3. Joe - Joe (2014)
A restrained Nicolas Cage performance. That's not something you see too much of these days, given that the great man is descending further and further into self-parody as the years go by. The odds of seeing Cage being contemplative and talking in hushed tones are not very good in the 2010s, but that's exactly what he does in Joe, and to great effect, too. Okay, so he also goes completely crackers and has a sex and booze-fuelled breakdown, but he's mainly tasked with trying to keep his demons in check whilst mentoring young Gary (an also excellent Tye Sheridan). It is a powerful, mature performance from the bearded Cage, a real return to form after years of pretty much exclusively starring in mindless tosh (there were exceptions, such as Kick-Ass and Bad Lieutenant). Here's how Cage described being drawn to the role:
I had been waiting for the better part of a year to find a script where I could be as emotionally naked as possible. I'd done several movies where I was experimenting more with performance style and operatic kind of style, but now I wanted to go into almost like Dogme style of film performance, where I didn't have to think too much about it and I could just be, and take my memories or my past experiences and flood them into a character that would be the right vessel for it. So when I read Joe, right away there was an implicit connection with the dialogue where I thought, "Wow, I understand this man and I think I can play this part in a way where I wouldn't have to act".
That's Nicolas Cage, for you - being
really good at acting even when he's not
really acting.