Reel and Roll: Reel and Roll Awards (10): Best Actor 2017

10 great performances not nominated for the Oscars

HM: Christian Bale, Hostiles

I feel I owe it to one of my favourite actors to give this short review, even though I've lost some of my enthusiasm for this particular performance. This is strange, because while I stand by my original opinion that Captain J. Blocker is possibly Christian Bale's second most impressive performance I've seen, just in terms of the quality of the acting, it's not quite up there with The Prestige, Rescue Dawn, or The Fighter. Because while it contains some of the singular greatest hits of his career, in terms of specific scenes, it doesn't quite hit the heights of his best work on the whole because the whole character and his arc is a bit...rushed. The idea of his character's forgiveness of the Native American chief who murdered his men, and his own atonement for his sins, is a fascinating idea which is given focus, but not enough, as is the captain's relationship with his men. Individaulyl, though, he has phenomenal scenes like his breakdown when talking to one of his wounded men, his breakdown to witnessing the death of another, his hatred at himself when talking to a captive prisoner who makes him confront his violent past, and his final scene which is remarkably subtle acting.

10. Steve Carell, Battle of the Sexes

Carell gives his best performance of 2017 (though he was also very strong in Last Flag Flying) in his second collaboration with Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris, maybe he should just keep working with them because they seem to get career-best after career-best performance out of him. As great as Emma Stone is as Billie Jean King, Carell matches her properly as the more ridiculous of the two, naturally so given that he was the one who insisted on the match in the first place as a means of boosting his publicity. Carell is, as expected, hilarious in the role of the over-the-top and ridiculous 'chauvinist pig', while always making it clear he's putting on an act, and going through all his increasingly clownish antics both in the public eyes, and among his friends, and even King, as he drums up attention to himself, which makes the scenes where he reveals the sad, sensitive individual underneath who loves his wife (Elisabeth Shue) and who truly struggles with his addiction to the spotlight.

9. James Franco, The Disaster Artist

Almost everything Franco does in the role of Tommy Wiseau is hilarious, and is without doubt one of the funniest performances of the year, whether it's the more obvious scenes of him re-enacting scenes from The Room, where he uncannily mimics every single physical tic and mannerism, or just the general weirdness of the guy whenever he's interacting with any person who doesn't live on Tommy's Planet. He also excels in the scenes where he has to reveal more depth to Wiseau, for example the fantastic moment where he breaks down in tars of disappointment during the premiere of The Room. wish there'd been more scenes of this sort because Franco is phenomenal in these moments. A great mostly comedic performance by Franco, though not quite his career-best I'd say.

8. Jeremy Renner, Wind River

Renner's portrayal of Cory Lambert, wildlife tracker on a Native American reservation, is such a unique portrayal of this sort of seasoned veteran character. There's a lack of brooding bitterness or pretensions of a higher purpose in his portrayal of the character, instead he's just a pretty nice, friendly guy. There's a palatable warmth to his character's interactions with others, even the grieving father Martin (Gil Birmingham) of the murdered young Native American woman at the story's center. He maks Cory someone you'd want to spend time with, which makes the scenes where he talks about the grief and pain of his own suffering, and encouraging Martin to let his grief in and accept it, even more powerful. He even makes his character's pursuit of vengeance to feel strangely heartwarming in its own way, by bringing no malice to his portrayal, just a sense of duty of what must be done. Renner's portrayal of a grieving father and a determined exacter of justice is particularly memorable because of the unique approach he brings to what would normally be a stoic, growling performance, which he infuses such warmth and genuine emotion into.

7. Jake Gyllenhaal, Stronger

I'll admit that writing about this performance has made me appreciate it even more, though I'd originally ranked him below the likes of Bale, Franco, and Oldman who arguably have the more 'difficult' roles in terms of tics and mannerisms and the more obvious 'ACTING' in playing larger-than-life figures, while Gyllenhaal's portrayal of real-life Boston Marathon bombing survivor Jeff Bauman is very much just an everyman from the outset, a Bostonian doofus who's bad with organization, time management, and committing to his girlfriend (Tatiana Maslany). As a realistic guy with realistic faults Gyllenhaal is very good, and earns a likability that when tragedy ensues for him, you really engage with his plight. As good as the film is on the whole, it could have fallen apart if not for Gyllenhaal's invested physical portrayal of his character's physical state. The scene where he gets his bandages removed may not scream 'great acting', but it is because of how immersive he makes that singular scene. What I love about the performance is that it continues to show how Jeff's difficult personality hinders his recovery process, as well as his disillusionement at his condition makes his identity as an 'inspirational' hero feel forced upon him. Above all he's incredible in his scenes with Maslany, as they create this warm but troubled relationship that it both heartwarming and heartwrenching. A true return to top form for Gyllenhaal.

