……………………………………………………….

Top Five Male Performances of 2018

2018 was a pretty strong year for actors. Whereas actresses had a much bigger year in the lead roles, the men had it better when it comes to both supporting and leading roles as exemplified by both being present on my list. Also, foreign movies ruled this year and that also took an effect on the acting itself.

5. Lily Franky – Shoplifters

The only supporting performance in my top five for the year comes from the Japanese instant classic movie Shoplifters. Every performance here is fantastic and every character is thus superb from this family. Lily Franky himself played the essential father figure and just him wanting to become a real father to the boy he adopted was heartbreaking and he played him wonderfully.

4. Viggo Mortensen – Green Book

Green Book’s an overrated movie and the worst one on my list, but it’s still pretty good in large part thanks to terrific acting from Mahershala Ali and Viggo Mortensen. But while Ali’s character is better crafted, Mortensen’s performance is overall more memorable. He excelled at playing this redneck with a heart of gold and proved again how great of an actor he is.

3. Jakob Cedergren – The Guilty

Most of this great Danish thriller relies on this performance and Jakob Cedergren simply excelled in it. He had to play a protagonist being utilized in every scene in this confined setting thriller and he succeeded in every scene, elevating the material even more. He sold in his face every emotion that was demanded of him and thus made the protagonist even richer.

2. Zain Al Rafeea – Capernaum

Capernaum is a highly difficult movie to watch and it’s made even more difficult for the fact that the two kids are so damn adorable. Zain Al Rafeea plays the protagonist and he is an essential core and heart of this otherwise hugely dark movie. This is another amazing example of how strong and underappreciated child acting can truly be as this kid absolutely killed it in a very demanding role both in screen time and in emotional investment required. He’s brilliant.

1. Willem Dafoe – At Eternity’s Gate

At Eternity’s Gate is one of the most pleasant and unexpected indie surprises of 2018 for me and even though it’s great across the board, its standout is easily Willem Dafoe and his terrific performance which I also simply did not expect. He played Vincent van Gogh with such complex emotional levity and nuance that he became pretty much real. He truly needed to be lauded more for this performance which was Oscar-nominated, but he lost and he should have won as clearly the best one from that slate of nominees.

Honorable Mentions:

Richard E. Grant – Can You Ever Forgive Me? – Another Oscar nominee, but this time in the supporting category, is Richard E. Grant who gave a truly stupendous, emotional performance in such a fun movie to which he brought some serious levity with his presence.

Ben Foster – Leave No Trace – Ben Foster went pretty much unnoticed for his great work in Leave No Trace. He played a difficult role as the man hardly ever speaks, but he sold every emotion on his face through some great acting.

Adam Driver – BlacKkKlansman – Adam Driver is always great and underrated in everything he’s in. In BlacKkKlansman he easily steals the show from his much inferior co-star and he played such an interesting, well developed character with a grounded in reality performance.