in La Land, she embraces that persona and comes up with something wonderful.

 

6. Amy Adams in Arrival

Amy Adams was the perfect, perhaps only, choice to play the lead role in Denis Villeneuve’s sci-fi film Arrival. In the film, Adams plays a woman who is called upon to try and translate the language of a newly arrived species of alien – who have large crafts landed all over the world. Through the months long process of trying to speak to them, she remembers her life with her daughter – who died as a teenager – and how she related to her daughter, helps her relate to the aliens. It’s a remarkably subtle performance for being at the center of such a large scale movie – one in which her empathy is foregrounded. This is a movie about an alien invasion, and yet it’s a remarkably personal story – one that looks inward towards her character – and yet also has wider implications for the world at large. It’s a subtle piece of work by Adams – some of the best of her career – and coupled with her work in Nocturnal Animals, shows just how wide her range is.

 

5. Natalie Portman in Jackie

As Jackie Kennedy, Natalie Portman gives one of the best performances of her career – she has a strong accent in the film, which is appropriate, but takes a scene or two to get used to. From there though, Portman gives what will now be the standard bearer for performances of Jackie Kennedy. The film focuses almost exclusively on the week after her husband’s death – when she marshals the forces to get him the kind of sendoff that she feels he deserves, all while coping with her own loss, trying to be a mother, and suffering from what we would know clearly know as PTSD. The film is from her point of view, as she describes everything to an interviewer – more candid with him, and the audience, than she will eventually allow him to be (she constantly tells him what he cannot write). It is a powerful portrait of grief – and anger (she knows her marriage was far from perfect, and she’s angry at her husband for that) – but also a portrait of celebrity culture. In Portman’s hands, Jackie Kennedy becomes somewhat prophetic – knowing that the way things appear is more important than the ways things are- at least in terms of how we remember them, from the outside looking in. Portman captures this complex woman, who in the worst time of her life, knew exactly what she needed to do.

 

4. Rebecca Hall in Christine

Rebecca Hall gives easily her best performance to date as Christine Chubbock – the report who killed herself live, on-air in the 1970s. To some, the film felt exploitive of a real woman and her obvious mental illness – but I didn’t think so. The film does an excellent job at presenting Chubbock’s story, paying respect to her specific problems, as well as casting a wider lens on the misogyny of the era. Hall gives an exacting performance, that charts her downward spiral into that illness – something, I think the film makes clear, was always there – but she did a better job at hiding, until outside factors exasperate her. Hall does a strange accent, had an exacting way she moves, and really does get under the skin of Chubbock, and gives a performance you will not soon forget. A brilliant performance by an actress who has shown promise for a while, but is finally given a chance to truly fulfill it.

 

3. Sasha Lane in American Honey

Newcomer Sasha Lane gives a remarkable debut performance in American Honey – open and emotionally honest, Lane plays Star – a teenager girl in Middle America, deep in poverty, either ignored or abused by her parents, who hooks up with a group of travelling magazine sales people, and goes on a cross country journey with them. In many ways, Star wears her heart on her sleeve, as her relationship with Shia LaBeouf’s character goes back and forth between love, lust and frustration. She is also incredibly impulsive – putting herself into danger time and again, without ever really getting seriously hurt. It a brilliant performance about a specific kind of youth – one that offers little hope, little in the way of job opportunities or money, or a way out of her situation – but that she tries to get out anyway. As far as debut performances go, this one is a stunner – one of the best in cinema history really, and I cannot wait to see what this talented young actress does next.

 

2. Sandra Huller in Toni Erdmann

Huller is great in the opening two acts of Toni Erdmann – she puts on an air of professionalism and competence when he is around her colleagues, and even her family – playing the role of the confident, successful businesswoman – even while her insecurities are undeniably raging under the surface. She brings those out in later scenes – like when she is stuck bringing her father, posing as a businessman, along with her to a meeting – and finding that she is taken more seriously with a man with her, even one who is clearly clueless, than when she is by herself. But it really is the final act of the film in which Huller’s performance goes from great into an all-timer – her rendition of “The Greatest Love of All” and then the naked party is one of the greatest (and painful), comedic one-two punches in cinema history. In any other year, she’d be the easy number 1 choice for this category.

 

1. Isabelle Huppert in Elle

Isabelle Huppert essentially does the impossible in Paul Verhoeven’s Elle. The film opens with her being raped, and from there goes to some very dark places – yet essentially remains a pitch black comedy about a woman who is used to being in control over every aspect of her life essentially letting go in one area. I know many were offended my Elle – it wouldn’t be a Verhoeven film if people were not offended, and even if I disagree with them, I certainly see where they are coming from. Yet, I think its Huppert’s performance that allows the movie to get away with everything it does – both Verhoeven and Huppert have talked about how much control she was given over her character, and it shows in every scene. The performance is a collection of smaller moments, where every lip curl says something different. Huppert is essentially playing a woman surrounded by idiot men – who need her to be in control, or else their world falls apart. Huppert navigates a nearly impossible role brilliantly – and delivers not only the best performance of the year by a lead actress, but perhaps the best performance of her long, brilliant career.

2016 Year End Report: Best Actor

For the second year in a row, this may well have been the weakest of the four individual acting categories (although it came on strong in the final weeks)– but that’s more depth than anything else, and the top performances here are as good as any year. Some performances that I consider for the top 10 that didn’t make the cut include:  Jesuthasan Antonythasan in Dheepan is great as a man with a dark past trying, and ultimately failing, to change. Josh Brolin in Hail, Caesar! Gives a wonderful comedic performance, which takes on surprising depth as it goes along. Jake Gyllenhaal in Nocturnal Animals is essentially playing two roles here, and does a good job of making them subtly different 0 more sympathetic, and then slightly less so. Logan Lerman in Indignation anchors this excellent Phillip Roth adaptation with the best performance of his young career so far. Vincent Lindon in The Measure of a Man deservingly won the Best Actor Prize at Cannes 2015, for his excellent performance as a man trying to find a job – and when he does, realizing he’ll have to sell his soul to keep it. Anton Yelchin in Green Room is probably the de facto lead, and he brings a nice humanity to his role as someone who has no idea what he’s stepping into (especially hard to watch him in pain however, given real world events).

