'Last great performance you saw' thread

I did search for such a thread because I'm sure I saw one once, but found nothing. if mods know of it, please remove this post to it's proper place. Let's see if this one catches on...



Richard Burton - Look Back in Anger (1959)

The decision of Burton being cast here was criticized due to his age for his character (supposed to be 25, lol), nevertheless the performance earned him a BAFTA and a Golden Globes nomination.

Some changes to the John Osborne play have been made to a good effect: more exterior scenes, couple of more on screen characters - including a cop played by a super young Donald Pleasence - and some moments that "humanize" Jimmy Porter more than the play (we get to actually see him spending time with the mother) and by God is Burton a hammer, a hateful force... good luck looking else where when he's in the frame. Cracks some darkly comic, nasty attacks too to everyone around him that made me chuckle, but wait long enough to see how actually sensitive and helpless he is.

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Erich von Stroheim - The Grand Illusion

Rudolf Hrušínský as Karel Kopfrkingl - The Cremator

His scenes with Pierre Fresnay are so precious...the whole cast do great but these two make the film what it is.

Tatiana Doronina in "Three Poplars in Plyushchikha"

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Lee Kang-sheng in Tsai Ming-Laing's The River (1997)

Not the "latest" exactly, but Mike Myers in 54 really impressed me. It's largely a comedic performance and he livens the movie up a lot with his effortless charisma. But there are also moments of reflection, where you look at him and realize outside the club his life is rather empty. And when he loses it all after going to prison, only allowed one last night to be head of the club, his smile turns into a mournful expression as he knows the next day the single source of joy he had will be over permanently. A brilliant piece of acting from Myers, and proves he possesses genuine dramatic capabilities he rarely gets to show off.

Tim Blake (of the year) Nelson, Old Henry .

I was really impressed with Justice Smith in I Saw the TV Glow. A classic example of a confused and lonely teenager whose family is of no help.

Spencer Tracy - Man's Castle (1933)

S. Tracy has been one of the precious findings of my year. You take a look at his contemporaries and they all could be known for one "thing" (that's not to be mistaken with a lack of versatility here, exactly)... it's either a bold physical feature or a recognizable, over-the-top quality to their mannerism. Clark Gable, Cary Grant, James Cagney...they all got them. Tracy feels different though. Wikipedia refers to his style as naturalism. Whatever it was; be it his years of theater experience or a degree of personal genius, it has made his performances "survive time"; including the method era and today - somehow. He does so much with so little that I'm usually baffled with him.



Man's Castle yet provided a side to him that I hadn't seen before; a full-blown bad boy. As Bill, he rescues a poor Loretta Young before coming clean that he himself is also poor, takes her to a shanty town and they fall in love (not without its own trouble). The whole scene that he finds out she's pregnant; where he goes from half-casual/half-controlling and completely charming in a boyish way to scared (and scary) mode was a sight of beauty to see...and when he decides to commit to her the film really starts (a little late, imo). There's also a play with a flower that his character does and a confession after an attempted robbery where he shined. Bill is funny, innocent, unpredictable and violent all rolled in one role, and Tracy plays him without batting an eye or a moment of over-acting.

Willa Fitzgerald, Strange Darling.

Martin Landau (and Woody Allen) - Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)

Landau here plays one of the very best Allen anti-heroes that I've seen; a questioner - with Bergmanian flashbacks even - in the form of a celebrated and (mostly) calm ophthalmologist who has ordered the murder of his mistress, slowly coming to his senses without ever choosing the right thing to do.

We should be sick of a character like this at this point, if not finding him utterly ridiculous, but through Allen's writing and "framing" of him, Landau creates a serious and troubled man unraveling inside while trying to keep up the appearances. Judah (which reminded me of JUDAS every time it was uttered; and he does betray the two women in his life you see) "pushes the button" as they say in the film while we are watching him, and we are with him when he finds the body... Allen has made us complicit in his crime, and with the way he wraps up this story, I feel I will carry Judah's weight of guilt to the end of my days.

Allen himself plays his part similar to his usual self in his works you could argue; but I especially liked the two moments he directed himself so well here; once when he's receiving a bad news in a phone booth and another when he finds with whom his object of love has ended up... I didn't expect this film to be a punch in the gut like this and these two were the highlights of my evening, easily.

