Oscar 2017: Best Performances – Best Actress

Continuing to look at the best performances from this year’s Oscar nominated actors, here are my picks for the best performances from this year’s Best Actress nominees.

ISABELLE HUPPERT (Nominated for Elle)

BEST PERFORMANCE – ELLE (Paul Verhoeven, 2016)

Look, I understand Isabelle Huppert is an international icon with over 100 films to her name as an actress.  But, before Elle, I had only seen her in I Heart Huckabees (2004) and briefly in Amour (2012), which has since forced me to load up my Netflix queue with Huppert films.  Not only because I feel it essential viewing, but because she blew me away in Elle.  Is Paul Verhoeven’s dark, trippy, thrilling psychological drama, Huppert gives a strong, brave, complex performance as a woman who gets caught in a game of cat and mouse with a man who attacked and raped her.  Like that of a Hitchcock leading lady, this is a stellar performance and one that should be a breakout for Huppert in America.

RUTH NEEGA (Nominated for Loving)

BEST PERFORMANCE – LOVING (Jeff Nichols, 2016)

Neega was a welcome surprise on nomination morning.  Loving was a movie that started off as a surefire awards player, but lost steam due to bigger campaigns.  I had never see Neega in anything before, but this performance was one of the breakouts of 2016.  Revolving around the marriage between Richard and Mildred Loving and how their marriage changed the face of America.  This is a subdued, heartbreaking performance as we watch this couple fight to stay together while facing every obstacle possible.  Working perfectly with co-star Joel Edgerton, this is a fantastic performance in a fantastic movie.

NATALIE PORTMAN (Nominated for Jackie)

BEST PERFORMANCE – BLACK SWAN (Darren Aronofsky, 2010)

This was tough, as I almost chose Portman’s 2016 nominated performance in Jackie.  But, her performance in Black Swan is one that change who Portman was as an actress.  Never before had Portman given this much to a performance, committing in every aspect.  Director Darren Aronofsky pushed Portman to new heights physically and emotionally as we watch her obsessed ballerina decent into madness.  This is a remarkable, transformative performance that rightly earned Portman her Oscar.

EMMA STONE (Nominated for La La Land)

BEST PERFORMANCE – EASY A (Will Gluck, 2010)

Easy A is the movie that really made me fall in love with Emma Stone.  Sure, her introduction in Superbad (2007) showed her charm and her Oscar nominated performances in Birdman (2014) and this year’s La La Land, showed us new talents we hadn’t seen before.  But Easy A is where Emma Stone became a star.  All of her charm and comedic timing is at its highest level, and Stone adds new depth and layers to a performance that has been done hundreds of times.  This is a star-making performance and one that showed what Stone was capable of as an actress.

MERYL STREEP (Nominated for Florence Foster Jenkins)

BEST PERFORMANCE – SOPHIE’S CHOICE (Alan J. Pakula)

I mean, the options are endless.  If you put ten Meryl Streep performances on a dart board and throw a dart blindly, you will land on a performance that you could argue deserves this spot.  Arguably the greatest actress of all-time gave an all-time performance in Sophie’s Choice.  Streep was still a relatively new actress at this time, with under ten films under her belt and a couple Oscar nominations.  But after Sophie’s Choice, she became the actress that she is today.  Streep is unrecognizable and gives a committed, heartbreaking, moving performance.  In a film about a horrific, unthinkable circumstance, Streep is unquestionably beautiful and brilliant.

What are you favorite performances from this year’s Best Actress nominees?  Comment below or hit me up on Twitter and Instagram, @kevflix, or on Facebook by searching Kevflix.