Every single year, several acting performances will fall under the radar, doomed forever to be overshadowed by whoever won the Oscar in the biggest film, or managed to act well in a movie that was released in a zillion theatres instead of just a few. Sometimes a great performance is hailed as pure brilliance in its time, only to later find itself flung to the realms of forgetfulness as the years move on and people's memories of that great turn begin to fade away forever. So whereas some acting performances have earned their place in the the ranks of "all-time" great, decades down the line, we've been wondering which performances lie on the opposite end of the spectrum - those which have earned the right to be branded "most underrated?" There are many performances that might fit the bill, of course (thousands, even), but we want to know, if you could pick just one, which would you like to bring more attention to? Our pick goes to Ian Holm in the drama film The Sweet Hereafter, which also happens to be a fairly underrated - or at least, little seen - movie in itself, despite the fact that it has been named - on several occasions - as the greatest Canadian film of all-time. In the movie, Holm plays a lawyer investigating the circumstances of a tragic school bus crash, and he's utterly restrained and mesmerising in an immensely difficult part. The emotional cues inherent to his performance are something else; there's no ego about his turn, and yet he subtly dominates the entire screen. The pity is that Holm wasn't even nominated for an Oscar for his role in the movie. He didn't deserve a mere nomination, either - he genuinely deserved to win for Best Actor in the year of consideration, especially given that Jack Nicholson won in 1998 for As Good As It Gets. Nicholson was great, but - truth be told - Holm's work in The Sweet Hereafter is about as good as it gets. So, tell us, what is the most underrated acting performance of all-time? Let us know your picks in the comments section below.
Sam Hill is an ardent cinephile and has been writing about film professionally since 2008. He harbours a particular fondness for western and sci-fi movies.
