10 Actors Who Just Gave Their Best Performance Ever
Cinema may be on the back foot right now, but god-tier performances still abound.
2024 promises a new dawn for cinema, with the strikes over and a host of keenly anticipated films on the way. But that doesn't mean we should forget the movie moments that were worth the watch in 2023.
As mixed a year for film as any in the last decade, we saw the beginning of a new age for old copyrights, and the beginning of the end of bloated franchises like Fast & Furious and Mission Impossible. We watched with schadenfreude as Marvel's stronghold on cinema finally slipped, and thinking man's blockbusters like Oppenheimer came to the fore.
But no matter if the films were big, small, good or bad, there were some stand-out moments and unforgettable performances in all. Barry Keoghan continued his journey into the dark depths of his psyche; Emma Stone gave us the gleefully undiluted surrealism we've known she was capable of for years; Carey Mulligan proved that a film about a man can still be about a woman; and Nicolas Cage put his critics to shame.
Strap on your big boy boots, because we're about to go wading in at the deep end with 10 actors who just gave not just good or great, but the very best performances of their whole careers.
10. Barry Keoghan – Saltburn
Ever fancied watching a young man dance naked to Sophie Ellis-Bextor, drink bathwater, and have carnal relations with another young man's grave? Boy do we have the film - and performance - for you.
Saltburn offers all of the above and more, as troubled Oxford Uni student Oliver (Barry Keoghan) becomes fixated with popular, upper-class college-mate Felix (Jacob Elordi), who invites him to spend the summer on his eccentric and impossibly rich family's estate: Saltburn. Carnage, deception, debauchery and bad vibes ensue across a hot and deadly summer.
Emerald Fennell's second film has divided audiences with its portrayal of a life of luxury and wealth featuring seemingly no redeemable characters. Nevertheless, Keoghan brings his fluid and perpetually developing A-game to the bath-sippin' lead role. The Dublin-born actor whacks on a soft scouse accent and proceeds to blend together the energy and qualities he brought to The Killing of a Sacred Deer and Calm with Horses, in a part that demands his gory all.