6. Song Kang-ho, A Taxi Driver

Song's portrayal of Kim Man-seob, the rougish taxi driver who's attitude towards the riots going on in 1980 Seoul is more of an indifference and annoyance at how it's affecting his business, starts off as a comic performance where he's just a delight in getting annoyed at everyone who gets in his way, while being something of an opportunist for any chance to earn some extra money. Song's inherent likability, though, ensures we do not hate him but rather have affection for his rascally nature, and make the scenes where he unwittingly drives a German journalist (Thomas Kretschmann) to Gwanju, Song's hilarious portrayal of an increasingly annoyed taxi driver who trolls his passenger in an amiable fashion by his less-than-stellar English and pettiness with his payment, and gradually loses this quality as the true nature of the journey is revealed: the journalist wants to cover the Gwanju uprisings, which puts both of them in danger. As he transitions from a hilarious comic performance of a man completely out of the loop, particualrly in his reactions to Kretschmann, to a heartbreaking portrayal of a man witnessing some horrible atrocities, Song dominates every scene with his great reactionary performance, particularly in the scenes where he decides on a 'change of heart' and returns to Gwangju to save his friends, this is both one of the most entertaining and haunting performances of the year

5. Ryan Gosling, Blade Runner 2049

A performance I'll admit to somewhat underrating on my initial viewing. Gosling is a master of the silent, stoic hero, and he does that here to great effect as Agent K, the replicant agent whose sole duty is to search and destroy. He brings his usual brand of calm, reserved cool to the portrayal of this character, which is in itself an achievement, and if he'd just stuck with that it would already be a fairly remarkable performance. What's even better about the performance is the trajectory the film takes him down, as rather than in the typical film noir fashion of having the various aspects of the plot bounce off the character, the film has the various, seemingly discordant plot elements bounce off Gosling's performance, and focusing on how he reacts to each of them, with some of the best scenes of the film are when the camera hones in on Gosling's face.

I love the growing 'humanity' Gosling brings to his performance in terms of the paranoia and fear that builds up within the character as he discovers clue after clue leading to him 'realizing' that he is the missing son of a replicant and the long missing Deckard (Harrison Ford), released in a phenomenal breakdown scene where he breaks down in an outburst of emotion that his subdued performance builds to brilliantly. Whether it's in his heartbreaking romance with Ana de Armas' Joi, the devestating revelations in the third act, or his rousing decision to do the 'right thing' in the film's conclusion, Gosling gives a terrific portrayal of a replicant who discovers what it means to be a real human, a real human bean (sorry couldn't resist).

4. Ethan Hawke, Maudie

In a year with so many great performances across so many different categories and genres, one performance went completely unnoticed, one because the film itself wasn't really seen by many people, two because he starred alongside Sally Hawkins who's also phenomenal and got more of the critical plaudits, three because the very nature of the role is easy to underrate. Hawke's portrayal of Everett Lewis, the employer-turned-husband of Hawkins' Maud Dowley, is a tricky, tricky performance that could have gone terribly wrong, especially at the outset because when we meet Everett, he is a pretty nasty piece of work, a brutish man who copes with his frustrations with angry outbursts and a generally sullen, unpleasant air to everyone around him, Maud included when she comes to offer her services as a cleaning lady. Hawke gives a transformative performance somewhat reminiscent of Joel Edgerton as Richard Loving in Loving last year. He realizes the unique growling accent, the rough physical nature, and the none-too-intelligent state of the character incredibly well, and I'll be honest it took me some getting used to when I watched the film because it was so far removed from the Ethan Hawke I've seen in other performances.

Hawke's portrayal of the brutish Everett is incredible in every scene with Hawkins' Maud, as they create this incredibly complex, difficult relationship from the outset that realizes this dysfunction of two clashing personalities, Maud's talkative and enthusiastic nature at odds with Everett's quietly aggressive disposition. The scenes where Everett is physically and mentally abusive to his housekeeper are exceedingly uncomfortable to watch, which makes Everett's gradual toning down of his nastiness once he sort of gets used to Maud and gets less annoyed by her rather heartwarming. It could've felt completely unearned but he uses this arc, alongside Everett's attitude towards Maud's artwork growing from annoyance to grudging appreciation to genuine admiration, and his blossoming affection in a way that feels so natural to the man. He manages to even find some humour in the man's discomfort with his wife becoming a renowned local celebrity, his fake 'smile' to the press is hilarious, as is his less than stellar negotiation tactics with his wife's artwork, while still finding poignancy in a man who wishes to be left to his own devices and hates the attention of the outside world, as well as hating himself for his initial mistreatment of Maud. Above all this is an incredible portrayal of a nasty man who gradually becomes a better one, and a loving husband. A phenomenal performance by Hawke, and the fact he can't quite crack it into my top 5 is a testament to the strength of the year.

