2005 was the year of Heath Ledger’s beautiful, moving performance in “Brokeback Mountain,” which I saw for the first time in Toronto. It instantly became the talk of the festival, and the film became the one to beat for the Academy Award.
Ledger was astonishing as the taciturn cowboy who is more surprised than anybody when his soulmate turns out to be another cowboy, portrayed superbly by Jake Gyllenhall. If there is a more deeply felt moment in film history than Ledger gently adjusting Gyllenhall’s shirt at the end of the film, his eyes filled with tears, I don’t know what it is. That’s loss, that is absolute heartbreak, that is one of the greatest acting performances of the decade.
Phillip Seymour Hoffman would win the Oscar for his transformation into “Capote” and he’s very good, but just not in the same league as Ledger. I wondered from time to time if “Infamous” had been released earlier if Toby Jones might have won the Oscar instead of Hoffman. Each becomes Capote in a very different manner, and side by side it is difficult to choose the stronger portrayal. Certainly I prefer Hoffman’s as it is darker, and for me more realistic, but there can be no denying Jones.
I was totally unmoved by both Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon in “Walk the Line,” and I could never understand how Witherspoon won the Academy Award. Writer/director James Mangold missed the entire spiritual transformation of Cash and failed to explore why he wore black, which he made clear in a song. The performances felt forced, never fully realized or believable, and I know, oh how I know, I am in the minority on both.
But did everyone miss Joan Allen in “The Upside of Anger?” The Academy clearly loves her, and here was the perfect chance to award the woman for her work, but they chose instead to not even nominate her. Hmmmm. Odd.
I did like that they nominated the great character actor David Strathairn for “Good Night, and Good Luck.,” and that they noticed Terence Howard for his mesmerizing turn in “Hustle and Flow.”
I had thought Russell Crowe would be nominated for “Cinderella Man” or that Eric Bana might get a nod for “Munich.” Though not a huge fan of Ralph Fiennes, I thought he did his best work since “Schindler’s List” in “The Constant Gardener” and deserved some attention.
Viggo Mortenson gave a remarkable performance in “A History of Violence,” while Jeff Daniels, a well-traveled character actor did career-best work in “The Squid and the Whale.” I remember being stunned by Tommy Lee Jones’s elegant and oh-so-real performance in his magnificent “The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada,” which might be the best work of his career and won him great attention at Cannes.
After awards attention for his work in “Lost in Translation,” Bill Murray and his career seemed to be going very well. In 2005 he gave another fine performance in “Broken Flowers,” a wonderful indie that should have garnered him greater attention. But even with all these great performances, it is still my belief that Heath Ledger’s performance was stronger than them all, one for the ages.
Joan Allen gave the best performance of the year by an actress in “The Upside of Anger,” but the film’s release in the spring hurt her chances and by Oscar time she was all but forgotten. How sad.
Another performance that deserved great attention and a nomination was Naomi Watts in “King Kong,” in which the actress went far beyond what anyone expected of her, fleshing out a character that we came to care about. Judi Dench, meanwhile, was justly nominated for her work in “Mrs. Henderson Presents,” as was Felicity Huffman for her miraculous performance in “Transamerica,” one of the most daring pieces of acting I had seen in a long, long time.
After her win in 2003, Charlize Theron was back among the nominees for a powerful performance in “North Country” along with Keira Knightley, a surprise nominee (for me) in “Pride & Prejudice.” I had always felt Gwyneth Paltrow deserved a nomination for Best Actress for her haunting and haunted performance in “Proof” going far beyond what she accomplished for her win back in 1998. And Laura Linney matched what Jeff Daniels accomplished in “The Squid and the Whale” shot for shot, doing some of the finest work of her career.
The Best Supporting Actress categopry should have contained such names as Renee Zellweger, so good in “Cinderella Man,” Jessica Lange, all toxic rage in “Broken Flowers,” Thandie Newton in “Crash,” Scarlett Johansson in “Match Point,” Patricia Clarkson in “Good Night, and Good Luck.” or Maria Bello in “A History of Violence.” None, of course, were nominated.