Margaret Qualley and Demi Moore in The Substance are very good

Zendaya (followed by Josh O'Connor and Mike Faist) - Challengers (2024)

I didn't care for the Zen in Dune at all but here she gives a very charismatic performance, and her partners aren't far behind either (especially O'Connor). Some heavy stuff they share together.. all pretty convincing in both of the timelines of the script as well (they should pass as early late-teens/early 20s and early 30s)... Won't forget this trio for a long while to come.

Margaret Qualley in Sanctuary (2022) - A well-directed (especially since the whole of its 90 minutes takes place in one room) "two-hander" that should've been a devastating battle of wits but it never becomes that since Christopher Abbott's character is written as such a loser (he imbues him with as much heart as he can though)... it's mostly Qualley who keeps this watchable.

Now it's not a "deep" performance since whatever her character is projecting is only to be found behind layers of bullsh*t, but it's one backed with an entertaining confidence. From the second the door is opened to her she's "acting"; going from the role of an equal status (at the begining where they're literally sitting in front of each other) to a dominatrix to bargaining (kind of like an ex at times you could say) to lover to Abbott's freaking dad...she smiles and mocks and dances and sheds tears to carry this on her shoulders - I mean faces, while always having to keep us guessing if she's being sincere or not. Goes without saying that it's often not... but when it is, it's surprising.

Maybe not a "great" performance.Not quite a scene-stealing performance. But in Red (2010) and Red 2 (2013), you've got Bruce Willis, Morgan Freeman (1 only), John Malkovich, Helen Mirren. And those are just the main stars. But Mary Louise Parker has the bulk of the snarky observations, the eye-rolling doubletakes, the unexpected barbs. All delivered entertainingly.

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Scarecrow: I haven't got a brain ... only straw. Dorothy: How can you talk if you haven't got a brain? Scarecrow: I don't know. But some people without brains do an awful lot of talking, don't they? Dorothy: Yes, I guess you're right.

^ "Maybe not a "great" performance..."

I mean, yeah - I myself might wanna rename this thread to the last performance to leave an impression, lol. Like the following...

Aubrey Plaza and Elizabeth Olsen in Ingrid Goes West (2017)

I might've given Heineken here shit for holding a certain Aubrey Plaza movie in such a high regard in the past; but betweenScott Pilgrim, THIS and Megalopolis, I have to say she has picked some interesting projects to star in.

This is a comedy targeting the obsessions of Social Media (and really, how far some people go to gather what they consider "love" and attention) in which Plaza plays the titular character Ingrid; a dead-faced (when she's not pretending any other emotion) stalker weirdo, mounting her planned little lies to something bigger and bigger with her every misstep that clashes on her head eventually - but she finds humanity in her character and behind those eager eyes, even when I feel the script becomes a little too much against her, resulting in this nice balance of empathy and serious cringe....Shares some hilarious moments with O'Shea Jackson Jr. and some real uncomfortable ones with Billy Magnussen, a scene-stealling actor I've seen in recent years.

Olsen plays the princess that Ingrid desperately wants to be (or be with; at the height of her status anxiety) but she has her own arch on the screen as well; this perfect image at the begining, her "less cool"/goofy side that comes up when she becomes more intimate with Ingrid (very much like a real-life scenario) and back to cold when she learns of how much of a sicko Ingrid really is.

James Cagney - Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942)

This movie by itself didn’t do much for me. It’s the usual “musical-biopic” formula without any antagonistic force or interesting conflict going on; the kind that were super popular in the 30s & 40s (think the way worse The Great Ziegfeld as a similar one)…I can praise Curtiz for making this about characters and some nice cinematography (albeit intentionally theatrical) but only to some degree, like a few shadowy headroom(s) for couple of characters every once in a while.

The reason that this works is Cagney and his golden performance. With only his first minute on the screen he shattered that gangster “type” image I had of him in mind, then he charmed his way into my heart in his first encounter with his eventual wife (LOL the make-up!) and razzled my dazzles with his tap-dancing abilities. He’s usually a force to be reckoned and even though here he isn’t given many chances to play different (and loud) notes, you gotta love watching how he goes through life by convincing people around him of his opportunities.

Almost every scene he’s convincing somebody for his next goal – notice how much he acts with his extended arms and hands when he does it – until he's faced with one of the latter obstacles, which nobody can’t argue his way out of, and that’s death… in arguably the most memorable scene of the film which he shared with Walter Huston (as his father)… it’s such a powerful moment that reportedly, even made the director Michael Curtiz cry.......... The Cag sells this so hard I almost feel bad for not having voted for it in our recent musical countdown polling.