Hi! Happy new year! Just dropping by for one of my little annual celebrations of the films I watched this year. Here are ten performances that moved me or stuck with me in some outstanding capacity in 2025. My only rule is that they had to come from films that were new-to-me and could not be from either this year or last year (so no 2024 or 2025 performances allowed).
Here they are in alphabetical order!
01. Leslie Cheung, Farewell My Concubine (dir. Chen Kaige, 1993)
One of the defining performances of the 90s, for my money. The physicality of Cheung's performance alone is staggering, both onstage and off, and the way he uses his shockingly handsome face to communicate anguish is a marvel. Farewell My Concubine is a massive film, spanning decades and features multiple great performances, but for all the gorgeous imagery and political turmoil on display, it's Cheung's movie through and through.
02. Ivan Dixon, Nothing But a Man (dir. Michael Roemer, 1964)
A gorgeous neorealist drama about a newly married Black couple living in the deep south in the early 1960s, Nothing But a Man has two great performances at its center with Ivan Dixon and Abbey Lincoln. She does beautiful work, but the film rests on his shoulders. Dixon is magnetic: you can't take your eyes off him whenever he's onscreen. He creates a character who's charming, sexy, and deeply moving. The story of his career is one of a great actor failed by a racist industry; it's a gift, then, that we have this film and this performance as a taste of what he was capable of.
03. Homayoun Ershadi, Taste of Cherry (dir. Abbas Kiarostami, 1997)
It's nuts that this is Ershadi's film debut. At 50 years old, Ershadi is the glue that holds Taste of Cherry together. This is an innately talky film, with several long stretches of monologues and intense conversations, and he's great in those scenes, revealing the nuances in his depression and the immense amount of thought he's put into his impending suicide. He's even more impactful in the moments of silence, as we see him alone and taking in the world around him, presumably for the last time.
04. Levan Gelbakhiani, And Then We Danced (dir. Levan Akin, 2019)
Another stunning debut performance. So much of And Then We Danced consists of Gelbakhiani dancing (including the jaw-dropping climax), so his chops are self-evident, but it's a little unfair how great of an actor he reveals himself to be in the film. Above all else, this is a deeply affecting coming-of-age story, and Gelbakhiani tracks Merab's journey towards self-actualization with specificity, grace, and humanity.
05. Jeff Goldblum, The Fly (dir. David Cronenberg, 1986)
The Fly is a staggering achievement in direction and special effects, but I'm not sure how much the film would work without Goldblum's seismic performance. His descent out of humanity is horrific largely thanks to how deeply human he is at the start. He never gets lost under the iconic makeup, and his easy rom-com chemistry with Geena Davis brings an enormous amount of pathos to the film.
06. Choko Iida, Record of a Tenement Gentleman (dir. Yasujiro Ozu, 1947)
I'm such a sucker for a grumpy old person allowing themselves to open their heart to a child. Ozu's film is a sensitive take on that story set in postwar Japan, and Iida, a frequent Ozu collaborator, holds the film together. Her performance is dryly funny throughout, masterfully preventing it from ever getting too saccharine. The film packs a huge emotional punch and her brittle, lived-in work is a huge reason why.
07. Carol Kane, Hester Street (dir. Joan Micklin Silver, 1975)
A hell of a directorial debut from Joan Micklin Silver, Hester Street belongs to Kane. Using her distinct voice and huge, inquisitive eyes to map her character's journey towards assimilation into American life and independence as a woman, Kane is incredible here. Her delicate and precise performance makes the film into something truly wonderful.
08. Sheryl Lee, Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me (dir. David Lynch, 1992)
Every year, dozens of middling performances get tagged as "brave," but it's always a surprise to see an actor do something that feels genuinely bold. Lee's performance in Fire Walk with Me is astonishing, viscerally upsetting and hauntingly tragic. I don't rank these lists, more out of laziness than anything else, but this was the performance that stuck with me more than any other this year.
09. Martha Raye, Hellzapoppin' (dir. H. C. Potter, 1941)
One of the wildest and weirdest movies ever produced by a major American studio, all 84 minutes of Hellzapoppin' play at such a distinctly anarchic key. Adapted from the Broadway show and built around the comedy team of Ole Olson and Chic Johnson, the film completely belongs to Raye's tornado of a performance. She is genuinely hilarious, from her insane physical comedy to top-drawer musical comedy chops. I've never seen her before, so maybe this is her usual schtick, but even if it was, what a great schtick.
10. Tatiana Samoilova, The Cranes Are Flying (dir. Mikhail Kalatozov, 1957)
The big beating heart of this massive opera of a film. Samoilova dominates the screen, holding the camera with an effortless movie star charisma, and conveying entire worlds of emotion with just a look. Every performance in The Cranes Are Flying is terrific, but as the heroine, Samoilova is nothing short of shattering.
Other performances I loved, in alphabetical order: Barkhad Abdi (Captain Phillips, 2013); Carlo Battisti (Umberto D., 1952); Beyoncé (Lemonade, 2016); Lynn Carlin (Faces, 1968); Carol Channing (Thoroughly Modern Millie, 1967); Julie Christie (Hamlet, 1996); Alain Delon (Purple Noon, 1960); Mary Duncan (City Girl, 1930); Richard Edson (Stranger Than Paradise, 1984); Michael Fassbender (The Killer, 2023); Edwige Feuillère (Olivia, 1951); Courtenay Foote (Hypocrites, 1915); Jamie Foxx (Collateral, 2004); John Garfield (Body and Soul, 1947); Gua Ah-leh (The Wedding Banquet, 1993); Gene Hackman (Mississippi Burning, 1988); Linda Hamilton (Terminator 2: Judgment Day, 1991); Wendell B. Harris, Jr. (Chameleon Street, 1989); Katharine Hepburn (Suddenly, Last Summer, 1959); Juano Hernández (Intruder in the Dust, 1949); Isabelle Huppert (White Material, 2009); Charles Jang (Take Out, 2004); Emil Jannings (Faust, 1926); Darwin Joston (Assault on Precinct 13, 1976); Buster Keaton (The Cook, 1918); Klaus Kinski (Nosferatu the Vampyre, 1979); François Leterrier (A Man Escaped, 1956); Vincent Lindon (Titane, 2021); John Marley (Love Story, 1970); Nobuko Miyamoto (Tampopo, 1985); Mildred Natwick (Barefoot in the Park, 1967); Nobuko Otowa (Onibaba, 1964); Jafar Panahi (Taxi, 2015); Elizabeth Patterson (Intruder in the Dust, 1949); Anthony Perkins (The Trial, 1962); Claude Rains (The Passionate Friends, 1949); Viviane Romance (Panique, 1946); Takashi Shimura (Drunken Angel, 1948); Michel Simon (Panique, 1946); Manolo Solo (Close Your Eyes, 2023); Terence Stamp (Billy Budd, 1962); Alison Steadman (Nuts in May, 1976); Austin Stoker (Assault on Precinct 13, 1976); Tilda Swinton (We Need to Talk About Kevin, 2011); Max von Sydow (The Virgin Spring, 1960)
