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| Reese Witherspoon, Anne Dorval, Michael Keaton, and Laura Dern give the best performances of 2014. |
While I expect a few slaps for excluding J.K. Simmons’s terrific performance from Whiplash from this list, please note that he gets an honourable mention and made my Best Supporting Actor ballot in the Criticwire poll, there are more performances to choose from than award season lets meet the eye, especially from the early half of the year. Please note that I have not yet had a chance to see some of the year’s acclaimed performances in Into the Woods (sorry, Meryl, but your annual monopoly on this list continues nevertheless!), Cake, and Foxcatcher, while Selma, Inherent Vice, and Mr. Turner open here in January and simply haven’t pre-screened here. Thank goodness they haven’t, since it was harder than usual to whittle lists down to ten performances, although the top spots on each list were the easiest picks of all.
The Best Lead Performances of 2014:
Here’s a friendly
reminder to Oscar voters: you may atone for the egregious omission of Mommy from the shortlist for Best
Foreign Language Film by nominating Anne Dorval’s tour-de-force performance for Best Actress. Her powerhouse feat of
raw emotion is one of the greatest performances this country has ever seen.
Dorval’s performance as Die, the titular mommy of Xavier Dolan’s masterful
film, displays astonishing range and commitment to character. From her sexy
strut to her vulgar gum-mashing to her explosive passion for her wayward son, Dorval’s
saucy performance is even louder than Dolan’s flamboyant visual style. She
gives both the boldest and biggest performance of the year, but the subtlety of
the mother’s pain is what makes the performance most effective as Die slowly
and reluctantly resigns herself to the fact that her son simply doesn’t know
how to let her love him. Dorval makes Die’s love for Steve so powerful, so
tangible, and so painfully honest that it’s impossible not to leave the film
affected by her performance. This third pairing of Dorval and Dolan is easily
their best in their five remarkable years of collaboration. Here’s to many
more!
Michael Keaton
resists likening his role of Riggan in Birdman
to his own career-trajectory, but it’s difficult to approach this satire about
a down-and-out action star making a comeback without seeing it as a personal
dramatic coup. Birdman is a comeback
for Keaton whether he’d like us to call it that or not. This bizarre,
fascinating, and ballsy performance redefines bravery simply because it puts so
much of Keaton’s own legacy and persona on the line as art and life blur
together in one outrageously original performance.
If anyone rivals
Michael Keaton to be the comeback kid of 2014, it’s Reese Witherspoon. Back on
top of the A-list with a banner year as both an actress and producer,
Witherspoon hits her highest point in a career of notable successes.
Witherspoon appears in virtually every frame of Wild and her deglamed performance beautifully captures the
vulnerability of her character, but also the empowering, inspirational force of
Cheryl Strayed’s trek as she conveys the physical, emotional, and spiritual
distance that Strayed crosses in her trek along the Pacific Crest Trail. Her
frank, unadulterated performance feels like the perfect dramatic equivalent for
Strayed’s open and accessible prose.
It’s impossible to
choose whether Julianne Moore’s best performance of the year is in Still Alice or Maps to the Stars, but I’ll chat up her sure-to-be-Oscared work in Alice since I gushed about her
performance in Maps in the Canadian
film recap. Moore’s performance as Alice, an academic experiencing early-onset Alzheimer’s,
shows such a delicate and compassionate understanding for the disease and for
the way that Alzheimer’s affects both Alice and Alice’s family. Moore is truly
devastating as her endlessly expressive face finds a way to articulate Alice’s
fear when she can no longer finds the words to do so. Where Moore goes
terrifically unhinged in Maps, she
shows laudable restraint in Alice and
her skill in navigating such wildly bipolar tragicomic identities in 2014
reminds audiences why she’s one of the best actors of her generation.
Marion Cotillard,
like Julianne Moore, spoiled audiences with her double-barrelled skilled this
year. Cotillard is subtly devastating in Two
Days, One Night, but she’s doubly so in The
Immigrant. In her heartbreaking performance as Ewa, Cotillard delicately
takes control of her character, making her a wounded, yet pragmatic survivor,
and turns what could have easily been a one-dimensional fallen woman/hooker
character into a character of fascinatingly complex psychology. To see
Cotillard stand decked-out as Lady Liberty and carry the torch with her watery
eyes in a seedy burlesque is one of this fable’s finest moments for
underscoring the cruel unattainability of the American Dream.
Gaunt, sickly, and
jittery, Gyllenhaal’s mesmerizing and bug-eyed performance as this seedy
nocturnal videographer is a chilling transformation. The physical mutation is
only the beginning for how deeply Gyllenhaal loses himself in the world of Lou
Bloom. If Howard Beale was an omen of things to come, then Lou Bloom is a scary
take on the allure of instant stardom today. Where the wolfman howls at the
moon, Lou unfurls his claws at midnight, just at the witching hour when YouTube
hits are at their peak, and becomes a monster that seems too terrifyingly
plausible to be considered satire.
