Sunday
21Dec2008
The Big Picture's Top Ten Performances of 2008
Sunday, December 21, 2008 at 4:03PM
Our year in review continues at The Big Picture with a
look at some of the best and most memorable performances of 2008. Even though we
saw fewer future classics emerge this year than last year, there were many
performances that stood out, some of which powered their films and some of which
were actually better than everything else around them. 
Colin Farrell - In Bruges
Angelina Jolie - Changeling
Viola Davis - Doubt
Rosemarie DeWitt - Rachel Getting Married
Kate Winslet - The Reader
1 - Heath Ledger - The Dark Knight
We don't often get the opportunity to weigh one landmark performance against another signature performance in the same role. With The Joker, it was generally acknowledged that Jack Nicholson had the final word on that character, the greatest villain in comic book history and one of the very best in literature.
It's not enough to say Ledger's portrayal will win the Oscar and is responsible for many millions of dollars The Dark Knight made this year. It takes away from the work on-screen to discuss the actor's untimely death. From beginning to end, Ledger played The Joker bravely and on the edge, almost unconsciously or instinctively, exactly the way the character should be in Christopher Nolan's Gotham City.
2 - Frank Langella - Frost/Nixon
The year's second great portrayal of a villain is Frank Langella as Richard Nixon. The genius of it - much of which is owed to Peter Morgan's script - is that Nixon doesn't think he's a villain, and Langella doesn't play him as a villain.
But Langella also can't make Nixon too much of a victim of his own circumstance, a notion he dispenses us of with a volacanic monologue at the end of the film's second act, and again through the final interview with David Frost.
It's a tough thing to play a President, especially one about whom there is so much written, most of it not sermons of praise. To find the man underneath all of those opinions and behind the easily mimicked speech is Langella's great accomplishment here.
3 - Robert Downey, Jr. - Tropic Thunder
In a great year for Robert Downey, it is his work in Tropic Thunder that sticks with me the most. Iron Man - or at least Tony Stark - bore resemblances to characters Downey has played in the past, smirking, sarcastic, too cool for the room. It was great and a lot of fun, but it was definitely not the stretch Kirk Lazarus was.
It should also be pointed out that since Osiris is not a comedic character (and neither is the all-too-serious Lazarus), that makes the laughs Downey get that much more impressive. In a role that would backfire for a good 90% of the actors in Hollywood, Robert Downey, Jr. proved again why he deserves more and better work.
4 - Richard Jenkins - The Visitor
If there's a performance on this list nobody saw coming, it would be Richard Jenkins in The Visitor. One of the more venerable supporting character actors around, Jenkins had found a established a very profitable and productive niche for himself. And most working actors would be thrilled with that.
The film itself is a bit slow, and despite the new and different storyline and assimilation of multiple cultures into one script, The Visitor would not be what it is without Jenkins. Vale is instantly compassionate, a thirsty teacher-turned-student, and he earns our empathy not through the situations that transpire but through an innate goodness that Jenkins never has to verbalize and McCarthy never needs to test.
5 - Meryl Streep - Doubt
She is the greatest and most celebrated actor of her generation. She has more Oscar nominations than any other on-screen performer. She also has more Oscar losses than anyone else. Meryl Streep won her last Academy Award 26 years ago, and she's due her third as Sister Aloysius in Doubt.
There are delicate touches, too, like her accent and the way she shifts her flowing robe, her stiff walk helping direct her intentions, but those come after the fact. Streep creates Sister Aloysius' thoughts, feelings, and emotions fully and completely before looking at her landscape.
6 - Mickey Rourke - The Wrestler
You could draw parallels between the careers of Mickey Rourke and Randy "The Ram" Robinson in The Wrestler. Though Rourke has enjoyed a minor upward trend over the last few years, thanks to performances like Sin City, both the actor and the professional wrestler were at that point in their professions where younger workers are on their ways up, and Rourke/Robinson, having been given more than a couple chances, had begun to fade away into our memories.
He will get his nomination for The Wrestler, of that I'm fairly certain. Can he win? Can the industry forgive him squandering his glory days? It's happened before. And you could certainly argue that he deserves it.
7 - Sally Hawkins - Happy-Go-Lucky
How do you act when there is no script? Mike Leigh prefers to have concepts about scenes and where they'll lead, but he leaves the real work to his casts. Imelda Staunton and Brenda Blethyn have received nominations working this way with Leigh, and Sally Hawkins should, too.
I mentioned in my review that Poppy is the kind of character we don't see very much in American films. She's the quirky best friend in romantic comedies, the parts that used to go to Zooey Deschanel and Judy Greer and now find their way to Lizzy Caplan. But those characters have their own stories, too. Here's your proof.
8 - Sean Penn - Milk
We expect as much out of Sean Penn. You hear he's playing this role or that role, and you form an opinion about what he's going to be able to do. Most people never gave him the credit for Jeff Spicoli until after they saw Penn in Carlito's Way.
