Written by: Kevin Berge
Courtesy of: vincentloy.wordpress.com.
We live in an interactive entertainment world where audiences are most focused upon sensory details. Film is an ever developing industry because it tells stories through auditory and visual stimuli that more and more directors understand as they build their movies. No matter how well films are created though, they will always find success or failure through their cast.
You can film a beautiful movie, write a perfect script, and direct it all into an engaging experience, but the movie will always succeed or fail based upon its actors. The actor can make a bad script sound great and convince you a conventional story cannot be missed. Acting is the emotional center that gets people into a theater and keeps them there.
Over the years, as filmmakers have grown better and better at crafting movies with the rise in technology and knowledge, actors have also learned to raise their game with it making it harder and harder to stand out. Great actors keep getting better, and the new young crop of talent come in with decades of greats to emulate and surpass.
2015 was another step forward for acting in film where the greats and the future greats rose to the occasion with a variety of moving and engaging performances; many of which seemed to come out of nowhere. It is hard to rank those performances amongst so many, but I couldn't help but take the time to recognize the many performances this year that moved me.
You can film a beautiful movie, write a perfect script, and direct it all into an engaging experience, but the movie will always succeed or fail based upon its actors. The actor can make a bad script sound great and convince you a conventional story cannot be missed. Acting is the emotional center that gets people into a theater and keeps them there.
Over the years, as filmmakers have grown better and better at crafting movies with the rise in technology and knowledge, actors have also learned to raise their game with it making it harder and harder to stand out. Great actors keep getting better, and the new young crop of talent come in with decades of greats to emulate and surpass.
2015 was another step forward for acting in film where the greats and the future greats rose to the occasion with a variety of moving and engaging performances; many of which seemed to come out of nowhere. It is hard to rank those performances amongst so many, but I couldn't help but take the time to recognize the many performances this year that moved me.
Courtesy of: consequenceofsound.net.
Honorable Mentions
The Entire Spotlight Cast – Two of the best films this year were driven by ensembles rather than lead stars, a surprising turn compared to most years. I was particularly impressed by Spotlight in that its whole star studded cast is almost unrecognizable in their roles. Unfortunately, they’re all so good that it becomes hard to differentiate them from the world that they inhabit. Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, and Rachel McAdams all become not heroes but just people experiencing reality. Liev Schreiber blends in so well you may never even realize he’s in the movie until you see the credits.
The Entire The Big Short Cast – The Big Short does have a standout in its cast with Christian Bale playing the flashiest and most memorable role, but the whole cast shine in what all amount to supporting roles. Steve Carrell is the embodiment of a growing anger I felt as I kept watching. Ryan Gosling is the comedic heart of the dramatic feature. Brad Pitt even shows that despite his massive stardom he can be a character actor, shining through in a small, heartfelt role.
Harrison Ford, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (Han Solo) – It’s almost been sad to watch Harrison Ford in recent years. Ford is the kind of actor who will never sell the audience on a bad movie, giving a performance proportionate to how much he believes in the film. We hadn’t seen vintage Ford on screen for years, but clearly he believed in The Force Awakens. Coming back to play the role that made him famous, he didn’t just step back into the role of Han Solo but immersed himself in the gunslinger’s emotional turmoil and years of baggage that came with 30 new years of experience.
Sylvester Stallone, Creed (Rocky Balboa) – Honestly, I’ve never really been a Stallone fan. As an actor, his range is limited, and he only really has one way of performing due to his very distinctive voice. The one role though that has always elevated his limited range was Rocky Balboa. Creed gave Stallone the chance to test just how far he could go with that one special role, and he absolutely delivered, embodying a broken man who needed to be saved by finding a new family with Adonis Creed.
The Entire The Big Short Cast – The Big Short does have a standout in its cast with Christian Bale playing the flashiest and most memorable role, but the whole cast shine in what all amount to supporting roles. Steve Carrell is the embodiment of a growing anger I felt as I kept watching. Ryan Gosling is the comedic heart of the dramatic feature. Brad Pitt even shows that despite his massive stardom he can be a character actor, shining through in a small, heartfelt role.