  

10. Michael Shannon in Midnight Special

Michael Shannon continues his excellent string of work in the films of Jeff Nichols. While his work in Midnight Special may not be as great as it is in Take Shelter, it’s still a wonderful performance – one that any parent will instantly relate to. In the film, Shannon plays a father who has kidnapped his own child to get him away from the cult that worships him – and goes on a cross country journey to try to get him to freedom. The performance here is all in the quiet moments – the way he will do anything for his son (the quiet way he tells his son, “I like worrying about you” is one of the most memorable of the year. In Shannon, Nichols has found his muse. They are quickly becoming the best director/actor pairing in American movies right now.

 

9. Ryan Gosling in La La Land

Ryan Gosling’s performance in La La Land is perhaps the year’s best “movie star” performance – the kind of performance that only works because Gosling is a huge star, and has a ton of charisma to carry it off. On paper, his Sebastian could have easily been a pretentious asshole, the type of guy women suffer through dates on, as he rambles on about jazz and purity, as the scan for the exits. Yet Gosling makes it work – in his hands, it all cute and charming – and he gives the audience a knowing wink throughout. What’s more, he eventually makes us actually care about this guy –enough that he breaks your heart in the closing moments in the film. To a certain extent, Gosling’s work here is very similar to his work in The Nice Guys or The Big Short – Gosling has developed his movie star persona to be sure. But he deepens it, just a bit here. I do hope that at some point, Gosling does something outside his current movie star comfort zone again – but until then, as long as he’s doing it this well, this mode in fine.

 

8. Chris Pine in Hell or High Water

Since the Star Trek reboot made him a star, Pine has been doing fine work – but it’s mainly been in movie star mode, which he makes look effortlessly. In Hell or High Water, Pine does his best work to date. He uses that movie star charisma to great effect – he gets us on his side from the get go, and we don’t really question that until fairly late. It’s a quiet, subtle performance – one in which you can feel how he carries the weight of everything on his shoulders. This is the type of role that I wish more movie stars would take on – it gives the film a different vibe with him in it, and it works brilliantly here.

 

7. Andrew Garfield in Silence

Andrew Garfield had a good year this year – he may well get nominated (or has already been so) for his role in Mel Gibson’s Hacksaw Ridge – and even if I have issues with the film, I do think Garfield is excellent in that role (even if it’s rather one note). He’s far better though in Martin Scorsese’s Silence, as a young priest who believes he knows all he needs to know when he travels to Japan, and finds out just how wrong he is. This is a role that often appears passive – especially in the first and last acts – but Garfield really is doing a lot with his role – he brings forward both his characters empathy and arrogance, which will combine to eventually bring him low. This movie is in many ways a culmination of Scorsese’s career – and this character a culmination of many Scorsese leads. And Garfield delivers a performance that’s worthy to stand alongside them.

 

6. Peter Simonischek in Toni Erdmann

Out of the two lead role, Simonischek has the flashier one – we open with him, donning a lot of makeup, and his exaggerated false teeth (he’ll wear those teeth through most of the movie). Simonischek is not afraid to go over-the-top throughout the movie – fully embracing even silly fart jokes. Yet, while he is great in those bigger moments, what makes his performance truly wonderful is the undercurrent of depression that is undeniably there throughout the entire performance. He goes big, and knows other characters are laughing at him, and he doesn’t seem like he cares – but there are those small moments, when he looks off to the side, when it hits. His final scene is perhaps his quietest – and it is subtly heartbreaking. A great performance in a great movie.

 

5. Joel Edgerton in Loving

Joel Edgerton’s performance is perhaps the quietest of any lead performance of the year – not only because he often doesn’t say much, but even when he does, he does so in a quiet voice. He plays a white man in love with a black women in Virginia in the 1950s – which is just about the worst thing he could do. His wife is the more active of the pair – she makes the decisions – but he is strong, quiet center of the couple, and the film – he is not willing to bend or break for anyone. When he says, in response to the question of what he wants them to tell the Supreme Court, he says simply “Tell them I love my wife”. At the heart of this important case, and this movie, comes down to that one, perfect line.

 

4. Denzel Washington in Fences

In Fences, Denzel Washington gives a wonderful performance as Troy Maxon – strict patriarch, in 1950s Pittsburgh, bitter and angry at his lot in life – how he never really got a chance at his version of the American Dream, who just may end up destroying what he does have. Troy isn’t a bad guy per se – at least not at first. Washington imbues him with his natural charisma and good cheer – you see why people like him so much as he jokes with his friend, and later his wife. But when his younger son enters the picture, Troy becomes darker – and angrier, even downright cruel and violent. Washington did this role on Broadway a few years ago, and honed it to perfection. In the film version, Washington rips into his every line of dialogue (and he has a lot of them). Washington has been one of the best actors in the world for decades now – occasionally though, he relies on his old tricks and natural skill. When he wants to though, few can touch him. He wants to in Fences.

 

3. Colin Farrell in The Lobster

Colin Farrell is a deadpan, comic delight in The Lobster, Yorgos Lanthimos surreal, disturbing satire about, well, I’m still wrapping my head around that. From his first scene – checking into a hotel where if he doesn’t find a mate in a month he’ll be turned into an animal of his choosing, Farrell is barely off-screen for the next two hours – and he is wonderful in every scene. His character has to bury his emotions – but one of the reasons why the performance works so well, is that somehow Farrell still makes sure the audience still knows he has them. Farrell has always been a great actor, although he hasn’t really gotten the credit he deserves often. Here, he delivers his best performance to date (and still, he isn’t getting credit). He’ll get it someday.

