Julianne Moore: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked

4. Julian Taylor €“ Children Of Men

Alfonso Cuaron's Children of Men is a film riveted with Oscar-worthy performances, with almost every role being played by someone at the top of their game yet strangely against type. You don't expect to see Michael Caine playing a hippie with long hair, and you certainly don't expect to see Julianne Moore as the leader of a military immigrants rights/terrorist group, but it somehow just works. Moore imbues the role with an understated tension and subtlety, which really works in a film of flashy camera moves and loud explosions. Nothing in her performance is overplayed or over-the-top, and when she meets Clive Owen for the first time in years we instantly sense that these two now-distant people were very close but torn apart by something horrific. Moore is also comfortable firing a gun and we have no questions she could easily lead a large group of terrorists if she needed to, which she does so in this film. The mothering elements also come through and gives the aforementioned reveal €“ her son by Owen's Theo died from a flu virus €“ real emotional heft which ties directly into the hopelessness of the film. Though it's never said outright, Moore's haunted performance gives the impression that she is lost without her son, which is why she is doing the things she does. When she exits the film in a brilliant single shot all done inside a car, we have genuine sympathy and tears even after only knowing her character for a short amount of time.