It’s our favorite time of year, the one in which the many writers of this site pick their favorite performances to write about. There were so many contributions this year that we’ve split the results in two—the second half will run tomorrow. Now, a few notes. These pieces are not comprehensive. There are performances we love that won’t be in either feature, including standouts like Kieran Culkin, Adrien Brody, and Mikey Madison. Perhaps it’s because they’ve already received so much attention, or that we stick to one performer per film, but we don’t love them any less. All we know is that these are 32 great performances of 2024.
Clarence Maclin as Himself in “Sing Sing”
There was no actor on this planet capable of playing Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin more than the man himself. Having stumbled upon Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) during his seventeen years in prison, Maclin returned to “Sing Sing” to bring authenticity to the role based on his own life. From his first appearance, Maclin’s character makes his interest in acting known but can’t leave his troublesome tendencies behind. He’s difficult and doesn’t take direction from his fellow performers. Colman Domingo’s character becomes almost like a mentor to Maclin, but there’s a pivotal moment when that dynamic changes.
It’s easy to imagine his performance being overshadowed by his accomplished co-star, but Maclin holds his own. He is able to translate his experiences on the stage to being in front of a camera for the first time. It must’ve taken a lot for Maclin to revisit Sing Sing, but the most telling aspect of his amazing performance is that I fully expected his IMDB profile to be filled with past work. I thought, “Maybe this was a performer I wasn’t familiar with who has been putting out quality work for the past few years.” That’s not the case! It’s simply unfathomable that Maclin was able to step into this movie and completely knock it out of the park. Hopefully, this is only the beginning of an illustrious career. – Max Covill
Zoe Saldaña as Rita in “Emilia Pérez”
Zoe Saldaña has had a somewhat paradoxical career. She’s starred in several of the highest-grossing franchises, but she’s not credited with their successes. Which perhaps makes sense, because she’s been obscured, hidden by green body paint in “Guardians of the Galaxy” and blue CGI in “Avatar.”
So it’s refreshing to see her clearly in “Emilia Pérez.” I mean, she’s not even always beautiful in this French fever dream. At the start, she looks tired, made down, and the camera lingers across her face. Stuck in a demanding job without glory or moral grounding, Saldaña’s Rita dominates the first half of the film, transforming into a confident, beautiful, and (figuratively and literally) rich woman.
That’s a lot to handle and Saldaña does so with ease, making the downtrodden Rita feel as real as the carefree one. But then the film goes further, with perhaps her greatest moment being “El Mal.” Here, we see Saldaña firing on all cylinders. She’s filled with rage at the cronies around her, frustrated at the titular Emilia for sticking her in this second-fiddle role, and indulging in an inner monologue that she’d never let burst out. Saldaña dances, sings, and emotes mostly alone, giving emotional resonance to a melodramatic operetta that perhaps doesn’t deserve her. It’s a naked and powerful performance that makes the most out of Saldaña’s considerable talents. – Cristina Escobar
David Jonsson as Andy in “Alien: Romulus”
There is an entire world in David Jonsson’s performance as the synthetic Andy in Fede Álvarez’s otherwise largely quotidian and fan-serving “Alien: Romulus.” By himself, he is reason to not just watch the film but revisit it. He embodies an essential wistfulness, a sense of decency, and he carries it in his posture and the way he holds his head.
His first moment five minutes into “Alien: Romulus” is just his voice, telling a joke about a claustrophobic astronaut who “needed space.” His adoptive sister, Rain (Cailee Spaeny), begs him to stop. He tells another and when she doesn’t laugh, he furrows his brow sadly and says, “You always laughed at that one.” We don’t know he’s synthetic yet, but he does have an unusual affect that suggests something like autism. He is immediately likeable because of his winsomeness and his desire to make Rain laugh. He has communicated an entire and complete character in less than one minute and I don’t know if there are a lot of actors who can do so much, so quickly, and so quietly.