 

2. Adam Driver in Paterson

In a year of great, quiet leading actor performances, Driver’s still stands out for how quiet and still it is. As the title character, a bus driver in Paterson New Jersey, who takes comfort in his routine and his poetry. He likes to listen in on his customers – he finds them amusing. He loves his wife, who has a lot of crazy ambitions that he supports – and she supports him as well. Driver does an excellent job at showing how the minor fluctuations in his routine – a potential act of violence, a bus breakdown – get to him underneath, even if he acts appropriately on the surface. Driver has been doing great work for years now – and Star Wars has made him a huge star – but one hopes he continues to do work like this, for filmmakers like Jim Jarmusch. It is a perfect combination of actor and director – and is one of the great performances of the year.

 

1. Casey Affleck in Manchester by the Sea

Casey Affleck’s performance in Manchester by the Sea joins the ranks of the greatest screen performances of the decade so far. It is a truly remarkable performance, restrained, subtle, emotional, and heartbreaking. He plays a man who is pretty much completely broken when the movie begins – although we do not yet know why. He is alone, out of choice, and lashes out in violence, or else simply wants to be left alone. During the course of the movie we will both discover what actions of his ended up breaking him – and see him slowly, ever so subtly, come out it just a little bit. Affleck has been a great actor for a while now – although he seems selective about what work he does. In Manchester by the Sea, he delivers his best performance to date. The film finds a few moments of humor throughout – which Affleck delivers in the same quiet way as everything else. His two biggest scenes are both quiet as well – a conversation with his ex-wife, which he tells her there is “nothing there”, and finally, in what is the line reading of the year for me – when he tells his nephew “I just can’t beat it” – which is as close as he comes to a breakdown. We’re lucky to get a few performances this good in a decade.

2016 Year in Review: Best Supporting Actor

When I fell in love with the movies – in the mid ‘90s – it seemed like Supporting Actor was often the strongest acting category – and 2016 is the first time in years where I could argue that was true (the ridiculously strong Best Actress lineup is the only reason this isn’t a cakewalk. Of the many performances that could have made the top 10 that I didn’t have room for, here are a few: Ralph Fiennes in A Bigger Splash goes big, early and often, and gives the movie a real jolt of energy it really needs. Michael C. Hall in Christine starts the movie looking and seeming like a Ken Doll – then ends up being a perfect embodiment of 1970s new age chauvinism. Woody Harrelson in The Edge of Seventeen is wonderful as the history teacher the main character bonds with – trading barbs with the best of them, before revealing his humanity. Stephen McKinley Henderson in Fences delivers a subtle performance of quiet humanity – a necessary counterpart to the fireworks of Denzel and Viola. R. Hibbert & Ashton Sanders & Trevante Rhodes in Moonlight combine to create one great character through years – I cannot pick out one to highlight – because they’re all so good – showing the small and large evolutions through the years. Andre Holland in Moonlight has complete and effortless charm in the final segment of the film. Lucas Hedges in Manchester by the Sea performs admirably for the newcomer tasked with trying to keep up with the best performance of the year by Casey Affleck – and finding the right dose of humor to balance the tragedy. Yosuke Kubozuka in Silence is excellent, as essentially a pathetic, Judas figure in the film. Shia LaBeouf in American Honey shows, again, why he’s an interesting performer – here as a mass of contradictions that at times we love and at times we hate, right along with the main character. Tracy Letts in Christine is wonderful as Christine’s boss – who is both understandably frustrated with her, and also a complete misogynistic prick. Jack Reynor in Sing Street delivers the truly great performance in this British charmer – as the older brother who has already given up on his life, but won’t give up on his brother. Nick Serino in Sleeping Giant is great in this Canadian indie – as the most reckless of three boys, doing stupid things on summer vacation. Patrick Stewart in Green Room gives a subdued performance as the leader of the neo-Nazi group holding a band hostage – not sympathetic, but tired, and just wanting to give everything over with, which somehow makes it more chilling. Aaron Taylor-Johnson in Nocturnal Animals is a memorably sleazy, evil bad guy – and finally delivers on his earlier promise.

10. Tom Bennett in Love & Friendship

Tom Bennett has only a few scenes in Love & Friendship – but you aren’t going to forget his performance, which is arguably the funniest of the year. He plays Sir James Martin, and he’s a clueless idiot – but he’s such an amusing, harmless and downright funny idiot that you’ll love him every time he’s onscreen –and the rest of the cast puts up with him because he’s rich and has a title – and in Jane Austen England, that’s all you need, right? Every time Bennett walks onscreen, he steals whatever scene he’s in – blathering on about whatever inane topic enters his mind. I could watch a whole movie of him doing it – but his few scenes are a highlight.

 

9. Stephan Lang in Don’t Breathe

If you want to see physical acting at its finest, then watch Stephan Lang as the Blind Man in Don’t Breathe. He doesn’t say very much for a long time in the movie – he just walks around in the dark, on the warpath to kill the three young people who have invaded his house (although he is still – somehow – the bad guy, even before he proves just how bad he is). He is terrifying in those early scene as he stalks his prey through the house he knows so well. When he does speak – and reveals just how, well, crazy he has gone, Lang becomes one of the year’s most memorable and vile villains. Lang has been a fine character actor for a long time – and this is one of the highlights of his career.

