Top 10 Cinematic Performances

Part 2 of 2

The time has finally come my fellow film buffs, for me to continue with my list of what I believe to be the Top 10 cinematic performances. Unfortunately I have found myself in a bit of a dilemma. If I had continued the list almost straight away then I would have been able to finish it with no trouble at all, however, due to the fact that I have allowed a significant time period to elapse I have now thought up an additional 18 performances which I would have liked to have added which has understandably made my job a little more difficult.

Remember dear readers, my opinion has been influenced by elements of film which entertain me most, hence why a number of villains appear. This is,  by no means, a definitive list. This is my list, so enjoy.

5. Inglorious Basterds: Christolph Waltz (Hans Landa)
When I first heard about Inglorious Basterds I did not think I was going to be a fan, at the time of release I was not yet a Brad Pitt convert and neither was I a great fan of Quentin Tarantino (the folly of youth). But after watching the opening ten minutes of the film I was hooked, the moment that SS officer Hans Landa walks through the door you realise that he is going to be the breakout character. Asking the farmer for a glass of milk and slowly probing him on the whereabouts of the Jewish families he is suspected to be harbouring, his voice never rises in volume but every word is dripping with congenial malice. It is quite a feat to create a likeable antagonist, well not to so much create a likeable antagonist but to create such a violently idiopathic one. The man is a myriad of contradictions. In one scene he calmly drinks a glass of milk, before having a competition of pipe 'size' (watch the film to see what I mean) before coldly ordering the death of a number of innocent families, all the while never batting an eye. This continues on through the film, to the point where I was almost wishing every scene without him could be bypassed, this however would have been a mistake as it turns out that it was a very good film and it was not just Mr. Waltz's contribution that made it so, but he will always stand out as one of the most polite, eccentric and yet monstrous villains in my cinematic recollection and it is honestly no surprise to me that Christolph Waltz received such acclaim for his performance. The Jew Hunter is one of those villains who audiences find disturbing because they seem so non-threatening on the surface, obviously the uniform is a bit of a give away but it is only when the smile fades from his face that you realise just how dangerous this man really is, portrayed in the film as being more sadistic and psychotic than Hitler himself. Alongside Bill, Hans Landa is one of Tarantino's greatest creations.

4. Misery: Kathy Bates (Annie Wilkes)
Kathy Bates has the distinction  of been the only female on my list, this doesn't mean I have anything against them, many of my favourite actors are female, it's just that aside from this one I could not think of any individual performances that were good enough to make it into my top 10. But Kathy Bates is more than deserving, she is phenomenal in this film. Catapulting her from relative obscurity to Oscar winner, Misery follows the trials of a writer who after a horrific car crash is taken in and nursed back to healthy by his 'number one fan'. However, after weeks in her company he realises that his troubles have only just begun. Kathy Bates plays the so called fan with a dichotomous attitude, on the one hand she is a lonely woman filled with a child like adulation over meeting her favourite author, and is shown perhaps to be a bit too devoted  to the point where it becomes unnerving for not only the protagonist, played by James Caan, but for us in the audience too. We know that there is something not right with this woman but we cannot place our finger on what it is. It is only when her treatments begin to include locking him in his room that we realise that this is now an official abduction. But the true horror begins when she takes preventative measures against his habit of escaping, in the film's most infamous scene where she 'hobbles' him. The look on her face and the genuine tone in her voice when she utters the chilling line "God I love you." stayed with me long after the credits had rolled, so too did her tendency to use alternatives to hide her rage fuelled obscenities. Perhaps best demonstrated when she describes to Paul Sheldon why her favourite protagonist should have perished after miraculously escaping from his car at the resolution to a cliff hanger presented to audiences:

"I know that, Mr. Man! They also called them serials. I'm not stupid ya know... Anyway, my favourite was Rocketman, and once it was a no breaks chapter. The bad guy stuck him in a car on a mountain road and knocked him out and welded the door shut and tore out the brakes and started him to his death, and he woke up and tried to steer and tried to get out but the car went off a cliff before he could escape! And it crashed and burned and I was so upset and excited, and the next week, you better believe I was first in line. And they always start with the end of the last week. And there was Rocketman, trying to get out, and here comes the cliff, and just before the car went off the cliff, he jumped free! And all the kids cheered! But I didn't cheer. I stood right up and started shouting. This isn't what happened last week! Have you all got amnesia? They just cheated us! This isn't fair! HE DID'NT GET OUT OF THE COCK - A - DOODIE CAR!"

