End of 2012: 10 Favourite Female Performances of 2012

Continuing with my lists to wrap 2012 up, I give you third and the last post looking at some of my favourite performances from 2012 by Actresses in leading or supporting role. I know many of us, including me, do believe that 2012 was a great year for cinema. But I also believe that it was even a better year for the actresses. We had so many amazing performances throughout this year that limiting this list to 10 was considerably difficult task than my previous list of Actors. The fact that only one of the two Oscar winners made the list and that too as an honourable mention should be an indication enough of it. 

Starting the list off with honourable mentions who very well could have made the list but missed:  Jennifer Lawrence in Silver Linings Playbook, Kareena Kapoor in Talaash, Juno Temple in Killer Joe, Quvenzhane Wallis in Beasts of the Southern Wild and Helen Hunt in The Sessions.

Off to the main list, which is once again listed in an alphabetical order as I did in the last list since I find it so much easier this way to focus on things that matter, like their acting.

Amy Adams in The Master: I LOVE Amy Adams. Best way to get me excited about a movie is to cast her in it. Now you know what to expect next, right? If I remember correctly, Disney's Enchanted(2007) was the first time I saw an actress named Amy Adams. She has certainly come a long way since then, even by becoming my favourite contemporary actress. I have not only seen every movie she did since then, I have plowed my way through most of her filmography before it as well. Even if we try to find, I don't think we will find someone who can go from Enchanted to The Master or from Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day(2008) to The Fighter(2010) or Junebug(2005), one of earlier roles to Doubt(2008) or... I can go on, but I guess you get my point. If you are wondering, the reason I am not talking about her role in The Master specifically is because I've said it time and again - off course, she was amazing. How can she not be?

Vidya Balan in Kahaani: Over the last few years, Vidya Balan has successfully established herself as the go-to actress for more woman-centric, serious and challenging roles. Starting off with Parineeta in 2005, she has tackled wide variety of roles in her career so far. The reason this becomes a significant achievement is even now, majority of actresses in Hindi industry are essentially caught playing the role of love-interest. Even Kahaani as a movie deserves special mention as movies with strong female lead with almost no male actor in much significant role is almost never heard of in Indian scenario. The fact that they not only made such a movie but did it well and got Balan for it who skillfully handles all the ups and downs of this character is just a cherry on top.

Jessica Chastain in Zero Dark Thirty: 'Miss 2011' had a kinda quiet 2012. Off course by her 2011 standards, almost anything would be quiet but even by normal standards, 2012 wouldn't be called great. Off course, that was until she started making waves with Kathryn Bigelow directed Zero Dark Thirty which got many rave reviews for her performance. Even though I would say I quite loved ZDT, I have had my problems with it. And so did I with Maya as well but I guess that comes with the trade. Despite my reservation with the character, there is no denying that this was a praiseworthy performance. Determination and perseverance of the character really reflects through her performance. Maybe the die-hard Homeland(2011) fanatic in me has something to do with it because her character here is very similar to Carrie but I really admire them both despite their flaws.

Marion Cotillard in Rust and Bone: In many ways, this was my real introduction to Marion Cotillard. Not that I had not seen any of her movies before but most of what I had seen includes her in the supporting cast. Midnight in Paris(2011) was probably the biggest role of her I had seen prior. So this was my first powerful Marion Cotillard performance and she did prove herself worthy of all the praises. Rust and Bone not so much, I found it hard to really connect to Mathias Schoenaerts' Alain until the last 15 minutes, which did give him some gravity but not much. Cotillard, on the other hand, was really amazing. Her independent fierce nature before her accident, her defeated, lost demeanour after loosing her legs but her slow transformation back into the world with the help of Alain is projected very ably by Cotillard. I honestly think if they focused more on her, Rust and Bone would have been a better movie.

Rosemarie DeWitt in Your Sister's Sister: If you know me, if you have been following this blog for some time, you would probably know that this role has been my soft spot this whole award season. I even did a post making case for her.The thing about Your Sister's Sister is Emily Blunt was the only person related to this movie that I can say I had any previous knowledge of. I had only seen DeWitt in Rachel Getting Married(2008), Mark Duplass and Lynn Ramsey pretty much nowhere. So, you can say I did not have much expectations of it and it really surprised me but Rosemarie DeWitt has to be the most pleasant surprise of them all. She was smart, funny, extremely subtle and very genuine in her role letting her eyes and her expressions doing most of the talking. She was so natural, so comfortable in her role that she had me completely won over by the end of it.