It’s a complete shame
that Tracks didn’t find a bigger
audience. Canadian distrib Mongrel Media gave the film a far better shake than
its US-counterpart did, and Mia Wasikowska’s revelatory performance is the best
so far in a very young and promising career. (Wasikowska also touts impressive
and diverse performances in Maps to the
Stars, Only Lovers Left Alive,
and The Double this year.) Tracks asks Wasikowska, much like Wild tasks Reese Witherspoon, with
carrying the film on her back and undertaking a journey both physical and
emotional as she conveys Robyn’s indefatigable spirit over such a long journey.
Watching Tracks, one feels as if one
witnesses Wasikowska evolve as an actress as her character mature with each
step.
Is this really the
same actress who was so sweet and endearing in Barney’s Version and so light and bubbly in An Education? Rosamund Pike is amazing as Amy Dunne, the chameleon
ice queen of 2014. Pike has the tricky task of creating a character that
audiences must love and then love to hate within seconds of screen time, and
she excels with every maniacal layer of Amy Dunne’s suburban sociopathic
persona. From prim and poised to pouty and poisonous, Pike’s brilliantly
double-edged performance makes Gone Girl
one of the most compellingly debatable films of the year.
It absolutely
flabbergasts me that The Babadook is
struggling to find a life in Canada. The
Babadook is easily the best horror film in years, yet it seems likely to
emerge from the dark and scary closet only to find a life on VOD in the distant
future. That’s a shame because Essie Davis’s go-for-broke performance as a
mother possessed by fears and insecurities deserves to be seen as much, if not
even more so, than the film itself does. The rapid shifts in Amelia’s persona
are far scarier than any of the thump-thump-thumps
of Mr. Babadook are as the beleaguered mommy undergoes deadly mood swings and
Davis contorts herself as if she were possessed by a demon itself.
Tilda Swinton’s
performance as Eve the vampire is the epitome of coolness. Her playful and
cultured vampire pumps just the right amount of blood the genre needs to bring
it back to life. Swinton’s Eve, more than any other vampire in film, conveys
the sense of timeless immortality that vampires are meant to enjoy as they live
forever as the undead. Her performance carries centuries’ worth of cultural
influences, like some hippie on an eternal high who’s pickled herself in enough
magical drugs to live forever and experience all the groovy things life has to
offer in some purple haze of vampire funkiness.
The Best Supporting Performances of 2014:
If any performer
rivals Anne Dorval for the title of “Best Movie Mommy of the Year,” it’s Laura
Dern for her performance as Bobbi in Wild.
The spirit of Dern’s performance rings throughout every frame of the film as
she takes hold of Bobbi’s lust for life and defines the character by her
vitality and palpable life force. Whereas Bobbi works as an underlying absence
in Strayed’s memoir, Dern makes the mother an overarching presence in the film.
The power of Dern’s performance is a testament to both her effusive skill and
to her synergy with director Jean-Marc Vallée since she feels present in
virtually every frame of Wild even
though she appears mostly as fleeting memories that inject the film with Bobbi’s
spirit. Her longest scenes, scattered amidst the playful shards of memory, are
so precise in imparting the philosophy and strength of the mother that inspires
Strayed. One couldn’t find a better way to bring such a powerful figure back to
life.
Jessica Chastain is
such a badass. She’s the cinema’s biggest chameleon since Meryl Streep and her
performance as Anna Morales, the good wife/under the radar gangster queen of A Most Violent Year is one of her most
impressive forms yet. The lovely, bubbly, all-American girl of Chastain’s
persona is all there, but Anna also has a disarming hard edge to her tough
personality. The complexity of Anna’s dark side makes her an infinitely mesmerizing
character, though, since she never once seems irrational or unhinged even when
she’s at her most terrifying. She’s perfectly in control, a strong survivor,
and arguably a landmark character for women in gangster films. Also: that deer
never saw it coming!
The heart of Boyhood is Patricia Arquette’s beautiful
and motherly relationship with co-star Ellar Coltrane. She’s the audiences
guide into the film when Boyhood
trains its camera on a child too young to do anything other than simply be
himself, but her relationship with the young cast is tangible from the first
frame and, like Witherspoon in Wild
and Wasikowska in Tracks, Arquette
matures throughout the journey of Boyhood.
It feels as if Arquette releases her own child into the wild when Olivia
sends Mason off to school, and the mix of sheer genuine pride and emotion that
Arquette conveys in this scene alone proves Boyhood’s
twelve-year odyssey a success.