This was incredibly chilling to me when I first saw it and in my opinion is what makes her the greatest antagonist of any Stephen  King adaptation...including Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance (The Shining) and Tim Curry as Pennywise (IT) and Kathy Bates' greatest performance to date.

3. Schindler's List: Liam Neeson (Oskar Schindler)
While I do love Liam Neeson, I am of the impression that in recent years he has kind of cashed in on being himself. Since Taken he has reinvented himself as the ultimate cinematic badass and kudos to him it seems to be working in his favour. But in my opinion his best role was that of Oskar Schindler in  Steven Spielberg's award winning biopic Schindler's List. I have seen this film many times and each time I amazed at the depth and realism there is to Neeson's performance. Don't get me wrong, Ralph Fiennes was also phenomenal as antagonist Amon Goeth, but aside from a brief moment of contemplation where he compares himself to the Messiah by practising absolving a Jewish prisoner of his 'sins' he is presented as being resolute in his hatred and punishment of the Jews and quite one dimensional. Schindler on the other hand, goes through massive growth within the film's narrative. From amoral war profiteer to mass saviour the character initially starts as someone who cares nothing for the lives of others unless it provides him with financial gain. Even after he opens his famous factory he remains unsympathetic, complaining that an executed Jew holds up the days work and ergo minimises profit. It is not until he comes across the full extent of the horror does he begin to show remorse. The look of repulsion and sadness that crawls across his face as he scans the despicable scene below is truly heartbreaking and when a young girl in a red coat (one of the film's rare splashes of colour) catches his eye we feel his stone heart breaking. It was a truly mesmerising moment from Neeson, one that has defined his career since. In truth it was only topped by the ending sequence, after saving the lives of every Jewish worker under his employment, Schindler must flee from the conquering Allied forces. His years as a factory owner technically making him a war profiteer a crime punishable by death, and rather than fearing for his own life Schindler breaks down in tears declaring "I could have got more out" before listing through the few remaining material objects he has, including his car and tearfully guesses how many he could have gotten out if he had sold them. Of all the horror and sadness that courses through this film I believe this one to be the most prominent. The devastation he feels at not having saved more, despite having saved eleven hundred people is intense and I am unashamed to admit it was one of the only scenes that made me tear up upon watching it.

This is one of the only performances on this list where my description does very little justice, this is one performance it is essential to watch the following clip.

2. Se7en: Kevin Spacey (John Doe)
Once again Kevin Spacey features upon my list, and it is no small wonder, I felt I had to include John Doe on my list because this is truly Spacey's greatest performance to date and for a long time was my planned number one! Se7en is my favourite film, and has been so for a long time. I love the concept of the film's narrative (having an interest in Christian Mythology) and I especially loved the characters, from the dual protagonists Detectives Mills and Somerset, played by Brad Pitt and Morgan Freeman. To the film's enigmatic villain, John Doe played by the delightfully creepy Kevin Spacey. As I mentioned previously I am a fan of cinematic villains, I think that the vast majority of a film's positive aspects are more often than not due to the various aspects of the antagonists and Se7en is the film that sets the bar for all villains who follow. After spending the duration of the film glimpsed as a shadowy silhouette, if at all, the mastermind of a string of murders based around the seven deadly sins simply walks into the police station with his hands raised high. When I first saw this film I remember being disappointed that the terrifyingly clever yet intensely obsessive serial killer was a scrawny looking man in his late forties/early fifties. But when John Doe opens his mouth you not only see the genius behind the insanity but you also, on some level see the genius in the insanity too. I know many who have seen this film would expect me to cite the climactic conclusion as Spacey's tour de force in this film, and indeed it is magnificently acting by all involved. I personally prefer the preluding scene in which Doe is being escorted by Mills and Somerset to the supposed sight of his final crime, during this time, they seize upon the opportunity to question the 'lunatic' about his motives. What follows is one of the most powerful monologues in all of cinematic history. Space delivers his lines with such calm conviction that you are almost able to look past the obvious delusions of grandeur and view the logic that fuels his crimes. He lacks any of the charm held by previous villains in my list such as Hans Landa, but there remains an element of charisma in his performance. As he describes what it was about each victim that made them 'worthy' of his mission you begin to see what he sees...the world really is a "shitty" place. Spacey has a way of using his face to great effect without it even moving, throughout the entire scene a blazing hatred is seen in his eyes and it gets more intense as he works himself into a sanctimonious fury. His voice, while quite deadpan initially, begins to get louder and louder as the scene progresses indicative of not only his anger, but his passion, he really believes that what he is doing is for the greater good, and those are in my opinion, the scariest villains of all. 

