Best of 2011: My Favorite Performances

The following are my favorite performances of 2011. They are the men and women* who stood out to me, who were vital to the success of the films they were in, who I thought about weeks and months after seeing. They are presented in alphabetical order by last name except one that I have chosen as my absolute favorite of the year.

Joel Edgarton, Tom Hardy and Nick Nolte – Warrior

There is a lot to love about the rousing fight drama Warrior but its cast is especially impressive. Tom Hardy and Joel Edgarton give understated performances as estranged brothers, one an angry Iraq War veteran (Hardy); the other, a devoted father (Edgarton). Together, with Nick Nolte, who plays their recovering alcoholic father, they form a fractured – and believable – family whose complex relationships elevate the film beyond the ring.

Michael Fassbender – X-Men: First Class, A Dangerous Method

Michael Fassbender had a great year. He starred in a new Jane Eyre as Rochester, a plum role for any brooding actor, and got a lot of attention playing a sex addict in Shame (both films unseen by me). His intensity was a standout of X-Men: First Class where he played the young, Nazi-hunting Magneto, and he gave a more nuanced performance as psychologist Carl Jung in David Cronenberg’s A Dangerous Method. I don’t doubt we will continue to see strong work from him in the future.

Ryan Gosling – Drive, The Ides of March

Speaking of great years, how about that Ryan Gosling? After the romantic comedy Crazy Stupid Love, he had two killer leading roles. I wasn’t as wowed by Drive as some were but I admired Mr. Gosling’s work as the nameless protagonist whose silence hints at a deeply troubled past. And in The Ides of March, he held his own sharing scenes with Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Paul Giamatti. I’d be hard pressed to name a better young star.

Jeremy Irons – Margin Call

The financial thriller Margin Call boasts an exceptional ensemble cast (including Simon Baker, Paul Bettany, Demi Moore, Zachary Quinto, Kevin Spacey and Stanley Tucci) but I want to single out Jeremy Irons who plays John Tuld, the CEO of an investment firm facing certain doom. Mr. Irons has a voice well suited to villainy (his voice will still be familiar to many as that of Scar from The Lion King) but his portrayal of this cold, calculating billionaire is not one-dimensional. Tuld conveys the gravity of their dire situation without wavering from his brutal, capitalist morals, and Mr. Irons delivers some potentially heavy-handed monologues forcefully and convincingly. He is a compelling, absorbing presence in every scene.

Hunter McCracken – The Tree of Life

So few children in movies actually act like children but Hunter McCracken’s performance as Jack, the young protagonist of Terrence Malick’s cosmic opus, The Tree of Life, has astonishing depth and complexity. The film is, among other things, about a boy’s transition from carefree, childhood innocence to the emotional burdens of adulthood. Since the film has minimal dialogue, Jack does not feel like the artificial construction of a screenwriter but, rather, a living, breathing kid. He throws angry fits, is dependent on his mother’s love, and runs through the quiet, suburban streets of his home, unaware of the impossible hugeness of the universe he lives in.

Viggo Mortensen – A Dangerous Method

Viggo Mortensen takes on the weighty role of Sigmund Freud and makes it his own with characteristic ease. His Freud is a highly intelligent man who knows full well the scope of his influence and intellect. He exacts his powerful, analytic mind not only on his patients but also his peers and even himself. He speaks with absolute certainty and clarity. This is Mr. Mortensen’s third collaboration and in each film he has turned in a strong (and very different) performance – a rural family man with a past, a Russian mobster. Few actors are so adventurous in their selection of roles and so consistent.

Christopher Plummer – Beginners

The heart of Mike Mills’s warm, autobiographical Beginners rests in Christopher Plummer’s performance as Hal, a feisty old man who responds to his cancer diagnosis with a continued, unflinching zeal for life. Having only recently come out of the closet, Hal is enjoying a newfound freedom in the lifestyle and Mr. Plummer expresses a wealth of happiness behind the smallest of smiles. The last act of life need not be a bittersweet goodbye and Hal’s optimism is contagious, both to his son, Oliver (Ewan McGregor), and to us.

John C. Reilly – Cedar Rapids, Terri, Carnage

John C. Reilly continues to prove how versatile his skills are. He is a gifted comedic actor whose lovable schmo persona was a joy to watch in Carnage, Roman Polanski’s comedy about bickering couples, and his insurance salesman with a rockstar-sized ego was a highlight of Cedar Rapids. He also gave the high school coming-of-age story Terri some laugh out loud moments as a jovial assistant principal. He is the rare actor who is as comfortable in a Will Ferrell comedy as he is in more “serious” fare, stealing scenes wherever he goes.