It was rewarding to see Michelle Williams nominated for her lovely work in “Brokeback Mountain” as well as the eventual winner, the haunting Rachel Weisz in “The Constant Gardener” (such a superb performance).
As much as I liked Frances McDormand in “North Country,” I thought her co-stars Michelle Monaghan and Sissy Spacek were equally nomination worthy. Amy Admas gave a star making performance in “Junebug” and then became just that, one of the brightest young actresses working. The great Catherine Keener was a wonderful foil for Hoffman in “Capote” as the celebrated writer Harper Lee, and January Jones was marvelous in “The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada,” though no one noticed.
A case also could have been made for the frosty Tilda Swinton in “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” as the evil white witch, the stuff of nightmares.
The Best Supporting Actor I saw in 2005 was Terrence Howard in “Crash,” but they nominated the worthy Matt Dillon and snubbed Howard. Dillon was astonishing, the sequence under the vehicle alone was worth the nomination.
I had really hoped that Kevin Costner might get a nomination for “The Upside of Anger” and was thrilled when Paul Giamatti did get one for “Cinderella Man,” a wonderful performance.
Before Mickey Rourke was winning accolades in “The Wrestler,” he was outstanding in “Sin City,” perhaps deserving of a nomination for his work in that picture. George Clooney won the Oscar for “Syriana” and his is a very fine performance, no question, but better than Danny Huston as the treacherous friend in “The Constant Gardener” or Donald Sutherland in “Pride & Prejudice?”
Anthony Hopkins was terrific in “Proof” oppsite Paltrow, the two of them bouncing off one another nicely, neither dominating the film, each serving the script. Bob Hoskins was wonderfully dapper and fussy in “Mrs. Henderson Presents” and God help me I loved Will Farrell in the otherwise dreadful “The Producers.”
Finally, William Hurt made a stunning comeback in “A History of Violence,” all but stealing the movie in about ten minutes of screen time. Also very good in the film was the always brilliant Ed Harris as a horribly scarred mob henchman.
That’s how I saw the year 2005 in performances. What about you? Have your say in the comments section below!
Comments
68 responses to “The Great Performances: 2005”
I agree completely about Joan Allen. One of my favorite performances of the decade.
2005 ranks as one of the worst years in Academy history in my opinion. How Heath Ledger and Brokeback Mountain lost is just mindboggling. Although I do love PSH and thought he was phenomenal in Capote and I’ll never be unhappy that one of the best actors in the business has an Oscar. Ledger was just better, but the best actor doesn’t usually win. Witherspoon’s win is a joke, she was good but nothing Oscar-worthy. And I was rooting for Paul Giamatti and Amy Adams in the supporting categories. But oh well. Weak, weak year.
Totally unmoved by Joaquin Phoenix? Even his singing? That’s what really sold him for me. In fact, I remember seeing that movie with my dad, and as a birthday gift to him – knowing that Walk the Line sparked his interest in Johnny Cash – I bought him the greatest hits CD, and he thought Phoenix was BETTER! That’s when I knew the now-aspiring rapper nailed the part.
I also quite liked Witherspoon. Sure, it wasn’t acting for the ages, but with such a horrible year for female lead performances, and a blind awards eye toward Joan Allen, why not? It was a strong yet gentle portrayal of the supportive wife cliche.
Kudos for recognizing Rourke, however. The Wrestler may be his masterpiece, but Sin City was his TRUE comeback role, and it’s one of the best performances ever in a comic book movie.
I am a little confused, though. Now, in a lot of these columns, you claim that quite a few actors deserved nominations, and then go on to name more than five who did. For example, you list Renee Zellweger, Jessica Lange, Thandie Newton, Scarlett Johansson, Patricia Clarkson, and Maria Bello as deserving of a Best Supporting Actress nod (which I definitely agree Bello did). You realize there are only five open spots in each of these categories, right?
I think it’s just general lists of people he thinks were deserving, Robert.