Ann Dowd in Compliance: I spent half of Compliance screaming 'Really?', 'Are you really going to do that?' or 'How can you be so stupid?' at the screen to Dowd's Sandy. The other half was spent in utter disbelief of her stupidity. But when I calmed down a bit after the movie and thought objectively about the movie and performances in it, I have to say that Compliance would not have been half as good as it was without performance of this gullible manager of fast food chain restaurant from Ann Dowd and then she just hits it out of the park in that last scene of her interview. Her submissiveness, willingness to comply to the apparent authority figure was the biggest selling point of the movie and from my reactions, I have to say they more than succeeded in it. Giving the credit where it's due - Ann Dowd, you have successfully gotten under my skin.

Anne Hathaway in The Dark Knight Rises: I know I said only one Oscar winner made my list and that was in honourable mentions. Even though Hathaway is second winner this year, she didn't win it for this role right? Now, I haven't seen Michelle Pfeiffer's Cat-woman in Batman Returns(1992). I have seen a lot of people praising her and maybe they are right, maybe she is really great, maybe she is even better than Hathaway in this role. But from the day this casting news was made public, almost everyone dismissed Hathaway. 'She will never hold a candle to Pfeiffer', 'Nolan should leave Cat-woman alone' they said. I'll admit that was mainly because 'In Nolan we Trust', a fan-boy motto and even though I do not have anything against her, I ain't exactly a Hathaway fan either but still I thought this was highly unfair. If I had one expectation from Rises, it was for Hathaway to kick some major ass. And Boy, did she deliver? Even beyond my wildest expectation.

Emmanuelle Riva in Amour: Of all the nominees for Best Actress this year, Riva was my choice. I am not exactly saying that she was the best of the lot but more like, I wanted her to win regardless of whether she was better than others or not. It was more emotional than logical though she was indeed really great. Amour was my 'movie of the year' as well and none of he other four movies made it to my top 15, so I guess that was the catalyst. This movie is all about the slow deterioration of her health after her stroke up until her eventual death and her relationship with her husband. Amour is painstakingly real, maybe even a little too real and Riva's portrayal of every stage of her deterioration gets a lot of credit for that. However, at the same time she also provides some of the rare lighter moments of the movie like running her husband over with her new wheelchair. What Riva does with moments like these was one of the very important reasons for making it my favourite movie of the year.

Sridevi in English Vinglish: To those unaware of who Sridevi is, she was one of the most popular actresses in the Hindi film industry in '80s and '90s however she hasn't really worked much since then. So in a way, this also marks her return to her glory days though I have no idea if it is for just this one film or she is thinking seriously about it but either ways, this is quite a return. I've always had issues with her voice and the manner in which she speaks which was really distracting. It didn't magically vanish in English Vinglish but by making her housewife considered insignificant by her own family director Gauri Shinde managed to use it to her advantage. To Sridevi's credit, she brings out the vulnerabilities of her character beautifully which makes her overall journey even more remarkable. Her sweet mannerisms make us like her character and genuinely care for her, quite an achievement for someone who would very easily annoy me.

Rachel Weisz in The Deep Blue Sea: When I saw The Deep Blue Sea, I did not know that this is a remake. After watching this, I checked out the older 1955 movie. When I saw Vivien Leigh played the part that Weisz plays, of Hester in original, I smiled to myself. Knowing what I know about Leigh, it made me a little sad but I thought Vivien Leigh would have been perfect for this role. Hester's love is self-destructing. I don't mean to get too philosophical but after something like the underground train station scene in this movie, I feel like nobody should love anyone so much that it hurts if you aren't loved as much in return. Cinematography and more importantly background score of this movie deserve good part of credit for it but every time you see Weisz on screen, there is so much yearning, there is so much pining, it wrenches your heart. My heart sinks a little even thinking of her now.

And with this, I am done with you 2012!! So what did you think of them? Are they really as worthy as I think? Did I miss someone?  Please let me know in the comments.