Harrison Ford, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (Han Solo) – It’s almost been sad to watch Harrison Ford in recent years. Ford is the kind of actor who will never sell the audience on a bad movie, giving a performance proportionate to how much he believes in the film. We hadn’t seen vintage Ford on screen for years, but clearly he believed in The Force Awakens. Coming back to play the role that made him famous, he didn’t just step back into the role of Han Solo but immersed himself in the gunslinger’s emotional turmoil and years of baggage that came with 30 new years of experience.
Sylvester Stallone, Creed (Rocky Balboa) – Honestly, I’ve never really been a Stallone fan. As an actor, his range is limited, and he only really has one way of performing due to his very distinctive voice. The one role though that has always elevated his limited range was Rocky Balboa. Creed gave Stallone the chance to test just how far he could go with that one special role, and he absolutely delivered, embodying a broken man who needed to be saved by finding a new family with Adonis Creed.
Courtesy of: youtube.com.
10. Saoirse Ronan, Brooklyn (Eilis Lacey)
The new generation of actors is a deep pool of talent that will only keep getting better. Saoirse Ronan might be my favorite of the very talented group. Often the best part of average to bad films (even managing to survive The Host unscathed), when she’s given a strong script and works with a good director, there are few more magnetic presences on screen.
Brooklyn is the sweet coming of age story of an Irish girl caught between two countries and lives when she immigrates alone to the United States. While the story is more than a tad bit familiar, the film is so beautifully put together and sincere that it is easy to get lost in the film. Emory Cohen is also strong and earnest in the film, but this film would have no heart without the subtle performance of Ronan.
Eilis is a blank slate of a character. She speaks mostly when spoken to and never imposes upon others. Ronan sells the character’s slow metamorphosis into a woman with an air of growing confidence and a wide array of subtle facial expressions that the camera constantly focuses upon. The simple but effective script rarely sells the story better than the expressiveness of Ronan’s eyes throughout the film.
I went into this movie expecting a by-the-numbers portrayal of growing up as an American immigrant, but I couldn’t stop smiling long after I finished watching. That is wholly a credit to Ronan’s starring work in the film.
Brooklyn is the sweet coming of age story of an Irish girl caught between two countries and lives when she immigrates alone to the United States. While the story is more than a tad bit familiar, the film is so beautifully put together and sincere that it is easy to get lost in the film. Emory Cohen is also strong and earnest in the film, but this film would have no heart without the subtle performance of Ronan.
Eilis is a blank slate of a character. She speaks mostly when spoken to and never imposes upon others. Ronan sells the character’s slow metamorphosis into a woman with an air of growing confidence and a wide array of subtle facial expressions that the camera constantly focuses upon. The simple but effective script rarely sells the story better than the expressiveness of Ronan’s eyes throughout the film.
I went into this movie expecting a by-the-numbers portrayal of growing up as an American immigrant, but I couldn’t stop smiling long after I finished watching. That is wholly a credit to Ronan’s starring work in the film.
Courtesy of: foxmovies.com.
9. Tom Hardy, “The Revenant” (John Fitzgerald)
It was a big year for Tom Hardy who turned in four strong performances including a double effort in Legend and a quiet lead role in the summer’s craziest action flick Mad Max: Fury Road. However, it was his turn as the greedy, smooth talker John Fitzgerald in The Revenant that ended up being his career best performance to date.
The Revenant is a film with very few words with even fewer in English where much of the heavy lifting when it comes to dialogue is given to Hardy’s character Fitzgerald. Even before breaking his word and leaving one of his fellow hunters for dead, there is an air about Fitzgerald that never sits right. He has a sense of honor but one that can bend to his preconceptions.