 

8. John Goodman in 10 Cloverfield Lane

You’d be hard pressed to find a better character actor in American movies over the past 25 years than John Goodman – who has worked with practically everyone, and can always be counted on to deliver a fine performance in any role, large or small. His work in 10 Cloverfield Lane is some of the best of his career. In the film, he plays a man who may, or may, be right about a cataclysmic event that has destroyed America – which made him taking Mary Elizabeth Winstead to his underground bunker an act of charity, not kidnapping. Either way, he’s also clearly unhinged, and throughout the film, his paranoia swings from harmless to terrifying, before the intense final scenes with him. This isn’t the first time Goodman has been asked to play someone possibly unhinged and dangerous – but Goodman does find some new notes here, making him a dangerously unpredictable presence. A great performance by a great actor, who continues to do fine work in every film he makes.

 

7. Ben Foster in Hell or High Water

Ben Foster seems to be on his way to becoming the next Christopher Walken or Nicolas Cage – those kind of strange, one-of-a-kind actors, who can either overact brilliantly, or overact horribly – with an occasional subtle performance to throw you off. In Hell or High Water, Foster is the least subtle character in a movie that is mainly about subtly – and needs the kick in the rear Foster gives it occasionally. As the more reckless brother – the one with nothing to lose – Foster rips in his role as a bank robber, who having fun, mainly because he’s finally going to be of service to someone in his family. Foster has been a talented actor for quite some time now, just looking for directors who know how to use properly. Hell or High Water is an example of how to use him perfectly.

 

6. Tracy Letts in Indignation

Playwright/actor Letts had a great year in front of the camera – as the asshole father in Todd Solondz’ Wiener Dog, as the chauvinist boss in Antonio Campos’ Christine were also terrific – but his best work was as Dean Cauldwell in James Schamus’ adaptation of Philip Roth’s Indignation. As the “Dean of Men”, who calls in the hero for a “talk”, Letts is merciless, yet infuriatingly calm. You can see how he pushes every button on the films hero, without ever raising his voice or being outwardly disrespectful – it’s a masterful dismantling, and every time Letts return after that set piece (that takes up a good 20 minutes in the middle of the movie) he grows more intimidating. Letts has had a great career on stage already – and I’m happy he’s finally getting the film work that allows us to see what a tremendous actor he really is.

 

5. Michael Shannon in Nocturnal Animals

Michael Shannon knows he is playing a caricature of a Southern lawman in Nocturnal Animals – remember his character in the story within the story (double fictional), and in many ways, it’s Shannon total embrace of the clichés of the character, that makes the character work as well as it does (and helps to upend those clichés). Shannon, who I think would get my vote for best actor working right now, embraces his role as Bobby Seale – a the lawman hell-bent on getting justice – or at least revenge – on behalf of the main character, whose wife and daughter are murdered. There are many great moments in Shannon’s performance – for his first few moments, when he gives Gyllenhaal a priceless look to let him know how badly he thinks Gyllenhaal fucked up – right up to the finale. There is nothing I wouldn’t gladly watch Shannon do – and his work here joins his work in 99 Homes, Bug, World Trade Center, Midnight Special and Take Shelter – among many others – as proof as to why right now, no one is doing it better than Shannon.

 

4. Jeff Bridges in Hell or High Water

Casting Jeff Bridges as a Texas lawman, on the edge of retirement, is just about the most obvious casting decision you can make – and for Hell or High Water, it paid huge dividends. Bridges, who easily could have slapped on a cowboy hat and sleepwalked through the film and been fine, ends up delivering one of his very best performances. He’s a Texas Ranger, not quite ready to hang it up just yet – he’s got one case left in him, and while he jokes with his partner along the way, he also shows just how good and observant he really is. He shines throughout the film – nowhere more so than in the closing scenes – first his reaction that turns from jubilation to tears in a heartbeat, then his final confrontation – a tense standoff where he sizes up the competition, is great. Bridges has been one of our best actors for decades –and he keeps showing us why.

 

3. Issei Ogata in Silence

As the Inquisitor in Silence, Ogata delivers what may be the film’s finest performance. It’s a performance that starts out almost comedically – we’ve heard so much about the brutality of this character, and he comes on, and we do not know who he is, but he seems like a harmless old man. As the film progresses though his intelligence and thoughtfulness comes through – as does his quick wit, and capacity for both cruelty and benevolence. That are a lot of great roles for the Japanese actors in Silence – but Ogata outshines them all with his whip smart performance. The veteran character actor is getting his highest profile international role of his career – and he’s making the most of it. A great, towering performances.

 

2. Alden Ehrenreich in Hail, Caesar!

If there was a true, star-making performance this year, it was Alden Ehrenreich’s turn in the Coen Brothers Hail, Caesar! He started the year as a vaguely familiar face – but after his terrific work here, he ends up as the new Han Solo. It’s hard to imagine, no matter how good a Han Solo he makes, that it will be a better performance than what he gives here – as Hobie Doyle – a cowboy stuntman, turned movie star, who cannot really act, but dammit, he ran ride a horse and shoot a gun, and play with a lasso. For a while, it looks like Hobie is another in a long line of classic Coen dunces – and he plays that brilliantly (Would that it were so simple) – but he ends up being just about the smartest guy in the movie – and, yes, that means something. Ehrenreich is hilarious here, but his performance is more than that. It’s pure joy to behold, subtle, funny and heartfelt. The kid’s a star.

 

1. Mahershala Ali in Moonlight

There is something really understated and beautiful about Ali’s performance in Moonlight. You could write him off as a cliché – the drug-dealer-with-a-heart-of-gold (a version of the hooker-with-a-heart-of-gold) – but that would be doing a disservice to his work here. In the film, Ali plays Juan – a crack dealer, yes, but one who when he finds a scared young boy in a crack house, he takes him home and takes care of him, before he can get him home. The two have a tender relationship – its Juan the kid comes to when he wants to know what a “fag” is – and Ali’s performance in his response is perfect – as it is in a baptism of kinds in the water. The best moment maybe one that is left unresolved – when the kid realizes that Juan sells the crack that his mother is addicted to. For those who have watched House of Cards – among others – you already know Ali is a terrific actor, but his work on Moonlight should be the role that takes his career to the next level.

