20 Best Movie Performances Of 2020

Riz Ahmed has been on the verge of a breakout for many years now, and with his performance as deafened drummer Ruben in Sound of Metal, he should (hopefully) net his first ever Best Actor Oscar nomination.

A deeply powerful depiction of a man swimming desperately against the tide as he tries to find normalcy amid his life-changing diagnosis, Ahmed's performance is a dizzying mixture of fast-rising frustration and more internalised torment evidenced by writer-director Darius Marder's keen focus on the actor's evocative face.

Ahmed has the benefit of terrific screen partners in Olivia Cooke and especially Paul Raci of course, but it's the film's expectation-defying script, avoiding obvious narrative cliches as it does, which has faith enough in Ahmed's performance to let him do the heavy dramatic lifting.