End of 2012: 10 Favourite Male Performances of 2012

A few days ago, I started wrapping 2012 up with sharing my favourite movies of the year 2012. Today, I continue this with another list of some of my faourite performances of the last year in two parts. First installment today includes my 10 favourite performances by Actors - in a lead role or in a supporting role. When I started writing this post, I thought about ordering them. But soon I realized that I will have to spend more time in deciding that order than actually writing this. Too damn difficult. So, I decided to take the highway and do it in alphabetical order. That way, we can spend more time discussing greatness of their acting than arguing over them by comparing them with each other.

Special Mention: Javier Bardem in Skyfall, Tommy Lee Jones in Lincoln, Omar Sy in The Intouchables, Gael Garcia Barnal in No, Samuel L. Jackson in Django Unchained.

Off to the main list, we go:

Daniel Day-Lewis in Lincoln: I hate to start off with the negativity but I wasn't a big fan of Lincoln but even then I could not help falling for the towering performance DDL gave as the 16th President of America. The way he donned Lincoln's persona - his voice, his overall body language was really impressive. Now I am not some kind of Oscar pundit nor have been following the Oscar race for many years but I think even they will be really hard pressed to find someone who dominated any category like DDL did this year. I mean people were claiming he will go on to win this Oscar right from the start of the year and he not only won his third Oscar, I think he won every damn award he can. Without taking anything away from his performance which I said is a damn fine one, this feat DDL pulled off impressed me more.

Richard Gere in Arbitrage: Once upon a time long long ago, when I saw this movie in around October 2012, Richard Gere was still in contention for his work for Best Actor. Whole award season went by and I kept waiting for his name to pop-up somewhere, in some critics awards maybe or at least somewhere as an honourable mention. Alas! This was never to be. No disrespect to all the winners and nominees, most of which incidentally are in this list as well, but I genuinely thought he was really good as this successful businessman with a dark side to hide . He only gets better as the movie goes on and he finds himself trapped deeper and deeper into this mesh of fraud and deceit he has built around himself. That may not be good enough for anyone else's list, it sure is for me.

John Hawkes in The Sessions: John Hawkes is Mark O'Brien in The Sessions, a man with an Iron lung. So basically, he has to build the whole central character of the movie without using anything below his neck. If you have heard anything about body language being very important aspect of character - well, none of that here. But he does succeed in giving us this guy, this extraordinary guy with his extraordinary life despite his extraordinary limitations based on just his face and his voice. And he does a fabulous job of it. The Sessions is basically a story about multiple women in his life and him losing his virginity. But with the help of some beautifully constrained writing and some fabulous acting, it never becomes crass. On the other hand, it is actually very sweet and touching and Hawkes gets lion's share of credit there.

Philip Seymour Hoffman in The Master: I am pretty sure all of us must have wondered this at some point or the other - Has Philip Seymour Hoffman NOT being great in any role? If he has, I certainly have not seen it. Hoffman shines in yet another mesmerizing performance as Lancaster Dodd, the master in The Master. As a leader of cult, he initially shows charisma, power, control but as we get to know him more, at the very first sign of trouble he also shows lack of depth, lack of conviction and flips out as someone with the make-belief philosophy that you are supposed to accept blindly, not question would. He also proves it later by showing more vulnerability as a husband but in the end, still pulls that skin back onto himself and stays in that role. Anyone who can go through so many transitions in single role deserves to be in this list.

Denis Lavant in Holy Motors: Though I said at the top this these performances are in no order of preference, this particular performance is an exception to that rule. Denis Lavant's work in Holy Motors is certainly my favourite performance of last year. Now I know that this movie has had its detractors but I hardly know anyone who wasn't impressed with Lavant's work and that in itself says a lot about this role. Just a sheer range of characters he goes through - from a filthy beggar to monster to old uncle on his death bed to motion capture dancer to accordion player to many others - in a single movie is mesmerizing. However what made him stick with me are those brief moments he would spend outside any role. To my eyes, those moments made him a man, a normal living, breathing person like you and me rather than just a freak dressing up time and again. If he can handle those transitions well, I think he can handle pretty much anything and he does.