He’s in it for more than a minute, though, thank God, and the story of the early days of synthetics in this universe is written in his oppression and on his skin. The film is about him, the only character who is true. He is Daniel Keyes’ Charlie, and he is destroyed by knowledge: the theme of the entire franchise embodied in his sad eyes. – Walter Chaw
Jodie Comer as Kathy in “The Bikeriders”
“I’ve had nothin’ but trouble since I met Benny…” chirps Kathy as her beau, a streak of denim and lightning defined by growling menace and the parts of him that emerge from shadow, gets the hell beaten out of him. What’s a girl like her doing with a guy like this? Of course, anyone with a functioning set of eyes would fall for Benny (a never-better Austin Butler in the role he was born to embody) but what did this dark-hearted menace see in her, with her charmingly nattering midwestern lilt, each word in a sentence a chorus of drunken hummingbirds, and her perennial distaste for his antiestablishment malingering?
Kathy sees the world through binoculars, unable to judge the threats a few feet in front of her as they, like all of life, seem a few miles away, peering down at the behavior of Benny’s biker club like a dissatisfied goddess. She imbues this mousy girl, destined for a life on the wrong side of the tracks, with the most peculiar and beautiful confidence, as if she were the last model on the assembly line of creation. She sees the worst of human behavior and she’s drawn towards it even as she knows it isn’t “real”. Nothing is if she doesn’t let it. That’s why Benny can’t get her out of his head, any more than he could silence the roar of an engine in his heart. She’s not like anyone else in his life, and this performance, caught between Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle, is not like anything else in contemporary cinema. – Scout Tafoya
Keith Kupferer as Dan in “Ghostlight”
If I have to choose one movie performance to get the extra boost for the current Oscar season, that will be Keith Kupferer in “Ghostlight”. Although he has been relatively unknown despite starting his movie acting career around 20 years ago, this little but undeniably powerful film gives a precious spotlight for Kupferer at last, and he is utterly poignant as Dan Mueller, an ordinary family man dealing with his immense personal loss via an unexpected chance to act on the stage.
Reluctantly trying to play the lead role in the little local stage production of Romeo and Juliet, Dan gradually comes out of his shell to face his complicated emotional issues on a recent personal tragedy, and Kupferer subtly illustrates his rather inarticulate character’s difficult emotional journey. When Dan struggles to hold himself for what is supposed to be a very important moment for himself and his family later in the story, Kupferer deftly handles his character’s dramatic emotional shifts during this crucial scene, and the result is devastating to say the least.
Around the end of the story, the movie simply observes Dan and his family members right after his fairly successful stage performance, and Kupferer and his two fellow cast members, who are incidentally his real-life wife and daughter, deliver a wordless but sublime human moment to be appreciated. After observing a little glimmer of hope and healing from the screen, you will never forget Kupferer’s performance, and you may also hope that the movie will lead to more good things to come into his solid acting career. – Seongyong Cho
Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba in “Wicked”
“Wicked” is a movie with massive musical numbers, including one with dancers in what are basically hamster wheels, enormous sets and fabulous costumes all but exploding with eye-popping details, plus lots of characters with tons of star power. There are huge, intense emotions. There are soul-stirring, once-to-a-planet voices, and one of them belongs to Broadway star Cynthia Erivo as Elphaba.
Elphaba is hurt by her father’s icy resentment and preference for her sister. She is an outcast at school. But that does not make her try to be anything but who she is. Her vulnerability does not keep her from being unhesitatingly protective of others who are vulnerable.
There are a hundred different ways an actress could convey Elphaba’s responses to other character’s comments about her: “You’re green!” and “Why is it that every time I see you, you’re causing some sort of commotion?” Erivo’s quiet “I am” and “I don’t cause commotions. I am the commotion” convey confidence, self-awareness, even pride at the differences that are the source of Elphaba’s power. What keeps “Wicked”’s, well, tornado of stimulation from being overwhelming is Erivo’s astounding control of the smallest gestures, the subtle expressions of her face in close-up, amid all the visual splendor, action, music, and energy. Her ability to create a stillness is the heart of the movie. – Nell Minow
Chris Hemsworth as Dementus in “Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga”
Central to George Miller’s decade-on prequel to “Mad Max: Fury Road” is one fundamental question: How was Furiosa made? From the opening minutes of “Furiosa,” we see each step on her journey from innocent recipient of paradise to one-armed warrior of the desert. Fundamental to that path, as we see, is the Lord Dementus, the maniacal biker-gang leader who kidnaps her, takes her in, sells her, then spends the rest of the movie ...
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