Best of 2018 - Breakthrough Performance
Breakthrough Performance of 2018
2018 was a phenomenal year for newcomers. I also have a directorial debut category coming up. What's even more astonishing is that some of these new performers AND directors collaborated to make some of the best work of the year together. It's always exciting to see so many fresh faces on the scene, bringing completely original ideas and perspectives to the film industry. I can't wait to see what else these actors have to offer.
KiKi Layne - If Beale Street Could Talk
As shy, passionate Tish, KiKi Layne absolutely shines in her film debut. Her performance brims with the innocence and sweetness of someone falling in love for the first time, but she also finds deep wells of strength and perseverance in the face of crushing obstacles. She slowly reveals the toughness at the Tish's core, peeling away the layers of this indelible character. Layne is totally fresh here, letting her inexperience be an asset in the build up of the character, but she is also comfortable in her deep chemistry with not only Stephan James, who plays her true love Fonny, but Regina King and Colman Domingo, who play her supportive parents. She's able to tap into the beautiful vulnerability of being loved completely for herself, and it will leave an imprint on your soul after you leave the theater.
Yalitza Aparicio - Roma
Honestly, I don't want to write about this one. I'm intimidated. I can't do her justice! And I have to write about her again for another category. It's so hard. This performance is basically transcendent. Aparicio was a complete novice when she was cast for this role - a teacher who had never acted. Under the worshipful camera of Alfonso Cuaron, she becomes unforgettable. We watch her character Cleo observe terrifying, life-changing events with grace and composure, as the center of the household she works for in Mexico City. Both adored and under appreciated, she keeps the heart of the family intact while the world goes spinning off its axis. Her courage and selflessness are immortalized onscreen as a tribute to the woman who held Cuaron's own family together. When she does show her suffering, it's all the more affecting. There are scenes in this film that will never leave my mind, thanks to the synergy of Aparicio and Cuaron's work together.
Thomasin McKenzie - Leave No Trace
Only 16 when this film was shot, McKenzie feels completely at home onscreen. She has a magnetic presence and uncanny ability to channel her character's inner life to the audience without saying a word. Her performance is so central to this film that director Debra Granik actually changed the name of the character (from the adapted novel's Caroline to Tom) to reflect the actress's own nickname. Tom is a self-possessed young woman capable of great trust and love despite having grown up in almost complete isolation with her father in an Oregon state park. When their lives are upended, she faces each challenge with open-hearted optimism, trying to find the best of everyone she encounters. It's refreshing to see a film reward her youthful sweetness rather than punish it. Her performance is mesmerizing and moving, making this subtle film extremely rewarding.
Alex Wolff - Hereditary
Apparently Alex Wolff was a Disney Channel star a few years ago, but that actually seems to make this more of a breakthrough, rather than less. He's given an ugly, difficult, painful part to work with here. A disaffected teen going through a harrowing family crisis, his Peter is shouldered with the burden of understanding that his mother never truly wanted him, and then has to carry the grief and shame of a terrible accident. First Peter is closed off and miserable, turning to drugs and partying to cope, but then the pain becomes too much to shrug aside, and his family - as well as forces beyond his reckoning - force him to deal with the truth. Wolff stares into the ugliness and gives a raw, frightening performance, veering from sneering evil to whimpering child. It's about as far from Disney as you're ever going to get.
Elsie Fisher - Eighth Grade
I have so much admiration for Elsie Fisher. I related very hard to her character Kayla, remembering all of my own painfully awkward tween years, and feeling intense relief at being in my thirties and worlds away from having to deal with that any more. She's still in it, and yet she's brave enough to share these struggles with us. Her performance is utterly real and completely charming. She isn't afraid to fall completely on her face and be totally plain. Eighth Grade doesn't try to convince us that Kayla has some hidden talent, that she's a prodigy or better than anyone else in her year. She's important because she is so normal. Her beauty is in her realism. She's just a regular girl who wants regular things - to share her life with people who care about her, to connect and feel seen. Thanks for letting us into her world, Elsie. We're all better for getting a glimpse of her humanity.