2016 Year End Report: Supporting Actress

Best Supporting Actress

I’m not sure that was a truly great year for this category – despite the number of really strong performances, there, I do think this is one of those years where the top few performances are so much stronger than everything else, it looks weaker than it actually is. Still, some performances I did not have room on my top 10, but were great nonetheless include: Olivia Colman in The Lobster as the Hotel Manager, cheerfully heartless, as she explains and enforces the rules to everyone. Laura Dern/Michelle Williams/Kristen Stewart in Certain Women are all competing for second best performance in the films – but each help to anchor their segments, with sensitive, subtle performances. Paulina Garcia in Little Men who is, sorry, quite clearly wrong in the movie, yet understandable and sympathetic – even when she is being cruel. Greta Gerwig in 20^th Century Women adds another lovable, eccentric young woman to her resume – this one with a little more heft than some of her others. Kate Mackinnon in Ghostbusters who was almost like an alien in her own movie – one that I enjoyed much more than the one I watched (and I liked the film). Janelle Monae in Moonlight/Hidden Figures is so empathetic in Moonlight – she’s the friend the main character needed at that time and so much fun in Hidden Figures that she steals the film. Imogen Poots in Green Room is the film’s most enigmatic character – she’s in the same position as the bad, but not part of them – another solid performance in a growing resume. Margot Robbie in Suicide Squad seemed to ignore the fact that movie and screenplay were horrible, and just go for broke – it worked. Kristen Stewart in Café Society delivers a rich, complex performance, even if the character wasn’t wholly there on the page. Kim Tae-ri in The Handmaiden is wonderful when she thinks she is the smartest person in the room – and great later, when it’s clear she isn’t. Rachel Weisz in The Lobster makes an interesting love interest for the main character – making us see exactly why he does what he does for her (and or, perhaps, doesn’t).

  

10. Dakota Johnson in A Bigger Splash

I really do hope that Dakota Johnson survives the 50 Shades of Grey franchise, because as she shows in A Bigger Splash, there is a great actress lurking inside her. In the film, she plays the young daughter of Ralph Fiennes – who spends most of the movie coming on to pretty much everyone in the cast (including her dad – who she barely knows) – as if everything is just a game. She says she’s 22, but she comes across more like a teenager playacting what they believe adults are like, instead of an actual adult. This role allows her to be funny, sexy, and flirtatious – and show more facets of her than 50 Shades of Grey ever will (even if she was far and away the best part of that film). There is a wonderful actress in Dakota Johnson – I hope she gets more of a chance to show it.

 

9. Kirsten Dunst in Midnight Special

I for one couldn’t be happier than Kirsten Dunst is experiencing a kind of career renaissance in 2016 – her excellent turn on Fargo season 2 is perhaps the best work of her career, but I feel that more people really should have been paying attention to her other great performance this year, in Jeff Nichols Midnight Special. In the film, she plays the mother of the special child at the heart of the movie – she shows up about half way through, and delivers a sensitive, subtle performance. She plays a mother who loves her child more than anything – and is willing to sacrifice for him, but could not stay in the compound where he was being exploited. Their strained bond, which heals throughout the movie, is one of the highlights of a thought provoking film. Dunst has always been a fine actress – and I hope she continues to get more great roles like this.

 

8. Sarah Gadon in Indignation

Sarah Gadon’s role in Indignation is a very tricky one – she plays a troubled young woman, in 1950s Ohio, who has had a history of mental health issues, resulting in a suicide attempt the year earlier. In the film, like the Philip Roth novel it is based upon, her character is seen through the eyes of the main character – a neurotic young man, who obsesses over why she gave him a blow job on their first date, and what that says about her – but is never quite able to see her clearly, because he cannot see her as anything other than in relation to him. This makes the character somewhat mysterious – but it’s hard to play an enigma, and Gadon doesn’t try. What she does is suggest all the depths of her character so that the audience sees them, even if the main character never does –and does it all so subtly, you never catch her at it. She’s been doing solid work in her (and my) home country of Canada for years now (for David Cronenberg among others) – and it’s nice to see her continue to break out.

 

7. Jena Malone in The Neon Demon

There is no shortage of weirdness on Nicolas Winding Refn’s The Neon Demon – but nothing in it can top Jena Malone – who fully commits to her role as a makeup designer who befriends Elle Fanning – but wants something more from her (as do everyone in the film). Malone has always been a strange, rather daring actress – unafraid to go to some dark places. In The Neon Demon there’s a lot for her to do – being the seemingly kindly mentor at first – the main characters conduit to this dark world, and then she slowly reveals who she is. Can I 100% explain why Malone ends up having sex with a corpse in the movie? No, I cannot – but I can tell you she fully, completely commits to that scene – as she does to later, bloodier scenes as well. As long as Malone continues to be the most interesting person in nearly every movie she’s in, I’ll continue being a fan.

 

6. Maria Dizzia in Christine

In the months since I’ve seen Christine, Dizzia’s performance has continued to haunt me. When we first meet her Jean, she seems like the ever loyal underling to Rebecca Hall’s title character – helping her do her segments, edit, etc. Yet, there is a darker undercurrent to her chipper demeanor – she’s putting on an act for everyone in the office, subtly undermining Christine, while under the guise of helpfulness. This is the kind of quiet, understated performance that gets lost in awards season – and to be fair, I probably wouldn’t remember it as well as I did, were it not for the mesmerizing, brilliant and disturbing final scene of the film, which is all Dizzia, and is perhaps by favorite final scene of the year. A great performance by a fine character actress.

