20 Best Movie Performances Of 2017

6. Willem Dafoe - The Florida Project

Willem Dafoe is unquestionably one of the greatest actors of his generation, and he was gifted his best role in many years as kind-but-firm motel manager Bobby in The Florida Project.

This isn't a big, effervescent Dafoe performance but rather a quieter, more subdued turn that's full of humanity, and sees the actor making the most of those smaller moments during episodes of anguish for young Moonee.

The scene alone where Dafoe scares off a probable paedophile from the motel grounds is proof enough he deserves his third Oscar nomination. That the actor is the film's only remotely famous cast member and yet doesn't stick out among the unknown actors is all the more a testament to how grounded and real his work here feels.