As the film progresses, Fitzgerald grows more menacing, clever, and fearful, each adding to his mystique as the film’s complex villain. Hardy’s classic mumbling American accent makes the character captivating and instantly memorable. In fact, he acts with such gravitas that it makes Will Poulter who spends much of the time at Hardy’s side, caught up in his lies, seem like a child trying to keep up with a master.
The Revenant has a solid cast, but it is carried by two men, one being Hardy. His performance feels almost Shakespearean in its grandness yet carries that weight with sparse, impactful dialogue rather than long running monologues. Anyone else would have disappeared into the background thanks to the film’s lead performance by Leonardo DiCaprio, but Hardy shines all on his own.
The Revenant is a film with very few words with even fewer in English where much of the heavy lifting when it comes to dialogue is given to Hardy’s character Fitzgerald. Even before breaking his word and leaving one of his fellow hunters for dead, there is an air about Fitzgerald that never sits right. He has a sense of honor but one that can bend to his preconceptions.
As the film progresses, Fitzgerald grows more menacing, clever, and fearful, each adding to his mystique as the film’s complex villain. Hardy’s classic mumbling American accent makes the character captivating and instantly memorable. In fact, he acts with such gravitas that it makes Will Poulter who spends much of the time at Hardy’s side, caught up in his lies, seem like a child trying to keep up with a master.
The Revenant has a solid cast, but it is carried by two men, one being Hardy. His performance feels almost Shakespearean in its grandness yet carries that weight with sparse, impactful dialogue rather than long running monologues. Anyone else would have disappeared into the background thanks to the film’s lead performance by Leonardo DiCaprio, but Hardy shines all on his own.
Courtesy of: toledoblade.com.
8. Mark Rylance, Bridge of Spies (Rudolf Abel)
It’s not often an actor breaks out at the age of 55, but Mark Rylance is not an ordinary actor by any means. Break out may be the wrong word given that Rylance already had a BAFTA and 3 Tonys to his name, but it was only this last year that he became a mainstream name thanks to his performances both in TV series Wolf Hall and his memorable, emotional turn as Rudolf Abel in Bridge of Spies.
Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies is an historic drama about the struggles of a United States lawyer played by Tom Hanks to do his job honestly in the wake of Cold War political tension. While Hanks is reliably strong as the film’s timely voice in protest of patriotic blindness, it is Rylance’s Rudolf Abel that steals the film as the consistently sympathetic Russian spy Hanks must first defend.
Rylance carries a quiet weight in his portrayal that conveys to the audience that they are never being told the whole story of this man’s life. In spite of that, it is almost impossible to ever dislike Abel who never lies or plays any games. His “would it help?” line he gives consistently to Hanks conveys the character’s deep calm and acceptance of his life and potential fate.
While Rylance is working with a strong script at every turn, it is hard to imagine the role in anyone else’s hands. When Abel was not on screen, I always felt the film was lacking a necessary element, and what I ultimately ended up caring about was what would happen to Abel as a result of the plot. Rylance is the emotional center of a film he’s only in half the time.
Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies is an historic drama about the struggles of a United States lawyer played by Tom Hanks to do his job honestly in the wake of Cold War political tension. While Hanks is reliably strong as the film’s timely voice in protest of patriotic blindness, it is Rylance’s Rudolf Abel that steals the film as the consistently sympathetic Russian spy Hanks must first defend.
Rylance carries a quiet weight in his portrayal that conveys to the audience that they are never being told the whole story of this man’s life. In spite of that, it is almost impossible to ever dislike Abel who never lies or plays any games. His “would it help?” line he gives consistently to Hanks conveys the character’s deep calm and acceptance of his life and potential fate.
While Rylance is working with a strong script at every turn, it is hard to imagine the role in anyone else’s hands. When Abel was not on screen, I always felt the film was lacking a necessary element, and what I ultimately ended up caring about was what would happen to Abel as a result of the plot. Rylance is the emotional center of a film he’s only in half the time.
Courtesy of: geeksofdoom.com.
