The 100 Best Performances of the 2000's - 10-6

Here we go, the first half of the Top 10. I've thought about this long and hard. Chopping and changing. The top 4 has been definite for some time now though, it's just the rest that's been tricky. However, I think I have come up with a listing that I am happy with, and I hope you guys are too. Here we go.


10. Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman in American Psycho (2000

What can I say about this performance? It was until recently what I considered to be the greatest male performance of the 2000's, however now this extremely talented (and extremely sexy) Brit will have to make do with being the second (yes there are only 2 men in the top 10). If I were to do a best males of the 2000's like Nathaniel is doing this man would be in the top 10 for sure. This performance just amazes me every time I watch it. It's like he and [American Psycho director] Mary Harron became so intuned with each other that both the performance and the film fed off one another. I like to imagine that it was the film's controversial subject matter and bad release date that made it a virtual no-show in the awards season. But as they say, the reward is in the performance itself.

9. Kerry Armstrong as Sonja Zat in Lantana (2001)

This is the highest ranking for a performance that I would label "supporting" however I can definitely see why it was nominated for (and won!) all the Best Actress awards in Australia (over Nicole Kidman no less) for this performance. It's one of those tightrope performances that stands on the fence of being supporting and lead. I chose supporting because the cast of this film is so large (Vince Colosimo and Daniella Farinaci were #103 and #105 resptively) that I feel apart from Anthony Lapaglia everyone was supporting everyone else. Now to the performance itself... stunning is one word. Fragile is another. The way Armstrong grabs the dialogue and fully creates this character of a suspicious yet worn down wife is amazing to watch. Take the scene between her and Barbara Hershey (who plays a therapist) where she discusses how much she likes being her age, and the lines around her face. The way her voice goes when she says it would be Leon not telling her about an affair that would hurt more than the act itself. Or take the moment when she finally gets the nerve and says the best line of dialogue I heard in a long time:

"You know what's so easy, Leon? It's so easy to go out and find somebody. You know what's hard? What's hard is not to."

8. Heath Ledger as Ennis Del Mar in Brokeback Mountain

The fact that this performance got so usurped during this past Oscar season is what hurt. I can understand Heath losing the big one but how do you explain him losing every single major award? Most of the time from the critics who said he was as good as Brando and all that. I suppose they much prefer a performance screams PERFORMANCE (don't get me wrong. Phillip Seymour Hoffman was #58 remember?). How Ledger digs so deep for this portrayal gets me. His Ennis isn't a man who was loved and lost, but one who never really loved at all and can't forgive himself for it. Don't get me wrong, he "loved" Jack, but he could never let himself get to close to anyone. The moment that really sealed it for me was when he collapsed on the roadside into Jack's arms. "You made me this way". Ouch. So powerful. The male performance of the 2000's!

7. Nicole Kidman as Satine in Moulin Rouge! (2001)

The French... are glad to... die for love... her first words are not without irony. Much like Diane Lane a few spots behind at #11, I believe the real reason this performance is so good is because Nicole grabbed ahold of it full throttle and devoured every ounce of it as if her life depended on it. As if it's a force of nature blowing away everything in it's path including everyone else on screen (the reason why Ewan McGregor was so low was due to the comparison to Kidman, sorry). Yes, her voice isn't the strongest (but it's far from even minor descriptors as "passable" or "decent"), but when she has to she goes for it with that force again and you feel it, which is more than you can say about a lot of other performances.

6. Ellen Burstyn as Sara Goldfarb in Requiem for a Dream (2000

I mentioned in my little bit about Bjork that that movie makes me cry every time. Well, so does this one but it is the moment when Sara's friends see her for in the clinic that does me in and then when they are seated outside and the one friend just starts crying. It's a profoundly sorry moment in a shocking picture. I am not terribly big on Ellen's career, I have seen a few of her big performances but not that many (and unfortunately not Alice) but what we have here is a bonafide career-defining performance. It's like her entire career was leading up to this one point. That Julia won the Oscar doesn't irk me as much as some people (she was #27 on this list after all) but I really do think Burstyn deserved it. What Burstyn does is go above and beyond the call of duty. By the time her friends arrive at the clinic and see her depreciated by electro-shock, her skin pale and her hair chopped off you feel that you are one of those friends seeing her and getting the shock of your life. I will always respect Burstyn because of thise performance as it is truly one of the best I have ever seen.

...to be continued...

Yes, the next five performance are the ones I deemed the best of the current decade. What do I have in stall for you guys? You will see as I reveal them one-by-one. As I said up there there are no more men left in this countdown and it's down to only 5 lucky ladies (or, four?). Who will come out on top? Will the results actually surprise anyone. Find out over the next day... Ciao!