 

5. Riley Keough in American Honey

Keogh has been kicking around for a few years now, doing interesting work in a variety of roles, but her performance in American Honey really should be her big breakthrough. Here, she plays Krystal, the leader of the roaming group of travelling magazine salespeople, who are all teenagers. She inspires loyalty through a mixture of alcohol, fear, cruelty and encouragement. The way she intimidates Sasha Lane’s character – answering the door naked – is wonderfully passive aggressive – and throughout she does a great job of articulating a pitch that only people like this would buy.

 

4. Naomie Harris in Moonlight

Naomie Harris delivers a wonderful performance in Moonlight – as the main characters crack addict mother. It isn’t always to find new notes to play in addict roles – they are often the same – but Harris does that. In the first segment, she is a woman who truly does love her son – and want what’s best for him. The drugs have not fully taken hold yet – but they start to. In the second, she is in the throes of her addiction – she loves Chiron, sure, but she needs the drugs more than she does him – and isn’t above guilting him into doing what she wants. In the final section, she’s seen only briefly – trying to put her life back together, knowing she has failed her son – but still wanting to help him. Harris has been doing stellar work for years now – I loved her in Skyfall and 28 Days Later in particular – but this is her best work to date. It’s raw and emotional, comfortable in the more realistic moments, and stylistic ones as well. Harris has always been good – here she is truly great.

 

3. Viola Davis in Fences

Denzel has the showiest role in Fences, but Viola Davis gives the finest performance in the film – the one that requires the most depth and range of emotions – from the seemingly contented woman in the first act, laughing and joking with her man, mothering all the men in the movie in various ways. As the film progresses, and her world is upended, Davis goes from hurt to anger, to finally acceptance and love again. No one cries on screen better than Davis – a skill she shows off well here. But her righteous anger is mesmerizing – whether it’s loud – yelling as Washington about how she has given up her dreams for him, or quietly bone chilling (“You are a womanless man” would be the line reading of the year in most years). Davis has been a great actress for a long time – owning most of the movies she appears in, no matter how small her role (this year, she was one of the only decent things in Suicide Squad). This may be her crowning achievement.

 

2. Lily Gladstone in Certain Women

Newcomer Gladstone delivers the best performance in a film full of wonderful, veteran actress (Laura Dern, Michelle Williams, and her scene partner, Kristen Stewart). She plays Jamie, a rancher who spends most of her day alone, with only animals as company. At night, she heads to town, and wanders into a class about school law – a subject she has no use for – and yet, she cannot help but be drawn to the teacher – Kristen Stewart. Their low-key conversations at the end of each class at the local diner, are the highlight of her life – and when Stewart doesn’t show for class one night, she goes on a long drive to Stewart’s hometown to find her. Gladstone’s performance is quiet – she barely speaks, even when she isn’t onscreen by herself, and subtly heartbreaking. She plays a lonely woman, who believes she has made a connection – the end result, as she drives home, alone again, is an extended shot of Gladstone, where she doesn’t speak, but utterly breaks your heart. A brilliant, low-key performance by an actress whose career should be bright.

 

1. Michelle Williams in Manchester by the Sea

Williams has long since established herself as one of the best actresses in the world – with brilliant work in Brokeback Mountain, Shutter Island, Blue Valentine, My Week with Marilyn, Wendy & Lucy, Take This Waltz among many others. Even by her lofty standards, her work in Manchester by the Sea is something truly special. As Casey Affleck’s ex-wife, Williams is truly exceptional. Her early flashback scenes seem rather ordinary – a working class wife role – the type you would think you didn’t need an actress of her skills to do. But once we know the secret of the movie, and we see Williams again in the present, she is heartbreaking. In the single best scene of the year, she and Affleck meet by chance on the street, and she tries to talk to him – he’s unable to hear it, unable to accept it. Affleck is great in that scene to be sure – but Williams is equally stunning. Williams should already have at least one Oscar by now – hopefully this performance will bring her first.

2016 Year-End Report: Ensemble Cast

I still that Best Ensemble Cast should be an Oscar category – in particular because the best ensembles are often ones where you cannot pick out just one or two performances for individual nominations. This year hardly lacked from great ensemble work – including the following films I didn’t have room for on the top 10: A Bigger Splash is an excellent four-hander, no matter two characters are together at any point are great – and things get better when they’re all together. Christine is anchored by a great Rebecca Hall performance, but the entire ensemble is terrific, helping to create that oppressive atmosphere that crushes her. Elle is another film built on a remarkable lead performance – this one by Isabelle Huppert – but without the strong cast of (mostly) men, who are various degrees of cruel and clueless, Huppert’s work wouldn’t have quite the same impact. Everybody Wants Some!! does not have a standout performance – but like all of Linklater’s work is pretty much perfectly cast all the way around. Indignation has a wonderful series of two handed scenes in which everyone is great – even if it’s not quite an ensemble. Jackie is anchored by Natalie Portman, but the rest of the cast effortlessly slip into their famous roles. Little Men has an excellent ensemble of adults, and children, creating a world in which everyone is understandable, even when they are at odds. Love & Friendship like all Whit Stillman films, has a wonderful ensemble, perfectly cast in his Jane Austen adaptation. Loving has two excellent leads – in Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga, but the rest of the cast is excellent as well, even if they only have a scene or two. Midnight Special has a cast who ground a strange, sci-fi story in a believable, Middle America – not an easy thing to do. The Neon Demon needs a cast completely willing to do over the top and look silly – and because Winding Refn got that, the film works. Nocturnal Animals has two great leads in Jake Gyllenhaal and Amy Adams, each anchoring a very different movie, and a standout supporting turn by Michael Shannon – but also has cast even the smallest roles with wonderful stars (like Laura Linney), which certainly prevents the film from being all style. Paterson finds such interesting people to fill the many small roles around Adam Driver. Sleeping Giant has a cast of unknowns and non-professionals, but all wonderfully natural and work well together. 20^th Century Women has a cast that has a very easy chemistry – perfect for the makeshift family in the film. Wiener-Dog sees Todd Solondz return to form – and a large part of that is having a cast get on his very strange wavelength. The Witch really does feel like a hugely dysfunctional family – just one beset by a witch in the 1600s. Zootopia has the best vocal cast of the year – all of whom are providing a good spin on their characters.

