Samal Yeslyamova – Ayka
As soon as the social realist film begins, you are asked in no certain terms to distribute your sympathies accordingly. That is, the first scene of Ayka, from writer-director Sergey Dvortsevoy, has a young woman get up in hospital and abandon her newborn baby. The grim circumstances that can face the poverty-stricken migrants of Moscow, make this horrid act much more relatable than me using mere words. Especially so given the incredibly nuanced, blood, sweat and tears performance from Samal Yeslyamova, who won the Best Actress prize at Cannes.
As she makes her escape into the devouring snow outside, Yeslyamova sticks to the camera like glue. A volatile creature, who wins us over amidst the turmoil. She bleeds, she lactates, she trods through the bitterly cold blizzard, as the people around her are cruelly indifferent, juxtaposing the social injustice they all might face. Yeslyamova exudes a desperate longing from every pore, demonstrating a true sense of how natural motherhood could really be – or not. — Robin @Filmotomy
Tilda Swinton – The Souvenir
Tilda Swinton is known for playing big, out-of-this-world characters, but that isn’t the case in Joanna Hogg’s coming-of-age drama The Souvenir. Swinton plays Rosalind, the sophisticated, loving mother of Julie (Swinton’s real-life daughter Honor Swinton Byrne) who helps her daughter financially and supports her art and relationship with the troubled Anthony (Tom Burke). It’s a quiet performance, but Swinton stands out, playing Rosalind with tenderness and class.
Swinton’s key scene comes towards the end of the film, as Rosalind informs Julie about the whereabouts of a missing Anthony. With two words and a look, Swinton tells us everything Rosalind is feeling. All the sadness, worry, and shock run across Swinton’s eyes and delivery and we feel every bit of it. It Is yet another sensational, committed performance from one of the best actresses working today. — Kevin @kevflix
Zac Efron – Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile
Pretty boys can have a tough time of it in Hollywood. A recognizable face will get you far in life, but it tends to weigh you down, leading to a string of box office hits, but very little credibility. Which is why Zac Efron, who began in Disney’s High School Musical series (perhaps the most wholesome product to be ejected from that corporations thought glands in the last 20 years), is probably not the first person you would think of to play one of America’s most notorious serial killers, Ted Bundy, in Extremely Wicked, Shockingly Evil and Vile.
The film focuses, for the most part, on Bundy’s court case, and these scenes (which were televised in real life) are re-enacted with great precision. Efron never misses a beat, capturing Bundy’s remarkable self-confidence (those sly, sweet smiles he would give to the TV cameras, or his enthusiasm when stepping up to be his own defence attorney.) The film garnered criticism for being insensitive to the victims. Indeed, they are an after thought (just as they most probably were to Bundy), and the film’s focus is on him, and to a lesser extent his one-time girlfriend Elizabeth Kendall, played by Lily Collins.
Indeed, all the cast work well here, but the film belongs to Efron, sublime in the part, portraying Ted as if he was the star of his own romantic drama (a fantasy not a million miles away from how Bundy probably considered himself anyway). Playing on his good looks, he never once reveals the monster that lurked within the man, which was one of the many facets of Bundy that made him so fascinating. Nobody ever suspected that this sweet young man had it in him. Appropriate, really, as the same could be said about Efron. Make no mistake, this is one of the best performances of the year. — Chris @thechriswatt
Robert Downey Jr. – Avengers: Endgame
Avengers: Endgame is on its way to being the highest grossing movie of all time. All actors gave great performances, with the greatest from the godfather of the MCU, Iron Man himself, Robert Downey Jr. Not only was Downey’s performance one of his best in the MCU, but it could potentially earn him an Oscar nomination. It is uncommon for the Academy to award superhero acting performances, but they occasionally award a body of work. With Downey’s previous nominations for Chaplin and Tropic Thunder, plus his decorated MCU filmography, do not be surprised if he gets nominated for Endgame next year.
Downey easily embodied Tony Stark throughout the years of the MCU movies and delivers consistently good performances. However, his performance in Endgame was on another level, every scene he was in was spectacular, no matter his reunion with Pepper at the start or Peter Parker at the end, his relationship with Morgan Stark, or in the end when he sacrificed himself for the world and uttered the famous words “I am Iron Man” that kicked off the MCU. These scenes were powerful, heartwarming and heartbreaking, with Downey’s subtle but brilliant portrayal elevating them. — Justin @captainvidicjc
Elisabeth Moss – Her Smell
In Alex Ross Perry’s criminally underrated Her Smell, Moss plays Becky Something, lead singer of a ’90s Riot Grrrl band reuniting for a US tour. But damaged Becky is wracked by mental illness and chronic addiction. A whirlwind of grievance, fury and violence, she turns making everyone’s life a misery into an artform, as she spits poison at her band mates, young protegees and estranged husband (Dan Stevens).
At times, it’s like a weird version of The Exorcist, with Courtney Love in Pazuzu’s thrall rather than Regan MacNeil. Despite her relentless awfulness, though, you pity Becky and wonder what on earth has happened to turn her so toxic. It is an ugly, excoriating and genuinely upsetting performance from Moss, her puffy, tear-stained face contorted in a permanent snarl, as she careers from one unhinged backstage confrontation to another. Rarely has living the rock ’n’ roll life seemed so unbearably sad. — Andrew @andywinter1
Mel Gibson – Dragged Across Concrete
In S. Craig Zahler’s grueling and ambitious Dragged Across Concrete, Mel Gibson stars as Brett Ridgeman, an overzealous cop who feels chewed up and spat out by the system. Following an occurrence of police brutality that leads to suspension, Ridgeman plots out a robbery with his younger partner in order to, “acquire proper compensation.”
Gibson manages a red hot simmer for this entire film, conscious of how close he could get to a boil. Ridgeman is the kind of cop who we see lauded on Fox News, refusing to acquiesce to the sensitivity that has emerged in society. By embracing his own problematic public image, Gibson’s Ridgeman is a complex anti-hero who’s simultaneously vile and sympathetic. It’s the exact inverse of the role that made Gibson a star – Martin Riggs in 1987’s Lethal Weapon – and the perfect bookend to a jagged career. — Michael @MykeMurfee
Florence Pugh – Fighting With My Family
The bright, shining star that is Florence Pugh, pretty much walked through Lady Macbeth without hardly moving a muscle and crowned herself the Queen of England. Right now, she is swamped with acting praise for her role in Ari Aster’s Midsommar.
In one of the year’s best comedies, Pugh, whose face devours the screen, manages to still meek herself down to play, and sound like, a proper Norwich gal with a big dream. Based on the real events that would launch Paige into the WWE, the actress shows fire, sensitivity, passion, pain – much of what you need I suspect to even make it to the professional wrestling try-outs. From a small, exuberant family of wrestlers, Paige is certainly a fighter, and a loyal ambassador of the family unit (long before she actually names herself Paige).
Pugh does conflicted and enthused and bemused and star-struck at a heartbeat, through the most natural of facial gesture or a look of those eyes. Writer and director, Stephen Merchant, clearly offers the kind of awkward comedy revitalised by his work with Ricky Gervais (Jack Lowden sounds just like Gareth from The Office at times). And Pugh is up to that for sure. She can be funny during cringey moments, just as much as she can spew out catchy insults and witty comebacks. And the heart of an ordinary girl with extraordinary ambition, my God she has that too. — Robin @Filmotomy
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