10 Top Performances of 2017

December 22, 2017
A thought by James Berardinelli

 

Wording matters. Please note that this column offers “10 Top Performances of 2017.” It does not present the “Top 10 Performances of 2017” nor the “Best 10 Performances of 2017.” I’ll leave it to other critics to make those lists. For my part, I simply want to highlight ten performances (without making actor/actress or lead/support distinctions) that have lodged in my memory. Are these the best? I won’t make that claim but I will argue they’re all damn good and worth seeing as examples of what a performer can do when fully committed to a role. This has been, in my opinion, a stronger year for female performances than male ones and the 7/3 split reflects that. Some of these will probably get Oscar nominations. One or two might even win. But there are at least a few offbeat choices that the Academy is guaranteed to ignore and would likely scoff at if mentioned. And Meryl Streep is nowhere to be found. These are presented alphabetically.

Jessica Chastain, Molly’s Game: Chastain is a perennial finalist for anyone’s “best actress” lists and Molly’s Game is among her finest films to-date. Not since she danced topless as Salome for Al Pacino has she put this much on the line. Molly’s Game belongs to two people: Chastain and her writer/director, Aaron Sorkin. He feeds her the lines and she delivers them with gusto. She gives us one of the year’s strongest female cinematic figures and, unlike Wonder Woman, her character is real.



Rebecca Hall, Professor Marston and the Wonder Women: Okay, so Professor Marston and the Wonder Women wasn’t the greatest film but inside it hides one the most incisive, acerbic performances of the year, delivered with vim and vigor by Rebecca Hall. Whatever you think of the film, it’s almost impossible to think of it and not think of Hall. (For unknown reasons, no screeners of this film were sent out so it’s a lock that 95% of the those who vote for Oscar nominees won’t have seen Hall.)



Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water (and Maudie): At the recent PFCC confab where we chose winners, I lobbied hard for Sally Hawkins and she won the honor. She was also the #1 choice on my Critics Choice ballot. Hawkins, like Chastain, is one of the best actors working today. And, although most critics would prefer to forget Chastain’s “secondary” 2017 film (The Zookeeper’s Wife), Hawkins’ “secondary” representation is the very respectable Maudie. Still, I’m “nominating” her for The Shape of Water, where she has to convey tremendous depth and emotion without uttering a word. Silent films stars did this routinely but there hasn’t been a pure silent movie in more than 80 years and Hawkins succeeds with subtlety not big gestures.



Allison Janney, I, Tonya: If Rebecca Hall was acerbic in Professor Marston, what to call Allison Janney in I, Tonya? Vinegar is too sweet. Her character is one of the nastiest screen mothers since Joan Crawford and she plays the role perfectly. So perfectly that we’re tempted to wonder if Janney isn’t quite so nice as we’ve been led to believe. Of course, I joke. This is an amazing transformation and a memorable piece of work.



Diane Kruger, In the Fade: Blew me away. Sometimes a performance like this – so raw, so powerful, so unspeakably sad (see also Frances McDormand, below) – can be almost too painful to watch. That’s the case with Kruger in In the Fade. Known better for her physical beauty than her acting ability, this movie is a game-changer for the German actress. Going forward, whenever I see her, this film and her portrayal of a mother/wife who has lost everything in a terrorist attack will be foremost in my mind.



Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri: Like Kruger’s performance, McDormand’s is a study in emotional pain and guilt. Unlike Kruger, however, there’s a note of dark humor in the way she plays the character. One reason why Three Billboards leaves such a strong impression is the trio of top-notch portrayals. Of those three, McDormand’s is the most forceful and nuanced. It’s hard to imagine the Academy not recognizing her.



Gary Oldman, The Darkest Hour: Whenever an actor chooses to essay a real-life person, especially one as well-known as Winston Churchill, the question of mimicry arises. To me, Oldman’s work here is more a case of strong acting than impersonation. Although prosthetics don’t fully replicate Churchill’s face, they erase Oldman’s features. The voice is nearly perfect. Yet the performance doesn’t stop there. Oldman finds the late Prime Minister’s beating heart and urges it back to life, allowing us to encounter not the two-dimensional avatar of an icon but a living, breathing, three-dimensional recreation.



Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird: One wonders whether Ronan will become the next Amy Adams – a young, promising actress whose performances earn her nominations but who, for one reason or another, seems to always be upstaged. The strength, good humor, and honesty of her work in Lady Bird isn’t to be denied but, in my opinion, she’s behind Sally Hawkins, Jessica Chastain, and Frances McDormand on the depth chart. As I wrote above, this is a good year for female performers. It would have to be for someone as impressive as Ronan in Lady Bird not to be the front-runner.



Andy Serkis, War of the Planet of the Apes: One day, the Academy is going to have to move beyond their special effects prejudice and recognize Andy Serkis. Not only the pioneer of stop motion acting, Serkis continues to perfect the medium, giving us increasingly complex and believable creations. His performance as Cesar is the latest in a long line of fully realized individuals, so expertly crafted that they are indistinguishable from the work of a traditional portrayal.



Patrick Stewart, Logan: I can make a case that his appearance in Logan represents the best work of Patrick Stewart’s long and illustrious screen career. Yet, when it comes to short lists for Supporting Actor nominees, Stewart’s name isn’t being mentioned. Had he given a performance of similar intensity and power in a pure drama, he would have been on a direct trajectory for Oscar recognition but, because this effort came in a superhero movie, it is being ignored by some and dismissed by others. Whoever wins Best Supporting Actor, I doubt I’ll think he gave a better or more memorable turn.





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