As Harvey Milk, Penn has to embody something he isn't. I suspect if you "play" gay the way you'd "play" black in Robert Downey Jr.'s case, it would be obvious and embarrassing. Seriously, watch Robin Williams attempt to do either in his stand-up. Penn makes Milk's homosexuality almost an afterthought, even though we're surrounding by the gay rights movement and his own relationships throughout the film. Very quickly, he's not "playing" gay, he's playing Harvey Milk. There's the difference.
9 - Dev Patel - Slumdog Millionaire
It's not impossible to have a great film without a great performance. United 93 has no single great performance, and I wouldn't consider my favorite film of all time, Rear Window, to be noteworthy because of its acting.
But Danny Boyle's film is in the situation it's in right now largely because we are so engaged by Dev Patel's mixture of strength and vulnerability as Jamal. He doesn't have a Nixon-esque monologue and he doesn't go for the theatrics of Heath Ledger or Meryl Streep, but he doesn't need to. He needs to feel completely differently than we feel when he hears his own story. We feel sorry for the conditions he's faced and root for him to finally catch a break. Jamal just wants one thing all along, and it's not money. Everything he's been through just leads him to this point, and he doesn't weigh them as good or bad.
10 - Mark Strong, Penelope Cruz, Ralph Fiennes
Is it a cop-out to not only have a three-way tie for tenth place but to make it a tie for seven performances? Maybe, but Mark Strong in Body of Lies and Rocknrolla, Penelope Cruz in Elegy and Vicky Cristina Barcelona, and Ralph Fiennes in In Bruges, The Duchess, and The Reader are inseparable from this year in review.
This year, all three of these actors have typified what I love to see: Do the work and let the rest take care of itself. It's wildly apparent when actors are trying (the best example might be Tom Cruise in The Last Samurai), and it ruins a movie. In a series of supporting roles, these three actors not only found ways to fit in naturally but to stand out because of it.
Of the individual performances, I'd say Strong's in Body of Lies is probably the one I connected to the most, followed by Fiennes' work in The Duchess and Cruz in Elegy. But there's not a bad performance among them, nor a bad film. Coincidence?
Honorable Mention:
Colin Farrell - In Bruges
Angelina Jolie - Changeling
Viola Davis - Doubt
Rosemarie DeWitt - Rachel Getting Married
Kate Winslet - The Reader
Reader Comments (6)
I'm sorry, but I thought Dev Patel was really awful. I really liked Slumdog Millionaire, but I thought the younger kids were better than the young adults by far!
Unfortunatly, I haven't been able to see most of these performances, but the ones I have, I certainly agree with. I agree that RD Jr. always brings great performances to the screan, it's great that he is back in action.
I know you only get ten, but I would also like to mention Melissa Leo for Frozen River. I think it's getting forgotten because of the earlier release of the movie.
I blame whichever studio is responsible for that film's distribution and subsequent awards push. Remarkably, it's one of the very few films we weren't sent on DVD at the end of the year, and it was only screened once for Phoenix critics at 10 in the morning somewhere off the beaten path. I couldn't make it, so I'm out of luck for Frozen River, I guess.
Heath Ledger's performance was superb, he definitely portrays joker in a whole different world than Jack Nicholas. Iron man star Robert Dowry Jr. makes a comical but yet believable character in Iron Man but "wow" in Tropic Thunder his portrayal of his character was great. There are many more movies coming out in December which certainly should get some attention (seven pounds, Revolutionary Road, The curious case of Benjamin).
Ok great picks Colin I must say once again I agree with some more than others...
I wont argue with what I would change but I'd like your thoughts on some people I think should have been included!
Anne Hathaway - Rachel Getting Married
Philip Seymour Hoffman - Synecdoche, NY & Doubt
Keira Knightly - The Duchess
Leonardo Dicaprio - Revolutionary Road
Were these not fantastic performances? I think so even though I have not seen Rachel Getting Married or Revolutionary Road yet but the buzz and subsequent Globe nod's do give me some clues.
Now I ask why Colin why did you leave these actors out? I would truly appreciate a brief explanation for each case if you have the time.... ???
I would also like to commend you on your what I like to call "BRAVE" choices and recognition of....
Viola Davis (EXTREMELY BRAVE CHOICE)
Mark Strong (VERY BRAVE)
Ralph Fiennes (not so brave choice)
Not many critics acknowledged such performances and you did so I do appreciate that gesture.
Viola & Mark are truly not utilized as much as they should be in Hollywood movies and I personally would love to see their stocks increase for 2009!
I didn't love Anne Hathaway. I thought it was a good performance for her, but not good enough on its own for our purposes.
Hoffman is usually great; he was the best thing about Charlie Wilson's War, and nobody ever talks about Owning Mahowny, which might be his best performance. In Doubt, I just thought he was booming. We saw Burton do that a lot when he got older. But volume doesn't mean anything. And while it's not a bad performance, I didn't find it to be anything too special. As for Synecdoche, I said in my review that I felt the entire film is out of context with itself, which makes it nearly impossible to judge the performances.
Knightley was better than ever, but again, relative to what? She'd probably make my top 25 this year, and she keeps getting better.
DiCaprio suffers from what I described about Hoffman in Doubt, only more so. That whole movie's just a goddamn screaming match, and frankly, I couldn't stand it. Hated those characters.