8. Oscar Isaac - Abel Morales (A Most Violent Year)
He may dress as slick as one, but Abel Morales is no gangster. Played with quiet resilience by Oscar Isaac, Morales is a businessman who's worked his way up through tireless work, by giving off a perennial air of success and self-confidence, and by talking like a motivational speaker who believes wholeheartedly in the American dream. Yet what's most fascinating about Morales isn't what he says, but how he says it, or more specifically how he says it depending on who he says it to. Though of South American heritage, Morales speaks in clipped American-English around clients and potential partners, but allows his original accent to slip in whenever the moment calls for it - listen to the Spanish-American dialect coming through when the situation requires him to portray himself as a self-made foreigner. This is part of the genius of Isaac in the part - both character and actor rarely explicitly tell you what Morales is really thinking, but watch Isaac closely and you might start to see what kind of crafty person this is. The Pacino comparisons were inevitable - since Michael Corleone, deciphering a character has rarely required such microscopic attention.
Lover of film, writer of words, pretentious beyond belief. Thinks Scorsese and Kubrick are the kings of cinema, but PT Anderson and David Fincher are the dashing young princes. Follow Brogan on twitter if you can take shameless self-promotion: @BroganMorris1
