To start us off - 100-91
100. George Clooney, O Brother, Where Art Thou?
Aaah...The Clooney Factor. I know love for George is high right now considering his fantastic year but my level of affection for him has always been rather low. He's a nice guy, a great movie star and a very good actor but he never flat-out impresses me, save for this wonderful performance. Working with the Great Coen Brothers (who also produced Clooney's other great performance in Intolerable Cruelty) Clooney crafts a delectable performance as Ulysses Everett McGill. The actor is fresh, funny and so gloriously over-the-top that this performance glows. Most importantly (and characteristically of Clooney's work) the actor looks like he's having so much fun playing the part that it becomes infectious.
99. Steve Coogan, Coffee and Cigarettes
Jim Jarmusch's Coffee and Cigarettes is a sweet little film that benefits as much as it suffers from the great shifts in mood from vignette to vignette- while it lends a casual and off-beat rhythm to the film it also makes it feel disjointed in parts and dull in others. It would be easy for an actor get lost in a film of what is essentially a series of 5 minute scenes but Steve Coogan is up to the task of standing out. Playing an exaggerated version of himself opposite Alfred Molina, Coogan stars in the best skit of all 'Cousins'. Sure, he's playing on the usual time tested jokes about celebrities being crude and snobbish but Coogan adds such a slyness and wit to his performance that its like we've never heard em before. The final twist in the scene in its final minutes is hilarious and this is in no small part thanks to Coogan, who's aching desperation is both funny and bitterly elegiac. This coupled with his equally stunning work in 24 Hour Party People puts Coogan right in the race for the best comedic actor working today.
98. Adrien Brody, The Affair of the Necklace
This may surprise some since Brody is thought of as pretty much a one-hit wonder so far (and that performance will feature on this list much, much later), but his sly, greasy and sensual turn in this 2001 period piece clunker is like watching the birth of the star. Albeit, it can't be hard to grab the screen when you're sharing space with such deadweights as Simon Baker and ol' horse face but that shouldn't take away from his achievement here. From the moment he walks on screen Brody owns this little movie, cavorting around, stealing, bedding virgins and generally being an asshole, he breathes life into an otherwise trite piece of trash.
97. Paul Giamatti, American Splendor
American Splendor is one of those films that I want to love so bad but I just can't. The film's cold demeanor that may work for some just leaves me that: cold. However that has nothing to do with Giamatti's performance, he's crafting a persona that will no doubt haunt his career forever: the cantankerous, sloppy loner. The performance is mesmerizing, as Harvey Pekar, Giamatti seemed to have found the perfect role, equal parts his public persona and a characterization. It is a joy from start to finish.
96. Jessie Eisenberg, Roger Dodger
I mentioned this film in an earlier post, talking about how much I identified with this character, the thing is I can't see any teenage boy not being able to identify with Eisenberg's longing, nervous and vulnerable teenager trying so desperately to be cool in front of his uncle while at the same time failing so dearly. In fact I can't see anyone not being able to identify with his work because despite material squarely in guy territory, Eisenberg's openness as a performer can resonate with any viewer, regardless of sex.
95. Ben Stiller, Zoolander
Is there a funnier performance? Probably. Is there one so completely infectious, self-effacing and unafraid to project a character's negative traits so completely? Still probable, but Stiller's work here is so flat-out laugh out loud that it deserves mention. Stiller directs himself here and it seems he's the only director willing to let himself out of that rickety old prissy-Jewish guy persona he has in every other film. Big bonus points for "Merman! Merman!", "Eugugalizer' and, of course, "WHAT IS THIS, A CENTRE FOR ANTS?!"
94. Dario Grandinetti, Talk to Her
Pedro Almodovar is quite easily the most consistently brilliant director working today. In this new decade he's been doing particularly well giving us no less that 2 masterpieces and 1 great film since '99 (with one more apparent masterpiece on the way) and his most superlative talent is his ability to write great parts for women. Ironically, it was in Talk to Her that Almodovar wrote two of his greatest male characters. Marco Zuluaga is a wrenchingly distraught man, suffering because the woman he loves, a bull fighter, is comatose but Almodovar and Grandinetti, in a flawless performance, lend so much joy and life to the character that you never feel bogged down by the morbid subject matter. The first shot in the film is Grandinetti's tear stained face and it marks a superb moment. For an actor to be able to move his audience so thoroughly with just one look is a true mark of talent, here's hoping we see a lot more of this particular one in the future.
93. Clifton Collins, Jr., Capote
Capote was one of the most celebrated films of '05 with two deservingly Oscar-nominated performances from Philip Seymour Hoffman and Catherine Keener, but behind the gargantuan buzz for PSH's snide imitation was the film's ethereal murderer. Collins takes what could've been a stock role in the hands of a lesser actor and creates a full blooded character. He brings to life every single contradiction in Perry Smith's character thus creating the film's most heart-wrenching moments. This is a star waiting to happen.
92. Don Cheadle, Traffic
Don Cheadle is often given the mantel of 'Most Underrated Actor' and, I admit, I am guilty of having undervalued his talent. Even though I'm not as continuously impressed with his work as others are, when he does hit it home I still tend to dismiss it. This is quite possibly because Cheadle is one of those actors that never seems to break a sweat- he's effortless, walking on screen and grounding whatever film he's in. Traffic is a film filled with great characterizations but Cheadle stands out. His funny, sardonic and sly performance is perfect foil for the grim subject matter. Note an early scene where Cheadle and his associate, Luis Guzman, are in an office and Guzman decides to tell a bad joke-watch Cheadle's face: there lies everything you need to know about the scene.
91. Emin Toprak, Uzak
Uzak's title translated into English reads 'Distant', and that is exactly fitting. Nuri Bilge Ceylan's wonderful film is cold and bleak, it's humour comes not from one-liners and sight gags but from separating the characters on screen so far from the audience that every day life begins to create its own humour. Playing Yusuf, an out-of-work rural born twenty-something who is so disenchanted and detached from life that he can't seem to get himself started, Toprak finds a humour and warmth in his character that works for the film. This is, of course, a miraculous achievement since the film relies most sternly on it's cold mood and lack of warmth and humour but Toprak is (or rather, was) one of those actors who can find the exact balance between shining in their own right and serving the film throughout. Tragically, Toprak died in a car accident shortly after filming ended, lending the performance a greater poignancy.
That's it for now, 90-89 will be up in a couple of days
