Here's our penultimate 'halfway mark, year in review' post for you. The 19 performances by actresses we treasured most at the movies thus far this year.
We hope you'll sound off on these and share your own favourites in the comments... and we hope this list serves as a reminder to Oscar and Globe and SAG voters to keep lists of things that impress you all year so that at the end of the year you aren't just voting for the 5 things you just saw. Before we begin I should note that I sadly missed the three following female-led films and will catch up with them when given the chance later in the year: Her Smell, Little, and The Souvenir. Okay here we go...
7 LEADING ACTRESSES
(Jan 1st - June 28th releases)
Jessie Buckley as "Rose-Lynn" in Wild Rose
Yes, the movie basically hands her the "star-making" reviews on a platter. It's ALL about watching her sing and emote. But the performance has lovely nuances, lived-in feeling, and own-worst-enemy fire. And that voice. Good god.
Kaitlyn Dever as "Amy" in Booksmart
From that first weird dance move we were hooked. We knew she was among our finest young dramatic actresses since Short Term 12 but turns out she's just as strong in comedy!
Halldóra Geirharðsdóttir as "Halla / Asa" in Woman at War
Good luck to Jodie Foster who optioned this for a remake. Halldóra will be a tough no-nonsense act to follow.
Sienna Miller as "Deb" in American Woman
As we discussed on the podcast, Miller turns in her best screen work yet in the largest and most complex role she's been handed as a wild childwoman who has to sober up when her teenage daughter (who's already made Deb a grandmother) goes missing.
Julianne Moore as "Gloria" in Gloria Bell
❤️
Lupita Nyong'o as "Adelaide Wilson/Red" in Us
One of the year's most creative and most effective star turns. She slays. That vocal control. Wow.
Mary Kay Place as "Diane" in Diane
It's exceptionally rare to see familiar never-lead character actors handed roles this large and complicated. What a gift twice over -- for her and us.
Emma Thompson as "Katherine Newbury" in Late Night
If this had been a hit there would have been Oscar buzz. So funny. But three dimensional character work, too.
P.S. And a round of applause for this year's camp baddies Isabelle Huppert and Octavia Spencer as Greta and Ma respectively -- they both amused and were clearly loving their titular roles -- but the films hampered them with weak execution and indifferent character-writing respectively.
12 SUPPORTING ACTRESSES
Barbara Auer as an architect in Transit
Confession: Screened this movie so long ago we've forgotten many details other than how impressed we were with it overall and that Auer was mesmerizing in a small role. But how small? Was it just a cameo? Must screen again.
Juliette Binoche as "Dibs" in High Life
Thirty-six years into her screen career she's STILL pushing herself and refusing to coast. She's so deep in this you forget that "mad scientist" has been a stock villain role for a million years.
Christina Hendricks as "Kathy" in American Woman
It's weird to call her underappreciated as an actor after six Emmy nominations but she is. She's so real and moving here as the settled everywoman sister to a hot mess.
Taylor Hickson as "Natasha" in Giant Little Ones
Hers is the last major character in the film to come into focus but we're so glad she did. We kept thinking about her after the film ended, which is always a good sign that a peripheral player has done their character work.
Shahadi Wright Joseph as "Zora Wilson / Umbrae" in Us
Every single person in this movie is doing amazing doubleinventive work. Joseph manages the impressive feat of giving the scariest performance of the enseble while also feeling completely real and normal in the other role. Can you believe this is a feature debut?
Chulpan Khamatova as "Xenia" in The White Crow
She didn't get much coverage that we could see in the press for this movie, but she's giving the best performance within it as a ballet mentor's frustrated and sexually curious wife with a thing for the young Nureyev.
Billie Lourd as "Gigi" in Booksmart
So funny. People really missed out who skipped this movie.
Andrea Martin as "Bobbie" in Diane
Nice to see Martin do a drama for a change as she's often prized for her comic chops.
Elisabeth Moss as "Kitty Tyler / Dahlia" in Us
Moss's range is starting to feel limitless. We're frightened.
Dierdre O'Connell as "Donna" in Diane
The most sympathetic performance in Diane, but blessedly free of asking for that sympathy as Diane's dying best friend who is such a full person it feels reductive to describe the character in synopsis.
Sophie Okonedo as "Susannah" in Wild Rose
Okonedo takes an almost impossible story arc -- rich employer turned impulsive patron of her housemaid -- and makes it feel not just real but an inevitability due to her heartfelt characterization.
Julie Walters as "Marion" in Wild Rose
At first we were frustrated that she was stuck in a one-dimensional role as Longsuffering Mother. But trust Walters to deepen it as she goes and really sell two sudden shifts (to tough love and then to soften again, unexpectedly).
BONUS LIST
STAND-OUT CAMEOS / LIMITED ROLES / VOICE-ONLY PERFORMANCES
Bobbi Salvör Menuez as "Shooting Star #1" in Under the Silver Lake
Marie Seux as a doctor in Sauvage/Wild
Emma Thompson (voice only) as "The Elder" in Missing Link
previously
• Top fives from the Team Film Experience
• 19 favourite male performances
• Mainstream box office report
• Niche interest box office report