20 Best Movie Performances Of 2018

8. Charlie Plummer (Lean On Pete)

Lean on Pete has sadly been left out of the awards conversation almost entirely this year, despite young Charlie Plummer giving one of the best performances of 2018 as 15-year-old Charley, a destitute teenager who bonds with an over-the-hill racehorse.

Under the laser-focused direction of Andrew Haigh (Weekend, 45 Years), Plummer confirms himself to be one of the most promising young actors working today.

Though Charley's journey is enormously sad and Haigh never shies away from that, Plummer goes the appropriately subtle route, because if you've ever met a teenage boy - or better yet, been one - you'll appreciate just how emotionally unavailable they can be.

There are few cinematic portrayals of struggling youth this potent in recent memory, and quite rightly, Plummer won the Venice Film Festival's Marcello Mastroianni Award for Best Young Actor, even if he's been summarily snubbed practically everywhere else.