Anders Danielsen Lie in Oslo, 31 August: When we first meet Anders in Oslo, he has just about completed his program to get over his drug addiction. He has a day pass to appear for an interview and meet some of his old friends and family as well. Everyone he meets throughout the day is confidant that he is doing great and once he gets out, a complete new life awaits him in which he will be successful. The only problem here is he himself Never feels so. Lie really breaths a life in the lifelessness of Anders life. Lie is an actor that I have neither seen nor heard of before, even though I've heard many good things about Reprise(2006) from the same actor-director and which sits prettily in my Netflix queue. But what brings Oslo to life is Lie's perfect rendition of Anders' psyche to his very end. 

Matthew McConaughey in Killer Joe: Even though he was a much more familiar name around, Matthew McConaughey to 2012 is what Jessica Chastain was to 2011. He had that Midas touch to turn pretty much everything touched into Gold last year. I am sure people will make a very strong case for him in Bernie as well as in Magic Mike, I have a very distinct reason why I chose Killer Joe over the other two roles and the reason is I haven't seen either of them yet. Sorry. Now I have my issues with Killer Joe as well, especially with the little too rushed ending. But as far as McConaughey is concerned, I have nothing to complain. The Midas touch I was talking about. He is calm, composed and really creepy at the same time; like that infamous chicken leg scene. It's a difficult combination to pull off and doing it convincingly is whole another ball game.

Joaquin Phoenix in The Master: I have spoken a lot about how enigmatic The Master is as a movie. As far as this enigmatic feeling of the movie is concerned, Phoenix gets the majority credit even though I do believe Philip Seymour Hoffman has turned in better performance of the two leading men of this movie. There is no denying though that he also gives an all-in performance, probably the best of his career. Right from the first scene of the movie when we see Phoenix on a boat, fighting the war, he just catches the nerve of this character right off and never lets it go until the very end, through all the highs and the lows of the story, crests and troughs of his character and for the better or for the worse of us, the audience. You may not understand this Freddie Quell but you cannot deny the authenticity of Phoenix's performance. Even Academy didn't, even after he bad-mouthed them. 

Christoph Waltz in Django Unchained: This role of Dr. King Schultz was specifically written with Christoph Waltz in mind. Dr. Schultz is snappy, he is cunning as a fox. He knows exactly what he wants, how to get his job done, by hook or by crook and is really good at what he does but above all he is a good, fair man and a loyal friend. Probably the fact that this role was written for him helps its cause but it is almost impossible to imagine anyone else in this role. As much as Tarantino, Christoph Waltz deserves credit for that too. After all, execution of it is as much important as its design and Waltz looks perfectly at ease in Tarantino's world and does wonders with his dialogues. Of the cast that boasts equally great performances from likes of Leonardo DiCaprio and Samuel Jackson, Waltz shines the brightest. Now that, no one wrote for him, did they?

Denzel Washington in Flight: Another one from the movie that unfortunately I did not really care for but was completely captivated by a performance(I should probably use performances, plural since Denzel Washington in the central role isn't the only role that grabbed my attention), another one of those addicts, fiends that I seemed to be taken by in 2012. I would have loved for Gatins and Zemekis to concentrate a little more towards the legal battle he was facing for his actions but that's not for me to decide and besides that is not what I am here for. I am here to tell you how much I loved Washington's performance and why? I think the best compliment I can give him is at no point in the whole movie did I think that he was acting. He was living it. It was Whip Whitaker on the screen, never Denzel Washington.

So what did you think of them? Are they really as worthy as I think? Did I miss someone?  Please let me know in the comments.

End of 2012: 15 Favourite Films

Over the past 4 months, I have been trying to finish the wishlist of 2012 movies as much as possible. To this day, I have seen 75 movies released in the last year. However, with Oscars over, it is time to wrap-up the 2012 once and for all. To start off, I give you the list of 15 Favourite movies of the year. It will be followed by favourite Performances lists, Male and Female, which will leave me free to pursue all the rest of the movies that I have kept aside in last few months. 

2012 was a strong year for movies. I am not saying this only because I saw more movies this year(71) than last year(47). But also because how I rated them. Throughout the year, I kept the list of movies I saw in this calender year on Letterboxd and according to that list, I have 28 movie rated 4 and higher and 52  rated 3 and half or higher. That is really good year !! You can see the whole list here but for now, let us get to this list.

