Anne Wiazemsky in any number of movies.
Chris Penn in The Funeral (he won an award for it, and I’ve seen it mentioned here and there, but it’s still not something that’s often discussed).
I think somebody already mentioned Timothy Spall, but he’s always great, especially in the Mike Leigh movies.
I came across Hannah and Her Sisters on TV last night, and I remember thinking that Max Von Sydow’s performance was the best thing about the movie.
Holly Woodlawn in Trash
Elizabeth Taylor in X,Y, & Zee
Samantha Morton in Minority Report
Patricia Clarkson in High Art
.
Jack Lemmon – GlenGarrry Glen Ross
Q´orianka Kilcher in THE NEW WORLD
Madhabi Mukherjee in SUBARNAREKHA
Konkona Sen Sharma in MR. AND MRS: IYER
Chris Cooper in LONE STAR
Annie Shizukah Inoh in GOOD MEN, GOOD WOMEN
Nick Nolte in THE THIN RED LINE
1. Marcello Mastroianni and Anna Karina in Visconti’s The Stranger
2. Geraldine Page in Woody Allen’s Interiors
3. Annie Girardot in Vivre Pour Vivre
4. Gena Rowlands and Sandy Dennis in Allen’s Another Woman
5. Anna Karina in Godard’s films plus Rivette’s The Nun
6. John Gielgud in Providence
7. Vanessa Redgrave in Wetherby
8. Genevieve Bujold in Dead Ringers
9. Peter Finch in Sunday Bloody Sunday
10. Glenda Jackson in Stevie
I glanced and didn’t find it, so, simply, for-the-record:
Brad Pitt in Twelve Monkeys.
Meryl Streep as a rabbi in ‘Angels In America’ (When I first saw the scene with the rabbi, I thought the rabbi was so authentic I wondered if he had been played by a real rabbi, so I watched the credits to find out. I nearly fell of my chair when I saw that the rabbi was played by Meryl Streep. I had no idea. It is shocking how good that performance is.)
John Lone (as the cave man) in ‘Iceman’. Completely believable.
Within the galaxy of performances highlighted thusfar in these 3.5 pages, missing is the late, great Richard Farnsworth.
I bring him to mind not for his Oscar-nominated performance in Lynch’s “The Straight Story” but for his ’82 turn as Bill Miner in “The Grey Fox”.
Good call Cineaste!
Martin Scorsese in Taxi Driver ;)
Two of my favorites I can watch all the time:
1.Mel Gibson gives an brilliant performance as Hamlet. He is so attractive, has an incredible energy and plays his insanity with a humorous edge. In my opinion, his best performance ever
2. Robert de Niro as Max Cady in Cape Fear is so over the top, he is unbelievable and mesmorizing. You can’t take his eyes off him, his tattoos and wardrobe (especially the little caps). You absolutely can’t get enough of his charm, intelligence and cunning and your hair stands straight up witnessing his brutality.
Yeah, I forgot Richard Farnsworth who relly gave an unforgetable performance in THE STRAIGHT STORY:
Samuel Jackson in Jungle Fever – does the Gator dance to feed his crack addiction.
I forgot the performance of all performances. Madhabi Mukherjee in Ritwik Ghataks SUBARNAREKHA.
“Brad Pitt in Twelve Monkeys.”
This thread is about Great Performances, not Idiotic Exercises In Flagrant Over-Acting.
Ralph Fiennes in THE CONSTANT GARDENER and Michael Shannon in BUG.
Per Oscarsson in Henning Carlsen’s Sult (Hunger), definitely. An amazing performance that I’m especially fond of — in particular when he talks to his shoes. It was so lovingly heartrendering.
Lee Grant (and Joseph Wiseman too) in Detective Story typifies what the “supporting” in “supporting performance” entails. I think it was her first time in front of a camera – maybe his too – and she is brilliant.
The lady who plays The Maid in Cries and Whispers by Bergman.
Carol Baker (Giant)
Harriett Andersson (Smiles of a Summer Night)
Barbara Loden (Splendor in the Grass)
Bruce Dern (King of Marvin Gardens)
Yaphet Kotto (Blue Collar)
David Morse (Inside Moves)
Patrick Deware (Beau Pere)
Elias Koteas (The Thin Red Line)
Sylvie Testud (Murderous Maids)
Evan Rachel Wood (The Life Before Her Eyes)
Sheryl Lee in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me
I really love to watch J.J. Hunsecker in The Sweet Smell of Success – you don’t hear much about that performance.
William Powell – My Man Godfrey
Eddie Murphy – Bowfinger
Jeffrey Wright in pretty much everything.
Dare I say it? Oliver Stone has such a habit of overshadowing most projects, that poor Val Kilmer’s magnificent performance as Jim Morrison in “The Doors” is almost forgotten as a result. The film is flawed; his performance is not.
Kate Hudson in Almost Famous
A wonderful performance, it’s a shame about the rest of her career.
Many comedic gems barely ever get discussed:
Eddie Murphy in The Nutty Professor
J.K. Simmons, Allison Janney, and Jennifer Garner in Juno
The entire supporting cast of Amelie
Amy Adams in Enchanted
Henry Fonda in The Lady Eve
Marilyn Monroe in Some Like It Hot
Marisa Tomei in My Cousin Vinny (gets discussed a lot, but often derogatorily)
Bill Murray in Groundhog Day
Catherine O’Hara in just about everything (but especially in For Your Consideration)
Steve Martin in All of Me
John Malkovich in Being John Malkovich
Johnny Depp in Ed Wood (maybe not his best, but certainly his most fascinating)
Gene Wilder in Young Frankenstein
Rosalind Russell in His Girl Friday
And never underestimate how hard it is to give a great camp performance:
Tim Curry in The Rocky Horror Picture Show
Faye Dunaway in Mommie Dearest
Madeline Kahn in Clue (“Flames. Flames, on the side of my face…”)
And Uma Thurman in Kill Bill, Vol. 1. Criminally underappreciated.
Michael Parks as Esteban Vihaio and Earl McGraw in Kill Bill. Best performance in the entire film.
Tim Roth in Vincent & Theo (1990), quite possibly the finest performance of the last 20 years (No exaggeration). Why it received so little recognition is beyond me.
User de Faux-Fuyants
Klaus Kinski – Woyzeck
oen of the most brilliantly deranged performances of all time.