7. Michael Fassbender, Steve Jobs (Steve Jobs)
It is a shame that Hollywood felt inclined to tell twenty different stories of Steve Jobs before they found Michael Fassbender. Thanks to X-Men: First Class, Fassbender became a household name in 2011 and has not looked back since, starring in hits as well as great films including Prometheus, 12 Years a Slave, and Frank. While Steve Jobs gave Fassbender perhaps his best spotlight yet, there’s no doubt this is still only the beginning.
Steve Jobs is the story of Apple co-founder Steve Job’s life only told through the preparation toward three conferences. It is not a celebration of Jobs as much as an exploration. Star studded and intensely well put together, the film still rides on the back of its leading man, and Fassbender’s energy is infectious from the moment the film starts to the last frame.
Helped by a sharp script penned by Aaron Sorkin, Fassbender’s Jobs is constantly in motion, just as often annoying everyone around him as encouraging them. It’s hard not to like Jobs and his vision even as it is shown again and again his failures to adapt or encourage anyone around him. I never once saw Fassbender on screen, only Steve Jobs, even though he bares so little actual resemblance to Jobs.
While Fassbender is working with quality talent (Kate Winslet is similarly never seen on screen, only the endearing Joanna Hoffman who is easily the movie’s most likable character), he still carries the film, driving the unstoppable energy of the film from beginning to end.
Steve Jobs is the story of Apple co-founder Steve Job’s life only told through the preparation toward three conferences. It is not a celebration of Jobs as much as an exploration. Star studded and intensely well put together, the film still rides on the back of its leading man, and Fassbender’s energy is infectious from the moment the film starts to the last frame.
Helped by a sharp script penned by Aaron Sorkin, Fassbender’s Jobs is constantly in motion, just as often annoying everyone around him as encouraging them. It’s hard not to like Jobs and his vision even as it is shown again and again his failures to adapt or encourage anyone around him. I never once saw Fassbender on screen, only Steve Jobs, even though he bares so little actual resemblance to Jobs.
While Fassbender is working with quality talent (Kate Winslet is similarly never seen on screen, only the endearing Joanna Hoffman who is easily the movie’s most likable character), he still carries the film, driving the unstoppable energy of the film from beginning to end.
Courtesy of: starwarsunderworld.com.
6. Daisy Ridley, Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens (Rey)
Sometimes actors take years to find their niche. Others only need one chance. Daisy Ridley took one movie to become a star. In a crowded, hyped to high heaven franchise film, Ridley’s acting debut blew everyone else out of the water.
Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens was the seventh installment of the most widely recognized sci-fi franchise of all time, beginning a third trilogy of films focused on a new cast becoming heroes, encountering the force, and conquering the dark side. What makes this film stand out among its predecessors is that it focuses on a young woman named Rey who is ready for her journey before it begins.
Blockbusters are often not meant to showcase acting talent. The leads are picked out as charismatic and likable, and they are tasked with being the character we root for in a sea of explosions and twists. While not wholly subverting this, The Force Awakens is a character anchored tale more than it is a sci-fi spectacle. Ridley is the prime benefactor of this focus, grabbing the reigns without hesitation.
Rey is likable, interesting, mysterious, but most importantly real. Never once is there a question that Rey lives in this world. Ridley’s acting is so genuine that I cared just as much when she saw trees for the first time in her life as I did when she was shooting down stormtroopers. She’s a proper action star with heart, leaping off the screen without trying.
Ridley alongside John Boyega’s Finn in the movie carries the film’s emotional heft and makes this truly the story of two new friends trying to figure out their place in a world they once thought was small. This unknown actress with a massive weight of expectations on her shoulders managed to make me care more about her plight than any returning character with three plus movies of back story.
Star Wars Episode VII: The Force Awakens was the seventh installment of the most widely recognized sci-fi franchise of all time, beginning a third trilogy of films focused on a new cast becoming heroes, encountering the force, and conquering the dark side. What makes this film stand out among its predecessors is that it focuses on a young woman named Rey who is ready for her journey before it begins.