Julianne Moore’s
devastating performance in Still Alice
comes as no surprise given her character’s experience, but Kristen Stewart
truly shows her strength when she matches Moore every step of the way as
Alice’s compassionate daughter Lydia. Stewart’s proven that she can act with
notable performances in The Runaways and
On the Road, and her subtle, honest,
and genuinely moving turn as Alice’s daughter Lydia is the best revelation of
her career yet. That such a strong performance comes on the heels of Clouds of Sils Maria, in which she
arguably steals many a scene from Juliette Binoche, is even more impressive.
The only actress to
rival Anne Dorval for Canada’s best actor/director combo is Suzanne Clément for
her own collaborations with Dolan. Clément made the list of 2012’s best
performances for her fiery powder keg of a performance in Lawrence Anyways and her intense performance as Kyla, Die’s
neighbour/friend and Steve’s tutor in Mommy,
might be even better. The fear of her character is palpable as Kyla stutters
through the awkwardness her neighbours’ quarrels (as well as her own trauma),
but she attacks Kyla’s own insecurities headlong and becomes a point of
necessary sanity amidst the tempestuousness of of Steve and Die’s relationship.
Her performance grounds Mommy
whenever the film almost seems too powerful to bear.
Watching Rene Russo attack
the role of Nina, the bloodthirsty producer of a sensationalist late-night news
show, is one of the year’s biggest guilty pleasures. This performance is
scene-chewing at its finest since Russo brings out the right edge of
power-driven desperation in her character to feed the audience’s complicity in
Lou’s rogue journalism. We love to watch such sensational footage because it
gives us the kind of maniacal high on which Nina thrives. Russo is to Faye
Dunaway what Gyllenhaal is to Peter Finch, and their onscreen fire merits any
likeness to Network that Nightcrawler nets.
The ensemble of Birdman could easily fill this list from
Naomi Watts’ tragicomic actress to Lindsay Duncan’s villainous turn as the cranky
critic of Broadway, but Edward Norton’s wild performance as d-bag actor Mike
Shiner. Norton is uproariously funny as the cocky actor, who injects his ego
and his arrogance into electrifying performances within Birdman’s many layers. Birdman
calls upon actors to negotiate the polarities of film and theatre as they
rehearse a Broadway show within the long takes and close-ups of the cinematic
world, and Norton’s lively performance inhabits the best of both worlds.
Don’t forget that
other Anne Dorval/Xavier Dolan film of 2014 whilst making your year-end lists! Miraculum arguably boasts the best
Quebecois ensemble of 2014 and Dorval’s shattering turn as a depressed suburban
housewife jabs a few gut-punches as the storylines converge and the fates of
characters collide. Mommy fans
shouldn’t be disappointed to learn that Dolan and Dorval share nary a scene in Miraculum since anyone who watches both
films will undoubtedly be gobsmacked by the sheer force of Dorval’s
performances. I’ve credited several actors for offering effective one-two
punches in 2014, but Dorval’s coup with Mommy
and Miraculum stunned me the most.
Please wipe the blood
off your mouth, Tilda Swinton, and show us a big wolfy smile. Swinton’s
turn as Mason, the deliciously over-the-top Thatcher-esque tyrant of the crazy
train, is a hoot. From the moment that Swinton snarls and Mason tells the
voyagers to “be a shoe,” Swinton creates a masterfully conniving baddie. She’s
hilarious—just the right mix of venom and crazy sauce—but also so willing to
show Mason’s pathetic weakness that a shred of humanity finds its way into the
darkest and unlikeliest of places.
The episode with “the
whoring bed” single-handedly makes Lars von Trier’s otherwise disappointing Nymphomaniac worth seeing. Uma screams
and shrieks, creating a level of pain almost too uncomfortable to watch, as her
scorned and humiliated Mrs. H bitch-slaps the libidinous Joe with the
consequences of her actions. The thunder of the drama says in ten minutes what Nymphomaniac tries to say in two films.
If every scene of Nymphomaniac’s four
hours showcased Uma Thurman, it might be the best work that Von Trier has ever
done.
Best Cameo:
There is light at the end of the tunnel and it's name is Meryl Streep.
Honourable mentions in alphabetical-ish order: Ben Affleck, Gone Girl; Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game; Ralph Fiennes and company, The Grand Budapest Hotel; Ethan Hawke, Boyhood; Philip Seymour Hoffman, A Most Wanted Man; Oscar
Isaac, A Most Violent Year; the cast
of Maps to the Stars; Gordon Pinsent,
The Grand Seduction; Daniel Radcliffe
and Zoe Kazan, The F Word; Eddie Redmayne, The Theory of Everything; J.K. Simmons, Whiplash; Naomi Watts, Birdman/St.
Vincent.
What are your favourite performances of 2014???
Previously in the 2014 in Review series:
-The Best Canadian Films of the Year-The Worst Films of the Year
Up next: The Top 10 Films of 2014!