The Best Performances of 2018

Acting is subjective. Otherwise everyone's lists would be identical. You will notice obvious omissions here that are present at the top of many other Best Performances lists...and that's ok. We aren't going to defend the offenses here at Awards Wiz--see this year's Oscars Mission Statement(s).  I honestly believe these are the best film performances of the year. Some are Oscar frontrunners, and some may not make it to the final 5, but to me, they are truly the greats.

1. Timothee Chalamet, "Beautiful Boy"

Chalamet tops the list for the 2nd year in a row. As great as he was in "Call Me By Your Name," he is even better in "Beautiful Boy." Playing a struggling meth addict, he delicately juggles every feeling, every emotion with the utmost technical precision, while at the same time completely vulnerable to the moment. The way Timothee navigates Nic's various trips to treatment, the way he talks with his parents, each time with a little more institutionalized expertise...it is all so incredibly truthful to the real addiction/treatment experience. Just when you think Nic is heading in a right, positive direction, you suddenly see a hint of exhausted manipulation behind his words. That, my friends is craft. Chalamet, for lack of a better phrase, is the real deal.

The first time we see Nic use intravenously is different than the 2nd time and different from the last. These nuances are only part of what makes this the best performance of the year. Wonder, euphoria, despair, hopelessness, nothing--Timothee is able to portray these things separately and even more incredibly at the same time. These are all truths for a using addict.

The scene at the diner, with Steve Carrel, the first scene we all saw in the trailer, is a masterclass in acting and should be seen from start to finish to fully grasp the complexities of what Timothee is doing as an actor. The scene begins with Nic trying..trying to listen, trying to get money, trying to keep his shit together...anything it takes to stop that voice in his head. You see him attempt to will himself to participate in one of life's most basic principles, listening...but it isn't enough.

"This is me. This is who I am," Nic says...only moments before the disease takes over, striking his Dad with psychological terror, doing whatever it takes to use, no matter what.

This is a remarkable performance. The best of the year.

2. Rosamund Pike, "A Private War"

The best female performance of 2018 may very well go unrecognized by the Academy, but I am happy to recognize her here. Rosamund Pike is a fantastic character actor, giving her best performance to date as war correspondent Marie Colvin in "A Private War." Pike doesn't rest on the makeup, the teeth, or even the eye patch to find Colvin's truth, instead wearing them as accessories on a fully realized, rough around the edges, brilliant woman. Unlike other real life portrayals you will not find on this list, Pike creates a flawed character, but also, most importantly taps into Colvin's humanity.

3. Sakura Andô, "Shoplifters"

To go into much detail about Sakura Andô's performance in the Cannes Palme d'or winner "Shoplifters" is to delve into dangerous spoilery territory. Andô plays Nobuyo a matriarch, of sorts in a very complicated family. Her husband, Aki, brings home an orphan who is being abused by her parents, taking her on as their own, although the family already lives in poverty with the Grandmother, living...existing...on her pension. Abuse and family run through the core of "Shoplifters" but the path is winding and unexpected. There is a persistent weight behind Andô's eyes throughout the film, and it's much more than meets those eyes, culminating in one of the best acted moments of the year.

4. Glenn Close, "The Wife"

The fact that I've placed Glenn Close ahead of Lady Gaga on this list is something I don't do lightly. Come Oscar night (if both are nominated), I will not be upset if either one ends up on the stage. But for once, overdue and deserving actually align. Close plays Joan, the wife of  Joe (Jonathan Pryce), who is receiving the Nobel Prize for his body of work as a writer.  Joan has played the dutiful wife, compromising in ways that are a bit predictable, but still somehow surprising due to Close's skill at holding her resentments and secrets so very close to her chest. We are seeing Joan at the end of her rope, but the rope is so tightly wound that when it unravels it is spectacular, especially when, near the end of the film her rage toward Joe and the love for him are completely interchangeable, weaving together in a way only an actress as skilled as Close could do.

5. Ah-in Yoo and Steven Yeun, "Burning"

The best couple on screen this year isn't Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, it's Ah-in Yoo and Steven Yeun in "Burning." Let's see if I can break this down for you.

Ah-in Yoo plays Jong-su, Steven Yeun plays Ben and Jeon Jong-seo plays Hae-mi.

• Jong-su, an aspiring lower class writer reconnects with classmate Hae-mi. 
• They have sex. 
• Hae-mi goes out of town...Jong-su watches her cat while repeatedly masturbating in her bedroom. 
• Hae-mi returns having met Ben, a well to do, very dashing man...
• Hae-mi spends more time with Ben and Jong-su, continuing to pine over Hae-mi, doesn't like it.
• They all hang out, smoke a little weed while Hae-mi takes her top off...it's all very moody and deliberately paced. 
• Then Hae-mi passes out (thank goodness) and we learn that Ben burns down greenhouses...but it's a metaphor...I think. 
• And then...