Blockbusters are often not meant to showcase acting talent. The leads are picked out as charismatic and likable, and they are tasked with being the character we root for in a sea of explosions and twists. While not wholly subverting this, The Force Awakens is a character anchored tale more than it is a sci-fi spectacle. Ridley is the prime benefactor of this focus, grabbing the reigns without hesitation.
Rey is likable, interesting, mysterious, but most importantly real. Never once is there a question that Rey lives in this world. Ridley’s acting is so genuine that I cared just as much when she saw trees for the first time in her life as I did when she was shooting down stormtroopers. She’s a proper action star with heart, leaping off the screen without trying.
Ridley alongside John Boyega’s Finn in the movie carries the film’s emotional heft and makes this truly the story of two new friends trying to figure out their place in a world they once thought was small. This unknown actress with a massive weight of expectations on her shoulders managed to make me care more about her plight than any returning character with three plus movies of back story.
Courtesy of: telegraph.co.uk.
5. Alicia Vikander, Ex Machina (Ava)
Speaking of largely unknown actors, Alicia Vikander barely gave audiences a chance to get to know her before she burst onto the scene. While Vikander made her film debut in 2010, she took a few years to get her footing then took over the moment she got a hold of a starring role. In 2015, she went from up and coming to back to back superlative performances, starting with Ex Machina.
Ex Machina is a sci-fi thriller that explores the Turing Test, following a young programmer Caleb Smith played by Domnhall Gleeson as he tries to find out how human an android with artificial intelligence named Ava can appear. While Gleeson is the lead alongside Oscar Isaac’s Nathan Bateman, an eccentric billionaire, the entrancing Ava drives the film’s plot along from the moment she appears on screen.
Vikander plays Ava’s mix of curiosity, sexuality, and underlying knowledge perfectly, easily manipulating my thoughts as much as the characters she speaks with. She visibly speaks and reacts in a way that feels inhuman but also hints at humanity. It is easy to be seduced by Ava just as Caleb is being seduced.
Vikander uses every facet of her acting repertoire to convey the complexity of a character in Ava who barely reveals a single truth of what she truly thinks or feels (if she can feel). It is through Vikander’s performance that the film finds its complexity, making me continue to pile up questions with no answers just based on what I read in her eyes.
Ex Machina is a sci-fi thriller that explores the Turing Test, following a young programmer Caleb Smith played by Domnhall Gleeson as he tries to find out how human an android with artificial intelligence named Ava can appear. While Gleeson is the lead alongside Oscar Isaac’s Nathan Bateman, an eccentric billionaire, the entrancing Ava drives the film’s plot along from the moment she appears on screen.
Vikander plays Ava’s mix of curiosity, sexuality, and underlying knowledge perfectly, easily manipulating my thoughts as much as the characters she speaks with. She visibly speaks and reacts in a way that feels inhuman but also hints at humanity. It is easy to be seduced by Ava just as Caleb is being seduced.
Vikander uses every facet of her acting repertoire to convey the complexity of a character in Ava who barely reveals a single truth of what she truly thinks or feels (if she can feel). It is through Vikander’s performance that the film finds its complexity, making me continue to pile up questions with no answers just based on what I read in her eyes.
Courtesy of: fashiongonerogue.com.
4. Rooney Mara, Carol (Therese Belivet)
If Rooney Mara isn’t a mainstream star at this point, she should be. A distinctive and memorable character actress, she’s been a part of a variety of different films from blockbuster successes and failures to quiet but powerful indie films. She has been nominated numerous times for acting awards in what has been a short career so far, but she’s never been as good as she is in Carol.
Carol is the story of two women who fall in love in the 1950s, a time where such relationships are considered immoral. While a typical romantic drama about the strength of love conquering all, the film is buoyed by the undeniable chemistry between Mara and Cate Blanchett in the lead roles.
What makes Mara stand out even more is the depth of the character she is portraying. Therese is a woman who is struggling to find her place in the world, spending so long agreeing to the whims of others who would have her fit into their realities. She’s soft spoken and emotionally distant for much of the film, only showing slow growing signs of curiosity that are entirely her own.