My Favorite Performance of the Year:

Vera Farmiga – Higher Ground

Faith is a very personal thing and though it is often celebrated in the company of others, such as in the evangelical community in Higher Ground, the process of exploring and discovering one’s faith must first happen internally. Vera Farmiga has the difficult task of playing a woman, Corinne Briggs, who wrestles with her faith, believing at first that she has found it only to question the role the Lord truly plays in her life. These are delicate feelings that are rarely displayed externally and yet, in the film, there is never a moment when we are unsure what is on Corinne’s mind. Mrs. Farmiga expresses Corinne’s hopeful optimism, her disappointment when her marriage and her church let her down, and her unflagging desire and willingness to open her heart to religion. This is a breakthrough performance from an immensely talented actress and is not to be missed.

* Looking over the eleven names above I notice there is only one woman. A sexist oversight on my part? Perhaps. Worth noting, however, is how few substantial roles there are for women in movies today. The majority of movies I saw this year were absent of female leading roles that were not romantic interests to a more heavily featured male character or sexualized. Also worth noting is that the one woman on my list, Vera Farmiga in Higher Ground, also directed the film. Whether or not women need to be behind the camera in order to get quality parts in front of it is a discussion for another time but these are issues worth thinking about.

(Two notable exceptions from this year are the box office hits Bridesmaids and The Help, both directed by men and featuring female ensembles. I wasn’t a fan of either film but in neither case do their faults lie in the acting, which is strong across the board. And I am happy the popularity of Bridesmaids may open doors for more female-centric comedies.)

- Steve Avigliano, 2/23/12

REVIEW: Carnage

Carnage (2011): Dir. Roman Polanski. Written by: Roman Polanski and Yasmina Reza, based on the play "God of Carnage" by Yasmina Reza. Starring: Jodie Foster, Kate Winslet, Christoph Waltz and John C. Reilly. Rated R (Language). Running time: 79 minutes.

3 stars (out of four)

In Carnage, a new film directed by Roman Polanski and based on a play by Yasmina Reza, two couples meet in an apartment to discuss an incident involving their sons, Zachary and Ethan. Zachary hit Ethan with a stick in the playground and now Ethan needs surgery to replace two missing teeth. But there is no need for these four adults to get embroiled in their sons’ feud, they say. They’re bigger than that. Ethan’s parents (played by Jodie Foster and John C. Reilly) invite Zachary’s (Christoph Waltz and Kate Winslet) over their apartment to have a civilized conversation about how to proceed. The central irony of Carnage is that the parents are no better than their children. Indeed, they may be much, much worse.

Over the course of their conversation, tensions escalate and their talk moves away from cordialities and into a heated debate that touches on their marriages, parenting styles and the specific handling of a situation involving a hamster. Mostly though, the couples verbally tear each other apart until everyone is thoroughly miserable.

This potentially tedious premise is actually a lot of fun thanks largely to the actors, who dig into the material with great zeal. The script, written by Mr. Polanski and Ms. Reza, sometimes labors too hard to keep its characters in one room long after any sane individual would have left. The couples’ discourse has an undeniably stagy quality but the skilled cast is able make the whole affair seem perfectly natural.

Penelope (Foster) and Michael (Reilly), the host couple, are middle class New Yorkers pushing toward the upper middle. Michael has a small business selling furniture supplies and Penelope is an intellectual currently working on a book about “the Darfur tragedy.” John C. Reilly is an absolute joy to watch in the role. He is the perfect picture of geniality and good humor in the face of social discomfort, dispensing pleasantries and lame jokes that mostly fall on deaf ears. As the afternoon wears on, Michael sheds his role as peacekeeper and we see him for the short-tempered, stubborn man he is. Penelope is a little less multidimensional and gets a tad shrill by the end but is convincingly portrayed by Ms. Foster.

Kate Winslet gets the more fun role as Nancy, a stuffy, uptight lawyer who shows her true colors after a few drinks. Her husband, Alan (Waltz), is also a lawyer. He works for a pharmaceutical company that is currently in the midst of media fallout surrounding a drug’s side effects. Alan was able to spare enough time in his schedule to meet with Penelope and Michael but is constantly on his phone conducting business calls. Ms. Winslet plays nicely off Christoph Waltz. Every time the incessant ringing of Alan’s phone interrupts the couples’ conversation, Nancy shoots daggers at him while her lips contradict her with a polite smile. Mr. Waltz is great fun too; Alan is the voice of reason in the group, though his wisdom often comes in the form of condescending, cynical remarks.

Throughout the film, allegiances shift from couple against couple, to a battle of the sexes, and back again. Michael and Alan find common ground in their stubbornly chauvinistic ideas of masculinity and marriage. That is, until Alan makes fun of Michael’s humble business and the war returns to one of social class.

Carnage is a brief film without much of a resolution. Once the two couples have sufficiently ripped each other to shreds, it ends. Roman Polanski and Yasmina Reza manage to keep things light by not making the audience complicit in the vengeful feud onscreen. We are afforded a comfortable seat from which we can laugh at the characters’ indecencies without worrying whether we would fare any better in their places. Before you know it, the movie is over and we have emerged unscathed and entertained from the preceding whirlwind of negativity and anger. Mr. Polanski and Ms. Reza’s approach ensures that Carnage is not a terribly illuminating film but it is an enjoyable one.

- Steve Avigliano, 1/22/12