He may not be the most physically intimidating villain, but he is by far one of the scariest. In my own mind it was not surprising that technically he came out on top, there was no other way it could end...and that is why he is my number two.

1. Gangs of New York: Daniel Day-Lewis (William Cutting)
There is not a single doubt in my mind that Daniel Day-Lewis is the greatest actor to have walked this earth. While stories of his apparent dedication to his roles may be blown out of proportion he still remains one of the most committed actors to date. I have not seen one film of his where he in any way resembles the last character he played, he is completely different every time! I could have chosen from any from the number of films I have seen over the years from The Crucible to this years Lincoln. In every single one Day-Lewis delivers a career making performance, but I have chosen to focus upon his rather meaty role in Gangs of New York playing the homicidal yet intensely charismatic William Cutting a.k.a. Bill the Butcher. I found that Day-Lewis effortlessly stole that film from under Leonardo Dicaprio, who at this point had  yet to mature into the multi-talented actor we know today, with a combination of brutal charm and terrifying realism. I have heard that he put a lot of effort into building his character, including learning to be an actual butcher. This level of commitment is what makes him such a great actor and it really shows in this film, the character is distinctive no matter what he is doing, from the battlefield to the tavern Daniel Day-Lewis manages to show us why Bill is both the most feared and respected man in the 'Five Points'. Though there were a large number of scenes in which I could choose to focus on (namely any time the man is on screen) I have decided upon two, because they display the magnificent juxtaposition that Bill embodies. In the first scene he is talking to Dicaprio's character about the greatest warrior he had faced (unaware it is Dicaprio's father) and throughout the entire scene we can hear the respect and admiration in his voice about a man he had brutally murdered in the film's opening, he seems to do a wonderful job in making us forget that and instead we reflect on how these two men were essentially the same with, as Bill puts it "only faith dividing us" it allows you to understand the slight paternal feelings that Dicaprio's character Amsterdam Vallon feels for the man who murdered his father. It also shows us that there is a human beneath the rage and ruthlessness of Bill the Butcher and that he has his own values and principles by which he lived. It is what made him since a fascinating villain, though his actions are as despicable as they come Day-Lewis has a way of making us understand the often tortured people he plays. 

It also differs completely with the second clip which deals with Cutting discovering that Vallon is not who he appears. After discovering that the man he called his lieutenant and friend was in fact involved in a long plot to kill him, he draws him in an open confrontation by putting the life of Jenny played by Cameron Diaz and the film's resident love interest in peril meaning that Vallon's actions are clouded by rage and desperation thereby allowing Bill to easily gain the upper hand and put Amsterdam in his place. Here we see Bill as anger personified, any semblance of the man we see in the first clip is lost amid a sea of retribution. But again, I seem to find myself unable to blame him. The anger and ferocity on his face is tinged with a hint of hurt because it is essentially the face of a man who has been betrayed and that is down to the magic of Daniel Day-Lewis, he doesn't just play the character, he is the character and as a result the emotions that he conveys are all but genuine. This is why even his most vile characters have a modicum of humanity within them, because he plays them as if he were them. It is the primary reason that even though he is notoriously selective in choosing his roles every single one of them will be one to remember, and why he is my choice for number one performance in a film.

Finally it is worth quickly mentioning his voice, never before have I seen an actor with such command over his voice, in every film he sounds different and he seems to do it so effortlessly that it is almost as if he merely assimilates other accents and dialects! To manipulate your voice so it cannot betray your true identity is the finest mark of an actor and in all honesty I have only ever seen it accomplished by three actors: Daniel Day-Lewis, Meryl Streep and Gary Oldman and that is the reason that they are the best Hollywood has to offer.

So there we have it my top ten performances in cinema! I found this list incredibly hard and I had to be quite ruthless in who I cut, in many cases eliminating my favourite actors, but as I reviewed the performances given by the liked of Christopher Lee (my all time favourite actor) or Jeremy Irons I came to realise that favourite does not always equate to best.