Well, you'll need to watch the movie to find out what happens next, but these actors are so fantastic. There is a mystery at the heart of "Burning," but probably not the most obvious one, although we are left to decide that on our own.

Jong-su won't (really) ask and Ben won't tell, which leads to the best ending I've seen in a movie this year.

6. Regina King, "If Beale Street Could Talk"

Regina King is a force in the business, having been acting for over three decades. I was more than likely introduced to her back in 80s watching "227." Then there was "Legally Blonde 2," "Miss Congeniality 2," and other parts here and there. But it was "American Crime," one of the best network television series to come out in years, on which she played three very different characters over three seasons, winning Emmy's for the first two seasons. In Barry Jenkins's "If Beale Street Could Talk" we have a match made in director/actor heaven. King's Sharon is absolutely fierce as Tish's (Kiki Lane) mother, taking on Fonny's (Tish's boyfriend, played by Stephen James) judgmental mother in an early scene in the film. She keeps it real, always. Later in the film, we get her most Oscary moment to date, but it is so much more than that. It is an expertly navigated conversation with Emily Rios's Victoria, one with so much at stake, set against the #metoo movement all of us in the audience are experiencing. It should be enough to win her an Oscar, but we shall see.

7. Lady Gaga and Bradley Cooper, "A Star is Born"

Of all the Best Actress contenders this year, Gaga's Ally truly has it all. She sings, she dances (kind of), she cries. It has Oscar written all over it. But is it worthy?  When I first saw the film I remember thinking how odd she performed "Always Remember Us This Way." It wasn't what I had seen from Gaga in the past. Sure the vocals were fantastic, but the gestures, the confidence. It was all so different. But on the second viewing I got it. Ally is not Lady Gaga. Once that truly settled in for me, the film and the performance fully worked. 100%. Lady Gaga's performance is not only natural and explosive, it is also crafted.

I've been a huge fan of Cooper's since "Alias," and although it seems "cool" for Oscar progs and Film Twitter to continually dig at him, which has happened every time he has been nominated (4 times!), you won't find that here at Awards Wiz. He is not only a seemingly nice guy, he is immensely talented. If he was a douche, everyone would probably love him.

In an unpopular opinion, I think they are even better in the 2nd half of the film. Discounting "Shallow," of course. "Shallow" is everything! But, I digress...
The best "scene" between the two happens when Ally goes to visit Jackson is in treatment. They are both trying to figure out what to say, what not to say...how to move forward in a way that will be best for Jackson and his recovery. Little do they know, almost nothing they choose will solve anything...which leads to a sad, predictable, but very sincere ending.

8. Marina de Tavira, "Roma"

Much has been said about the fact that Marina is the only professional actor in "Roma." Yalitza Aparicio is fantastic as Cleo, completely present with not a false note to the performance, but from the moment de Tavira's Sofia enters the frame you can sense a full back story to the character, something you don't really feel with the other characters in the film...and something I attribute to experience. She is layered and full of complexities. There is a fiery presence to Sofia, one that makes you uncertain exactly what she might say or how she might react to the changing situation around her, whether that be Cleo's pregnancy, her husband's disappearance, her children or her car!

9. Richard E. Grant and Melissa McCarthy, "Can You Ever Forgive Me"

One of the things I miss most about living in New York City is its cast of characters, and what characters do we have with Lee Israel and Jack Hock. Melissa McCarthy is no stranger to buddy pictures, but with Richard E. Grant as Jack to her Lee, speaking the fantastic words of of screenwriters Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty, not to mention Israel herself, we get one dynamic duo indeed. They are, of course, hilariously dry and full of wit, but it's the heart, albeit an often cold and dark one, at the center that makes these characters and their unlikely friendship work.

10. Olivia Colman, Rachel Wiesz and Emma Stone, "The Favourite"

There is no need to shout category fraud here at Awards Wiz! If you ask me, "The Favourite," Yorgos Lanthimos's most "accessible" (cough, cough...not really) film is Abigail's (Emma Stone) story. Colman (Queen Anne) and Wiesz (Lady Sarah) are it's supporting players, but alas...no one asked me.

Taking all that pish posh away, the three actors are incredible. Stone might actually have a chance winning in Supporting, so maybe they know what they are doing. It's one of those, split vote possibilities (split between Regina King and Amy Adams, if they are nominated) that almost never happens. Either way, Stone keeps getting better.

Rachel Wiesz, also gives one of two great performances this year playing a lesbian, although my dear friend Amy suggests she might not actually be a lesbian here...playing a role to get what she wants. I think it's even better if she is a lesbian, doing whatever it takes to get what she wants. Now, THAT would be a novel idea...although we are heading down a path where queer people don't do bad things and only other queer people play those "perfect" characters...more on that later with my Honor Roll of 2018.

The characters in "The Favourtie" are far from perfect and it's delicious. The one who comes away with the least tarnish is Olivia Colman. She is so unbelievably alive as Queen Anne, accepting and volleying what is being thrown at her by Sarah and Abigail.