15) The Dark Knight Rises: Part of me still thinks that I decided to do 'Top 15' list so that I could include Rises. I could've done standard Top 10 or Top 20 but I decided to go with 15. I don't know why, all I do know is I can't help being a Christopher Nolan fan-boy. Is it a perfect movie? I am afraid, no. It is not even my favourite of the trilogy but I think this was a very fitting finale of one of the best trilogies. You can talk about all the plot holes in the movie and say it is illogical that Bruce Wayne just kinda walks from his prison suddenly to Gotham city but it DID NOT bother me, at all. So, there you go!!

14) Oslo, August 31: About six months ago, this little Norwegian movie was nowhere on my radar. First I heard about this, I even dismissed this for being just another addiction movie. We have seen enough of them in last few years. Fast forward to now and almost everyone I know who has seen this movie is ready to vouch for it and I am not the one to object. Despite being 'just another addiction movie', it is not exactly that because of the two things - brutal honesty of its script and the excellent execution of it by Anders Danielsen Lie, who will make another appearance in next list, in the leading role.

13) Compliance: Almost everyone who has seen this movie has come out saying its good that what we see in this movie has actually happened because otherwise it is impossible to believe that people can be that stupid. I understand the irony of statement but I have to agree. Almost throughout the movie, I did not believe it for a second that this can actually happen. Imagine my surprise when I realized that not only every word of it is true but it has also happened, over and over.

12) Holy Motors: One of the most controversial, or should I say divisive movies of the year and incidentally not the only one in this list. Reactions for this movie have been all over the place. Denis Lavant and his multiple, outrageous personifications have been the make or break condition for this movie. To me, there was more than enough heart in it to just discard it as a gimmick. I was fascinated by his roles which more than once fooled me, thinking the role he is playing is his real life. Probably my favourite performance of the year.

11) The Perks of being a Wallflower: Perks is one of the movies that I wasn't much excited about until I heard everyone rave about it. They did build up my expectations but now I was running a risk of something being over-hyped. Thirty minutes into the movie, I was sure of it as it really didn't do much for me. I don't remember if there was one point where that changed or it just grew on me minute by minute, but something did happen and it just worked. I was completely taken by the end of it, I was involved in it, I started to care about the characters. I wish I had some better explanation but it just worked.

10) Django Unchained: For the first time, I felt like I know when people talk about Tarantino and his indulgence. But, guess what? I did not give a damn. Its Tarantino. If he does anything, I mean anything, off course, we will all be there, right? So if he won't, who will? And besides, I really enjoyed it a lot. I enjoyed the story which Tarantino seamlessly takes through multiple genres, loved the characters, loved the actors playing them even more. Foxx, DiCaprio and many others in whatever small role they had did a great job. Samuel Jackson kicked some serious ass but Waltz was a real highlight for me and naturally, I was happy to see him get rewarded at Oscars. 

9) Once Upon a Time in Anatolia: One of the most beautiful looking movies I have seen. Before this movie, I never thought that even a barren piece of desert can look so beautiful. Add the subtle humour and social commentary of this movie to it and we have something really different, something that we rarely see. Little over 100 minutes of this movie feature a hunt for a body. As far as that hunt is concerned, this movie progresses at a snail's pace where rarely anything happens but despite that, there were so many interesting things going on with these people involved in it that this became the most fascinating hunt I have seen in long time. It would have been much higher in here if it sustained after they find the body.

8) The Sessions: I never thought I would like this movie as much as I did and for that I have to give credit to John Hawkes' brilliant performance, Helen Hunt's frankness and honesty in her role and most importantly, to Ben Lewis' writing and direction to give the maturity and lightheartedness to the whole movie that is basically about losing virginity and involves so much of nudity. Helen Hunt played major part in doing that but it was John Hawkes' movie from the start and he does wonders under the limitations of his role - Mark O'Brien, a man in an iron lung. I won't complain much but I would have loved to see him getting that nomination he deserved.

7) English Vinglish: 2012 was a great year for Indian cinema as well. At least, at the end of the year I have 5 movies that I can say I genuinely liked, something I had to stretch for in 2011 and 2010. So, the Indian in me is immensely happy that I found a Hindi movie worthy of making into a Top 10. A movie that made it to TIFF is also the one that marks return of Sridevi, one of the most sought after actresses of 80s and early 90s. Director Gauri Shinde's first directorial attempt is pure bliss, a perfect movie even in its imperfect moments such as Shashi's speech at the end. For an Indian living abroad, even though none as humiliating, I have gone through few similar incidents myself and Shinde captures them rather beautifully.