Mara does not just embody Therese but shapes her development through the quiet moments and the outbursts. The simple script gives Mara the necessary room to breathe which makes every moment she is on screen important even when she does not speak a word. Together with Blanchett, Mara makes this story sparkle where I never once questioned what the two saw in each other even as so many characters questioned them.
Carol is the story of two women who fall in love in the 1950s, a time where such relationships are considered immoral. While a typical romantic drama about the strength of love conquering all, the film is buoyed by the undeniable chemistry between Mara and Cate Blanchett in the lead roles.
What makes Mara stand out even more is the depth of the character she is portraying. Therese is a woman who is struggling to find her place in the world, spending so long agreeing to the whims of others who would have her fit into their realities. She’s soft spoken and emotionally distant for much of the film, only showing slow growing signs of curiosity that are entirely her own.
Mara does not just embody Therese but shapes her development through the quiet moments and the outbursts. The simple script gives Mara the necessary room to breathe which makes every moment she is on screen important even when she does not speak a word. Together with Blanchett, Mara makes this story sparkle where I never once questioned what the two saw in each other even as so many characters questioned them.
Courtesy of: slate.com.
3. Brie Larson, Room (Joy Newsome)
Brie Larson began her career as a Disney darling and a sitcom regular. Most actresses have been type cast by that sort of early career and never found a chance to explore, but Brie Larson isn’t most actresses. Smart about the roles she takes, Larson took charge of roles in various comedies and broke out through Short Term 12 before finding her absolute career role in Room.
Room is the story of an abducted woman Joy Newsome and her child Jack (played perfectly by the young Jacob Tremblay) who was born and raised in captivity. While a small scale film, the story carries a grand emotional weight, exploring the fragile emotional states of both mother and son.
Larson finds the perfect role in Joy to show all her dramatic range, showcasing her strength and her weakness without judgment. The role is both deeply emotional and only possible for a truly great actress to pull off. In fact, Larson is so good in such a difficult role that at times I completely forgot I was watching a movie.
Room is entirely character driven, never shying away from how tragically flawed these characters are. It was hard to watch at so many times because I was so engrossed in Larson’s heartbreaking portrayal. She made me cry when she cried and smile when she smiled.
Room is the story of an abducted woman Joy Newsome and her child Jack (played perfectly by the young Jacob Tremblay) who was born and raised in captivity. While a small scale film, the story carries a grand emotional weight, exploring the fragile emotional states of both mother and son.
Larson finds the perfect role in Joy to show all her dramatic range, showcasing her strength and her weakness without judgment. The role is both deeply emotional and only possible for a truly great actress to pull off. In fact, Larson is so good in such a difficult role that at times I completely forgot I was watching a movie.
Room is entirely character driven, never shying away from how tragically flawed these characters are. It was hard to watch at so many times because I was so engrossed in Larson’s heartbreaking portrayal. She made me cry when she cried and smile when she smiled.
Courtesy of: youtube.com.
2. Leonardo DiCaprio, The Revenant (Hugh Glass)
Leonardo DiCaprio is one of the greatest actors of this generation. Diving into each role with fervor, DiCaprio disappears in film, embodying his character in every sense. From his many collaborations with Martin Scorsese to his varied roles in such films as Django Unchained, Inception, and Titanic, DiCaprio has done it all as an actor and continues to act at the highest of levels.
As mentioned above in recognizing Tom Hardy’s work in The Revenant, this film is not a densely scripted film. In fact, much of the film is focusing on a desperate Glass running and grunting as he seeks to survive. When he does speak, a third of DiCaprio’s lines are spoken in the Arikara indigenous language. When watching the film, this only helped to immerse me in Glass’s struggle.
The Revenant is hard to watch and brutal to a fault, but it’s hard to look away even in the worst of moments for Glass because DiCaprio is so magnetic in every moment. In anyone else’s hands, the role would have fallen apart, coming as too goofy or uninteresting, but DiCaprio’s Glass is the entire movie.
