4. Robert Forster - Jackie Brown
Robert Forster returned to the spotlight after struggling with his career in the 70's and 80's when Tarantino cast him as bail bondsman Max Cherry in Jackie Brown. Forster's turn as the worn down, jaded and deflated Cherry was a performance rich in complexity and won him a well deserved Oscar nomination. We get to watch the very mundane existence of Max Cherry light up when Jackie Brown (Pam Grier) enters his world, and to watch his transformation as a man looking for something else to live for is an absolute delight, watching him sing along to a newly discovered Motown classic is a scene not to be missed. In a scene that paints a picture of a man fed up with his profession, Forster delivers an outstanding monologue about what he has to do on an average day at work, and why he feels stuck in a life that isn't so much a living as it is an existence. Although his emotions stay at a moderate level throughout the film, his performance is nuanced by layers of pathos to affirmation in a film surrounded by larger than life tough guys. Forster has been working steady in Hollywood ever since Jackie Brown put him in the limelight again, appearing most recently in last year's Oscar winning The Descendants.