6) Cloud Atlas: If you go back to the excerpt I wrote when I saw it back in November in that month's wrap-up post, I said that one thing I appreciate most about Cloud Atlas is for a movie with such a scope, it had lot of heart. From the moment we all saw its first trailer, I am sure we all knew that this movie had a gigantic scope - Six stories, hordes of characters, story lines spanning multiple centuries, even millenniums and three directors. That was never a surprise, I knew that I will have to watch it multiple times to really get it. All I wanted was for it to engage me enough to warrant those re-watches. What made Cloud Atlas appear in this list is not only that it succeeded in engaging me, it surprised me with its heart.

5) The Master: Just after getting out of the theater after watching The Master, I was trying to gauge what my final reaction to it is. I still haven't finished. There is lot to like - amazing cinematography, beautiful score, some great scenes - their first processing, The Amy Adams scene or Hoffman's explosion both times he is questioned and three performances, powerful and subtle or may be not at all subtle, either way. But I could not stop thinking about it. Every time I thought I am reaching a verdict, I would think of something else and process would start again.but I never stopped thinking and no movie has done that to me in a long time. Result: No. 5 on my end-of-year list.

4) Intouchables: A Quadriplegic man hires a young man from projects to be his caretaker. What would you think this movie can be about? War between two different worlds, two classes, races the men come from? Not really. How we can get help from most unlikely sources and change our lives forever? Most Certainly. But from all this, would you expect such a movie to be humorous? Most memorable thing about Intouchables was the amount of comedy in it without loosing the seriousness of the topic. There were multiple moments in the film where I found it hard to contain my laughter. How this film wasn't nominated this year for Foreign Oscar is absolutely beyond me.

3) Argo: This year's big winner with Best Film and Best original screenplay. It made a lot of headlines over the whole award season with winning almost everywhere and as it started winning, people flipped all over it. Apparently then, it wasn't good enough for many people as soon as it made Awards splash. For me, it always was, since the day I saw it. I am currently reading Sidney Lumet's amazing book - Making Movies, in which he says that a good movie is usually bigger than the sum of all its parts. Argo was one such movie for me. There is no one department that stands out but as a whole, I loved that product. Apparently, the fact that I had no idea about the actual event it is based on helped immensely but then again, it is not as much about the end result as about the arches of all the characters. 

2) The Imposter: Another movie I am glad is a true story since I would've never believed it to be true. It is too nifty for its own good. So slick that from the first minute of it I never believed it is true, even though I knew it is. The way Bourdin looks, his accent and even the way he behaves wasn't helping his cause. When Nick's sister comes in and takes him for her brother, I could not think of why would she? except, maybe as he himself says later, because they Want to believe it. But what elevated The Imposter to this rank in the list is the last half hour of it, after Bourdin's true identity is revealed and story of what really happened to Nicholas starts to unfold. Also, bone-chilling calmness with which Bourdin tells the whole story. There is not a hint of remorse on his face anywhere. He is rather enjoying this sick, psychopathic play and for the life of me, I can't fathom the fact that such a person even has a life.

1) Amour: Second year in a row where Foreign film tops my end of the year list, and another movie that as much as I love, I am in no hurry to go back to. Last year it was Incendies(2011); this year it is Amour, Michael Haneke's Palm d'Or winner. Haneke's depiction of an old couple in the last few days in wife's life has been called slow death, it has also been denied being called even a movie. I completely understand every criticism against it, I also see where that comes from. I imagine myself in that same position, especially given the reaction to Haneke's other movies, had I not been through what I have in my own world. I just think I understood what he was going for and it touched me somewhere deep down. It is extremely well acted, Emmanuelle Riva was my pick of this year's Best Actress nominees and technically perfect. Haneke's movies almost always have been provocative, at least in a way they evoke emotional response from the viewer. However, one thing I liked about Amour is he kinda takes a step back in here from delivering the final fatal blow that Haneke mercilessly does in his other films. I guess, that might have been the ONE thing that did the trick for me.

Next up will be my favourite Male performances of the year. Please let me know what do you think of this list in the comments.