3. Robert Pattinson, Good Time

I'll admit the first time I watched Good Time, I admired both the film and the performance, but it didn't quite 'hit' me with the impact as it did on re-watches. It's available now on Netflix, and I've since re-watched it twice, finding only increased appreciation for the film every time, it's not a flawless film by any means but it contains a flawless performance at its center. The film is sort of an anti-Baby Driver in many ways, as once again we get a handsome young man who partakes in a criminal lifestyle and is almost constantly on the move in accordance with his film's rapid-fire pace, only Constantine 'Connie' Nikas is a real shitbag, to the extent that it really took me aback the first time I watched the film. Where some of the other characters I've discussed thus far have been flawed characters, assholes even, Connie is a thoroughly reprehensible being and frankly doesn't really change that throughout the course of the film, which is kind of what's brilliant about the performance. He's not some rouge who we gradually reveals better hidden depths to his character, he's to quote Brendan Gleeson from In Bruges, a cunt now, who's always been a cunt, and the only thing that's going to change is that he's going to be an even bigger cunt, the question is whether he will ever realize this.

Pattinson disappears into this amoral New Yorker from the outset as he takes his brother Nick (Ben Safdie) out of a well-intentioned therapy session, and proceeds to rob a bank with him, and Pattinson depicts this all as his way of earnestly showing his 'love' for his brother, providing encouragement to him and telling him 'I couldn't have done this without you'. The thing is, Connie's not trying to manipulate his brother, he genuinely thinks he's being helpful to him in his warped mindset. Connie is an asshole and he kind of knows that, but he also thinks he's doing the right thing by his brother, which results in Nick getting arrested. His love for his brother is genuine, but so is the fact that Connie's a horrible human being. As things spiral out of control, we get to the main meat of the film which is essentially Scorsese's After Hours, only with a much less endearing lead at its centre. One might be reading this write-up thinking that I hate Connie as a character, well another aspect of this brilliant performance is try as I might, I always found it hard to entirely hate him, whether he's manipulating his not quite mentally stable girlfriend, breaking into a hospital room to 'rescue' his brother, manipulating a kind woman and her daughter to save is own skin, he plays this as a sort of masquerade where he deceives, flirts, manipulates and charms everyone into helping him out in his many questionable actions, using his desire to get his brother out of jail as a motivation and justification for his actions. You root for his determination to rescue the brother he loves, even though his means of doing so are so reprehensible.

I love every scene where Pattinson 'role-plays' different roles as this 'good' person in order to trick people into helping him, or luring them into a false sense of security, whether it's pretending to be a grieving son of a dying father at the hospital, feigning sexual attraction to a teenage girl, or pretending to be a security guard immediately after having brutally assaulted one, as he's so convincing to the people he deceives, yet in his eyes and in the moments between these 'roles', you see the frustration, and hints of guilt which implode when he's confronted for being a nasty crook by a fellow criminal Ray (Buddy Duress) who calls him out on his actions. Pattinson's twisted mindset where he believes his various crimes and misdemeanors are directed to a greater good, and the quiet gradual realization that he may be the root of all the problems that he has tried to solve, leading to an incredible, surprisingly powerful and quiet scene. Pattinson gives one of the best 'on-the-move' performances of 2017, as the film's kinetic pace and its frequent framing of his face entirely within the view of the camera are met with an equally dynamic, expressive and powerhouse performance.

2. Hugh Jackman, Logan

1. Harry Dean Stanton, Lucky

I was actually more than prepared to write about these two performances in great detail. Then I realized that this would make this an INCREDIBLY lengthy article that no one will bother to read to the end, even those of you who already bear my extremely convoluted overflowing prose, so I'm actually going to leave my extended thoughts to an upcoming article. One might think I'm just trying to cheat my way out of writing about them, but honestly, I already had so much to write about Patrick Stewart and Dafne Keen's terrific performances in Logan and all the other amazing things about Lucky, I feel that I could write a whole essay on my favourite elements of both films.

I'll cover the Reel and Roll Best Director, Best Picture categories first, and then my Oscar Predictions and summary of the ceremony/awards winners, then I'll move onto Mr Stanton and Mr Jackman, alongside my extended piece on Phantom Thread. The article will be entitled...Logan Lucky. Or some variation on that anyway, as I discuss two incredible performances and remarkable films, one which bids farewell to one of the most beloved characters in recent pop culture, and is a heartfelt swansong one of the greatest actors of all-time. Stay tuned.

P.S. I'm aware some of my definitions of 'lead' stretch the definitions of 'lead' a bit far, especially Lieberher, Miller, and Secareanu, so feel free to debate with me below. And for my thoughts on the Oscar nominees, indicated by a (*) below, click here.