 

10. American Honey - Sasha Lane, Shia LaBeouf, Riley Keough, McCaul Lombardi, Arielle Holmes, Crystal Ice, Veronica Ezell, Chad Cox, Garry Howell, Kenneth Kory Tucker, Raymond Coalson, Isaiah Stone, Dakota Powers, Shawna Rae Moseley, Chris Wright, Summer Hunsaker, Brody Hunsaker, Johnny Pierce II, Chasity Hunsaker, Michael Hunsaker, Kaylin Mally, Laura Kirk, Will Patton, Daran Shinn, Sam Williamson, Bruce Gregory.

The heart of the ensemble of American Honey is a star making performance by Sasha Lane – as the teenage girl trying to escape her economic situation by joining a travelling magazine selling operation. It’s a great performance – longing for freedom, but trading one trap for another, falling in love with a man who doesn’t love her back and making one bad decision after another. Other than her, there are two professional actors who are also brilliant – Shia LaBeouf as the man who recruits her, trains her and she falls for, despite how he behaves and Riley Keough, wonderful as the woman who runs the crew. The rest of the sprawling cast are non-professionally, who slip effortlessly into the film, and the ensemble, and make the film feel as authentic as it does. Yes, the three lead performances are great – but they aren’t the only great acting in the film (even if they may be the only ones who continue to act – apart from Arielle Holmes, following up her great debut in last year’s Heaven Knows What based on her life).

 

9. Green Room - Anton Yelchin, Patrick Stewart, Joe Cole

, Alia Shawkat, Callum Turner, Imogen Poots, David W. Thompson, Mark Webber, Macon Blair, Eric Edelstein, Brent Werzner, Taylor Tunes, Kai Lennox, Samuel Summer, Mason Knight, Colton Ruscheinsky.

Horror movie casts (if Green Room is a horror movie – there’s been some debate) never really get that much respect – usually because it’s just a bunch of really attractive young people screaming. While there is part of that in Green Room as well – the fear that the bad (including Anton Yelchin and Alia Shawkat) feel while trapped in that room is real. Imogen Poots, as a girl who already there, brings an interesting, ambiguous element to the film (she’s certainly seen some shit even before she got there). But the strange humanity extends to the major neo-Nazi characters as well – Patrick Stewart seems more tired than anything, Macon Blair just wants to fit in, etc. This is a great ensemble, because while they work together brilliantly, they have subtle, individual moments that really bring the film together brilliantly.

 

8. Silence - Andrew Garfield, Adam Driver, Liam Neeson, Tadanobu Asano, Issei Ogata, Shin'ya Tsukamoto, Yoshi Oida, Yôsuke Kubozuka, Ciarán Hinds, Kaoru Endô.

Andrew Garfield is exceptional in the lead role of Martin Scorsese’s latest film- morally conflicted, who ends up going from confident to destroyed throughout the film. Adam Driver and Liam Neeson – as two other priests – are also very good in the film. Yet, the reason the film is one of the list is the excellent work of the Japanese cast – Issei Ogata as the Inquisitor, wise, cruel, funny and calm – Yosuke Kubozuka as a drunken, Judas like character, who somehow keeps skirting justice, Shin’ya Tsukamoto and Yoshi Oida as perhaps the two most devout people in the movie and Tadanobu Asano as the Interpreter, who knows precisely how things will go. Together, they give a complex portrait of the Japanese in the film at this time – both good and bad. Scorsese always gets great performances out of his cast – and Silence is no different.

 

7. Fences – Denzel Washington, Viola Davis, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Jovan Adepo, Russell Hornsby,

Mykelti Williamson, Saniyya Sidney.

You can certainly argue about if, as a director, Denzel Washington didn’t do enough to make this adaptation of August Wilson’s play cinematic or not – but what you cannot argue is that Washington gets terrific performances out of himself, and the entire cast. Washington himself has the big, show-offy role – the patriarch of the family, who dooms himself with his actions – and it’s a performance where Washington revels in every big, beautiful moment. Viola Davis, as his wife, is even better – trying to be happy in the earlier scenes, and then even when her word crumbles, she does her best to keep it together, while revealing some large truths. The rest of the cast all have their moments. The best supporting role is Stephen McKinley Henderson, as Washington’s friend and co-worker – a seemingly happy-go-lucky guy, who sees much more than he lets on. So yes, you can argue that Washington should have done more to “open up” the play (you’d be wrong, but you could argue it) – but I don’t see how you could argue with these performances.

 

6. Hail, Caesar! - Josh Brolin, George Clooney, Alden Ehrenreich, Ralph Fiennes, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand, Channing Tatum, Jonah Hill, Veronica Osorio, Heather Goldenhersh, Max Baker, Fisher Stevens, David Krumholtz, John Bluthal, Alex Karpovsky, Aramazd Stepanian, Allan Havey, Robert Pike Daniel, Ian Blackman, Geoffrey Cantor, Christopher Lambert.

