Thespians: Top 20 Performances of 2012

Narrowing an entire year's worth of great performances down to just a small shortlist is never easy. If you've come across my lists from previous years, you already know that I don't limit my selections by screen time (leading/supporting categorizations) or gender. Great works of art are not bound by arbitrary setups like those. Despite being lenient with such classifications, I still couldn't find room for all the works I loved. I can't quite believe that I left out Rachel Weisz's aching performance as the adulterous wife in The Deep Blue Sea. Ditto Simon Russell Beale's tender turn as her husband. Paul Rudd was at his very best in Wanderlust and Julianne Moore would have certainly been included if Game Change had been released theatrically. Finally, Tessa Ia (After Lucia) and Quvenzhané Wallis (Beasts of the Southern Wild) both had to carry the weight of their films and gave astonishing debut performances. Alas, I had to cut the list at some point.

20. Liam Neeson (The Grey)

Neeson portrays a character whose resolve is as steely as his imposing physique, but he gives him a human side that reveals itself in different forms throughout. It's a layered creation and fascinating in the way it enriches the screen persona Neeson has shaped for himself in the past few years.

19. Yilmaz Erdogan (Rhino Season)

Erdogan's villain is as vulnerable as he is menacing, which makes this portrayal of a sexually repressed, morally indecipherable character all the more terrifying. He perfectly captures the psyche of religious fundamentalist men in post-revolutionary Iran, those whose rise to power was catalyzed by the very norms that impeded them in the pre-Islamic era.

18. Nicole Kidman (The Paperboy)

Yet another adventurous, challenging undertaking by American cinema's most audacious actress. And yet another successful turn. Kidman brings subtlety to a character whose every trait is unsubtle and makes an inaccessible woman incredibly sympathetic. She's in command of Charlotte; it's Charlotte who's absolutely unhinged.

17. Amy Adams (The Master)

It's a reflective performance, one that slyly changes tonal course over the film. But despite the space she leaves for the audience to interpret her character, the subtext remains the same for me throughout: she's The Master to all. Peggy blends into the background but her controlling presence is always felt.

16. Nina Hoss (Barbara)

Who knew there could be so many facets to the poker face? Nina Hoss's ice-cold titular anti-hero is anchoring one of the most challenging films of the year, but she does so with grace and gravitas. Hoss shapes an imposing persona for a character who's treading on thin ice on the inside. The performance is mesmerizing from start to finish.

Highlights: 2012's Best Line Delivery...

...is "Calm down, crazy!" by Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook.

At various stages, I'd opted for either of the runners-up you see below, but in the end J.Law wins out, not just because her delivery is ace, but also because believe that line will become the most quotable one uttered in any film this year. Attempt to capture Lawrence's pitch-perfect cadence at your own peril though!

Runners-up
"The law says you can not touch, but I think I see a lotta lawbreakers up in this house tonight." by Matthew McConaughey in Magic Mike
"You're dangling my vagina out there like it's bait." by Aubrey Plaza in Safety Not Guaranteed


All 'Best of 2012' Entries...

In Defence of Flawed Filmmaking...

Immediately after Silver Linings Playbook won the audience award at TIFF, an intense backlash started against it by critics who hadn't taken to the film. And the rapid escalation in the number of people who claimed it was a serious contender for Oscars only made matters worse. At the moment, I think Silver Linings Playbook might actually be the most divisive film of the year, even ahead of The Master.

It's an understandable position on the critics' part, as Playbook is by no means a perfect film. In fact, it has enormous flaws in both its conception and execution that would under any other circumstance be incredibly grating. There are moments where one can point to specific decisions in camera work or directing that hurt the film. There can be legitimate complaints about its treatment of mental disorder or its practice of tired romantic comedy tropes. From virtually any angle, this is a film that, on paper, should not work. And yet, it totally does. Because, every now and then, comes along a film that reminds me why I love films in the first place. It reminds me that I watch them to be moved, and to be affected and to live with its characters beyond the two hours I spend in the dark of the theatre. Silver Linings Playbook is that film. Not because I can dissect it and analyze it with what I learnt in university film classes, but because it's honest and moving. Because it can look at itself and like everything about itself without reservation; the loving part and the slutty part and the crazy part. All of it. And I commend it for that.

The beauty of Playbook is in the unpredictable energy of Tiffany's dishonest cries of "he's harrasing me," contained within a performance (by Jennifer Lawrence) that is so at ease with the character's insecurities and her unsubtle sexual allure that it becomes reminiscent of the greatest works of Barbara Stanwyck. The greatest moments in the film aren't the work of a director who creates calculated set-ups, but one who reaches inside his actors and finds their deepest human instincts; like when Dolores gently kisses his son on the forehead, or when the father swells up as he opens up his age-old wounds in the attic, and more often than not, in Pat's confused, heartfelt and sky-blue gazes into our soul. It's a film full of nuanced performances that, under Russell's (problematic but) gutsy direction, breathe a new life into an otherwise generic story with their compassion. Russell may well be the greatest humanist working in American cinema today; a director not with his eyes on the viewfinder but with his heart on his sleeve.

X-Men: First Class

Grade: B-

X-Men: First Class, as the title suggests, tells the story of the beginnings of the X-Men crew, meaning that a group of young and attractive people are getting together in this film to save the world using their overdeveloped genes. The first “few” minutes of the film are spent jumping from 1944 to 1962 and criss-crossing between different locations several times, providing us the back story of Charles, Raven and Erik. Charles (James McAvoy) is a genius who has the power to read and control minds. Raven (Jennifer Lawrence) is a blue-skinned, yellow-eyed, red-haired mutant who can shape shift into anyone else -- and, given that power, why not choose to look like Jennifer Lawrence, of course?) Erik (Michael Fassbender) is a survivor of the Holocaust and the evil of Sebastien Shaw (played by Kevin Bacon) who has the magnetic power to control metals.

These early introductions are put together so tightly and cover so much ground – and in such an indulgent amount of time – that the film begins to drag and confuse. X-Men: First Class doesn’t actually get on track until it slows down to explore the personal dynamics between these characters; the film's best moments arrive when Charles and Erik finally meet and the two actors get to show their remarkable chemistry. McAvoy proves, yet again, that he deserves to be one of the cinema's biggest superstars and Fassbender exhibits the charms and charisma that has kept audiences wondering about the odds of him taking over Daniel Craig as the next 007. Jennifer Lawrence, too, is a standout in this film, fleshing out her character into something more believable and interesting than written for her on the paper.

X-Men: First Class, unlike most of Marvel’s recent outings, doesn't give the impression that its raison d'être is to take money from the audience's wallets and put it in Marvel's own. If one can get on board with the logic of this film, it is one hell of a treat. The visual effects are neatly composed and even though they look too artificial often -- how can you get away from that these days? -- they serve the story well, as opposed to the opposite. At the very least, this isn't in 3D, which is always welcome! Most impressive is the film's sound work, especially during Professor X’s mind reading sequences and the moments wherein Magneto is "focusing".

Technical accomplishments aside, however, the basic logic of the premise remains inescapably outlandish. A thrilling action ride this is, but one that remains unsatisfying because it cannot transcend the trappings of its genre. This is not to say that all superhero films need to utilize the same sense of hefty self-importance as Christopher Nolan's Batman to be successful, but pure entertainment such as this will not linger once the curtains close if there is no thematically resonant element to mull over. X-Men: First Class is as good as it can be for a film's with such limited ambitions, and an audience more attuned to the appeal of superheroes than this writer will surely find it a more gratifying experience.