2018 was a phenomenal year for newcomers. I also have a directorial debut category coming up. What's even more astonishing is that some of these new performers AND directors collaborated to make some of the best work of the year together. It's always exciting to see so many fresh faces on the scene, bringing completely original ideas and perspectives to the film industry. I can't wait to see what else these actors have to offer.
KiKi Layne - If Beale Street Could Talk
As shy, passionate Tish, KiKi Layne absolutely shines in her film debut. Her performance brims with the innocence and sweetness of someone falling in love for the first time, but she also finds deep wells of strength and perseverance in the face of crushing obstacles. She slowly reveals the toughness at the Tish's core, peeling away the layers of this indelible character. Layne is totally fresh here, letting her inexperience be an asset in the build up of the character, but she is also comfortable in her deep chemistry with not only Stephan James, who plays her true love Fonny, but Regina King and Colman Domingo, who play her supportive parents. She's able to tap into the beautiful vulnerability of being loved completely for herself, and it will leave an imprint on your soul after you leave the theater.
Yalitza Aparicio - Roma
Honestly, I don't want to write about this one. I'm intimidated. I can't do her justice! And I have to write about her again for another category. It's so hard. This performance is basically transcendent. Aparicio was a complete novice when she was cast for this role - a teacher who had never acted. Under the worshipful camera of Alfonso Cuaron, she becomes unforgettable. We watch her character Cleo observe terrifying, life-changing events with grace and composure, as the center of the household she works for in Mexico City. Both adored and under appreciated, she keeps the heart of the family intact while the world goes spinning off its axis. Her courage and selflessness are immortalized onscreen as a tribute to the woman who held Cuaron's own family together. When she does show her suffering, it's all the more affecting. There are scenes in this film that will never leave my mind, thanks to the synergy of Aparicio and Cuaron's work together.
Thomasin McKenzie - Leave No Trace
Only 16 when this film was shot, McKenzie feels completely at home onscreen. She has a magnetic presence and uncanny ability to channel her character's inner life to the audience without saying a word. Her performance is so central to this film that director Debra Granik actually changed the name of the character (from the adapted novel's Caroline to Tom) to reflect the actress's own nickname. Tom is a self-possessed young woman capable of great trust and love despite having grown up in almost complete isolation with her father in an Oregon state park. When their lives are upended, she faces each challenge with open-hearted optimism, trying to find the best of everyone she encounters. It's refreshing to see a film reward her youthful sweetness rather than punish it. Her performance is mesmerizing and moving, making this subtle film extremely rewarding.
Alex Wolff - Hereditary
Apparently Alex Wolff was a Disney Channel star a few years ago, but that actually seems to make this more of a breakthrough, rather than less. He's given an ugly, difficult, painful part to work with here. A disaffected teen going through a harrowing family crisis, his Peter is shouldered with the burden of understanding that his mother never truly wanted him, and then has to carry the grief and shame of a terrible accident. First Peter is closed off and miserable, turning to drugs and partying to cope, but then the pain becomes too much to shrug aside, and his family - as well as forces beyond his reckoning - force him to deal with the truth. Wolff stares into the ugliness and gives a raw, frightening performance, veering from sneering evil to whimpering child. It's about as far from Disney as you're ever going to get.
Elsie Fisher - Eighth Grade
I have so much admiration for Elsie Fisher. I related very hard to her character Kayla, remembering all of my own painfully awkward tween years, and feeling intense relief at being in my thirties and worlds away from having to deal with that any more. She's still in it, and yet she's brave enough to share these struggles with us. Her performance is utterly real and completely charming. She isn't afraid to fall completely on her face and be totally plain. Eighth Grade doesn't try to convince us that Kayla has some hidden talent, that she's a prodigy or better than anyone else in her year. She's important because she is so normal. Her beauty is in her realism. She's just a regular girl who wants regular things - to share her life with people who care about her, to connect and feel seen. Thanks for letting us into her world, Elsie. We're all better for getting a glimpse of her humanity.
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