I’m not sure there is another director (perhaps Wes Anderson), who have a style as specific as the Coen Brothers do, that still manage to find the perfect cast every time out. Hail, Caesar is anchored by a great performance by Josh Brolin – in a Christ-figure like role, and he’s terrific. But there is a lot of great supporting work – George Clooney adds another great Coen idiot to his resume, Ralph Fiennes has the single funniest scene of the year, Scarlett Johansson, Tilda Swinton, Frances McDormand, Jonah Hill  and Channing Tatum all basically show up for a scene or two, and are brilliant. No one is better than Alden Ehrenreich, a charming idiot, who isn’t nearly as dumb as he first appears (and, of course, is Fiennes scene partner in the hilarious scene). The Coens cast better than anyone – Hail, Caesar! Is just more proof of that.

 

5. Certain Women – Laura Dern, Michelle Williams, Kristen Stewart, Lily Gladstone, Jared Harris, James LeGros, Rene Auberjonis.

The films of Kelly Reichardt are so quiet, so delicate that a single wrong performance can throw the whole movie out of whack. Luckily for us, she is an expert at casting – and does an excellent job of bringing together her cast, for her three short stories here. Laura Dern anchors the first part, as a competent lawyer, used to having to work harder against the casual misogyny around – and Jared Harris is equally good as her client, a seemingly nice guy, who perhaps isn’t. Michelle Williams anchors the second part, as a woman who wants to build a new house, using old materials – even as her marriage crumbles. The third, and best part, has a great performance by Kristen Stewart – as a young lawyer, who travels hours each way to teach a class, and an even better one by Lily Gladstone, as a rancher who becomes infatuated with her. Certain Women is a small movie – a quiet movie, a subtle movie. In order for it to work, Reichardt and her cast all have to be perfect – the fact that they are, makes this easily one of the best ensembles of the year.

 

4. Hell or High Water - Chris Pine, Ben Foster, Jeff Bridges, Gil Birmingham, Katy Mixon, Dale Dickey, Christopher W. Garcia, Kevin Rankin, Melanie Papalia.

Often, it doesn’t work when big time movie stars try and play normal people – especially normal, rural people from Texas, as they lean into the accent too much, and end up sounding and acting like Cletus the Slack Jawed Yokel. No so with the excellent cast of Hell or High Water – who do it effortlessly. We know that Jeff Bridges could have done his role – as the aging Texas lawman on one more case before retirement, in his sleep, but he brings his effortless charm out wonderfully. His scene partner – Gil Birmingham – is a great foil for him. On the other side of the law, Ben Foster continues his string of wonderfully weird performances, and Chris Pine grounds the whole movie with the best work of his career. There’s a lot of great work in smaller roles as well – especially two waitress, you will never forget.

 

3. Manchester by the Sea - Casey Affleck, Michelle Williams, Kyle Chandler, Lucas

Hedges, Liam McNeill, C.J. Wilson, Heather Burns, Tate Donovan, Matthew Broderick, Gretchen Mol.

It’s always a little hard to evaluate the ensemble cast of a movie that is so dominated by one powerhouse performance. For Manchester by the Sea, that performance is by Casey Affleck as a grieving janitor, forced to return to his hometown – the last place he wants to be. It’s one of the greatest performance you will ever see – and it does dominate the film. That doesn’t mean there isn’t great work elsewhere – Michelle Williams is also getting deserved kudos for her work as Affleck’s former wife (it one of the best performances in a stellar career) – newcomer Lucas Hedges shares much of the screen time with Affleck, and does a great job. Smaller roles are well filled by Kyle Chandler, Matthew Broderick and Gretchen Mol. Yes, Affleck and Williams dominate the film – and deserve all the awards they win – but there’s a genuine ensemble here as well.

 

2. The Lobster - Colin Farrell, Rachel Weisz, Ben Whishaw, Léa Seydoux, John C. Reilly, Olivia Colman, Angeliki Papoulia, Jessica Barden, Ashley Jensen, Ariane Labed, Garry Mountaine, Laoise Murphy, EmmaEdel O'Shea.

I’m honestly not sure there was an ensemble cast with a more difficult job this year than that of Yorgos Lanthimos’ The Lobster. The film is a brilliant, deadpan comedy/satire, that requires very specific performances out of its cast – if they go broad, the effect is ruined, if they go too deadpan, they come across as dull eyed and boring. But the cast of The Lobster nails their tricky roles – playing people who are truly are really happy to be controlled in the way they are, or at least skilled at pretending they are (and letting the audience know, who is who). The best performance is by Colin Farrell, the sad eyed man who wants to belong, but perhaps never will. The best working in the supporting cast is done mostly by those with the smaller roles – Olivia Colman as the overly chipper Hotel Manager, Ashley Jensen, as a sad woman eating cracker and Angeliki Papoulia as the appropriately named Heartless Woman. Acting awards often go to people doing big, emotional performances – the ones in The Lobster are not that, but they’re every bit as good.

 

1. Moonlight - Alex R. Hibbert, Ashton Sanders, Trevante Rhodes, Mahershala Ali, Naomie Harris, Janelle

Monáe, André Holland, Jharrel Jerome, Jaden Piner, Patrick Decile.

2016 really was a great year for ensemble casts – and yet, even in one as strong as this, the cast of Moonlight stands out as something rather special. Barry Jenkins found three, virtually unknown actors to play his central character at three different intervals, 10 years apart. What’s remarkable about the work of Hibbert, Sanders and Rhodes in those roles is how similar the character remains in each segment, while still allowing for growth and change. The supporting cast slides in nicely alongside them – Mahershala Ali is great as the only male mentor in his life – a nice guy, but also not the best role model despite how he tries, Naomie Harris shows up in all three segments as the main characters drug addicted mom, and delivers a blistering performance. I also dearly love Andre Holland as the one character who truly seems to listen to the main character, and has the ability to break through to him, and Janelle Monae, brilliant as his substitute mother. Jenkins goes for a very specific type of vibe and tone in Moonlight – and each other these actors gets it just about perfectly. Easily the best ensemble cast of the year.