3. Michael B Jordan - Fruitvale Station
Without a strong and charismatic lead performance, Ryan Coogler's emotional and entertaining tragedy would not have worked, but luckily the debut director was able to call on Chronicle's Michael B Jordan to play his lead. The performance is far more layered than you might immediately suspect: we are introduced to Oscar as a fairly typical young hood, locked in an argument with his girlfriend over infidelity, and we quickly learn he has lost his job, and has a recent record of jailtime. But we also see touches of Oscar's redeemed humanity - when he tries to sooth a dying dog, and in his frustration at not being able to fully escape the influences that have derailed his life - and the perpetually bubbling undercurrent of emotion makes the performance a joy to watch. At times we see the animal in Oscar almost rear its head - when he is told he can't have his job back, when challenged by a fellow inmate in prison and then fatally, when the same prisoner appears on the outside on New Year's Eve on the train outside Fruitvale Station. it is the balance between this side of the character, and his duties as father, son and lover that make it a complex and engaging portrait.
Read the full Fruitvale Station review here.