As Glass overcomes even death, it becomes hard to imagine anything can stop him, yet he still convinced me of his vulnerability. He’s a character demanding attention with a story that is lightly layered into the overwhelming struggle that defined the character from the opening shot.
As mentioned above in recognizing Tom Hardy’s work in The Revenant, this film is not a densely scripted film. In fact, much of the film is focusing on a desperate Glass running and grunting as he seeks to survive. When he does speak, a third of DiCaprio’s lines are spoken in the Arikara indigenous language. When watching the film, this only helped to immerse me in Glass’s struggle.
The Revenant is hard to watch and brutal to a fault, but it’s hard to look away even in the worst of moments for Glass because DiCaprio is so magnetic in every moment. In anyone else’s hands, the role would have fallen apart, coming as too goofy or uninteresting, but DiCaprio’s Glass is the entire movie.
As Glass overcomes even death, it becomes hard to imagine anything can stop him, yet he still convinced me of his vulnerability. He’s a character demanding attention with a story that is lightly layered into the overwhelming struggle that defined the character from the opening shot.
Courtesy of: decider.com.
1. Alicia Vikander, The Danish Girl (Gerda Wegener)
I knew little to nothing about Vikander coming into this year, but I’ll never forget her name after this year. The immensely talented actress began the year with Ex Machina which would have been enough of a big time performance for most actors, but she then followed it up with a performance that elevated and perhaps transcended the film in which she was acting.
The Danish Girl is the story of Einar Wegener played by Eddie Redmayne who is swept up in the discovery that she does not feel right as a man and only feels whole as Lili. While this film came off as a one actor vehicle at first glance, giving Redmayne another complex role to portray after his award winning performance as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything last year, it was Vikander’s Gerda Wegener, the wife of Einar, that truly stood out.
While Lili struggles to find herself, Gerda must watch and accept the slow but complete disappearance of her husband. In less capable hands, Gerda would come off as selfish and ignorant, but Vikander makes every emotion she wrestles with feel real. I struggled to decide how to react as these two both struggled so much with so little progress and never found peace of mind.
The film uses wide brush strokes to deal with a complex and detailed issue, but its actors make it impossible to look away from. Gerda’s imperfect but ultimately accepting emotional roller coaster is enthralling in every possible way, and Vikander is the reason that works. Vikander takes over the movie early on and never lets go, making every second feel uncomfortably real.
****
Now I turn to you and ask what acting performances of the last year moved you. Feel free to leave a comment below to let me know what you thoughts of the list and your own personal reflections. Also, if you have any movies you would like me to review for the site, let me know. Thank you for reading, I greatly appreciate it.
The Danish Girl is the story of Einar Wegener played by Eddie Redmayne who is swept up in the discovery that she does not feel right as a man and only feels whole as Lili. While this film came off as a one actor vehicle at first glance, giving Redmayne another complex role to portray after his award winning performance as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything last year, it was Vikander’s Gerda Wegener, the wife of Einar, that truly stood out.
While Lili struggles to find herself, Gerda must watch and accept the slow but complete disappearance of her husband. In less capable hands, Gerda would come off as selfish and ignorant, but Vikander makes every emotion she wrestles with feel real. I struggled to decide how to react as these two both struggled so much with so little progress and never found peace of mind.
The film uses wide brush strokes to deal with a complex and detailed issue, but its actors make it impossible to look away from. Gerda’s imperfect but ultimately accepting emotional roller coaster is enthralling in every possible way, and Vikander is the reason that works. Vikander takes over the movie early on and never lets go, making every second feel uncomfortably real.
****
Now I turn to you and ask what acting performances of the last year moved you. Feel free to leave a comment below to let me know what you thoughts of the list and your own personal reflections. Also, if you have any movies you would like me to review for the site, let me know. Thank you for reading, I greatly appreciate it.