God, Ledger in ‘Brokeback Mountain’ was just … phenomenal. Honest, heartbreaking, & wonderful.
PSH was also amazing, and I’m fine with the win, but only because Heath GOT his Oscar, albeit posthumously. :-(
Oh, and Toby Jones in 2006’s ‘Infamous’ was even more impressive to me than PSH in’Capote’! But that’s 2006.
And I feel that Felicity Huffman deserved Best Actress for Transamerica. Very challenging work, executed extremely well. I love Reese, but.
I feel like I am in some alternate universe. I thought every performance in A History of Violence was offensively bad. The whole thing erased any other contender for worst film of the decade for me.
Totally agree on Heath Ledger. The Academy totally missed the boat on that. Had he not passed away, I think he still would have been a serious contender and probable winner for Dark Knight. The Academy tends to compare to the previous film (Russell Crowe won for Gladiator because of The Insider; Nicole Kidman won for The Hours in part to Moulin Rouge). Viewed in that light, it’s hard to believe that The Joker and Ennis were played by the same actor.
Rachel Weisz on the other hand, I’m not sure how she won. I was pretty underwhelmed by that performance. Ralph Fiennes was the stand out in that film. I would have opted for Michelle Williams.
You lost me with Renee Zellweger, John. I thought she was a dead weight on the film, personally.
Any discusssion of the Best Actors of 2005 needs to include Romain Duris in “The Beat That My Heart Skipped.”
Gyllenhaal broke my heart just as much as Ledger in Brokeback Mountain, but Anne Hathaway seldom gets the props she deserves for her work. I thought she was stronger and much more interesting throughout than Michelle Williams.
And these may not all have been award-worthy, but they were among my favorites of the year:
Vince Vaughn – Be Cool
Christian Bale – Batman Begins
Johnny Deep – Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Isla Fisher – Wedding Crashers
The cast of The 40-Year-Old Virgin
The cast of A History of Violence
Dianne Reeves in Good Night, and Good Luck
Matthew Macfadyen in Pride and Prejudice
Gong Li in Memoirs of a Geisha
Pierce Brosnan in The Matador
What about Jonathan Rhys-Meyers? He was fantastic in Matchpoint, injecting such venom into a charming facade. Very powerful, as was the film itself…
This is totally off-topic, but I have nowhere else to ask. Meryl Streep is the clear frontrunner for SAG Best Actress this year and she won last year. If she wins will it be the first time an actor has achieved that feat? Thanks, and again I apologize for being off-topic. :)
Oh, and Gong Li deserved a Best Supp. Actress nomination for ‘Memoirs of a Geisha’. She owned that role.
DEPP. Oh, for an edit function.
Tim: Renee Zellweger won back-to-back SAG Awards for “Chicago” and “Cold Mountain.”
Thanks Guy. But it would be the first time someone has won Best Actress then?
And can we get more Amy Adams love? That scene in the hospital was one of the best acting moments of that year. She’s my second best performance of the year after Heath. Maybe it’s just me.
Yes. Amy definitely deserved her nom. She’s probably 2nd or so on my ballot (after Michelle Williams & before Gong Li).
I understand Weisz’s win. She was amazing. The evolution of how we perceive the character along the movie is simply terrific. I had always said she would win some day and im extremely happy she did.
Scarjo’s act in Match Point is one her best’s along with the one she did in Lost in Translation.
Ledger… My god !! As a gay man, as a human, i really felt everything his character felt. His performance and Ang Lee’s movie was simply outstanding and its easily one of the best movies of all times. Yes, better that many of those things of the 40’s.
Clooney winning was expected. Although i do not personally like him, i dont have anything against him winning.
I love Reese Whiterspoon. But i think Felicity Huffman should have won. She is an excellent actress that should focus her career on movies and not in that dreadful series.
Transamerica was one of the most grating movies I’ve ever seen and personally one of the most annoying performances ever. Love Felicity as an actress and person but thank GOD she didn’t win for that one.
I must prefer Reese Witherspoon–I thought she was loveable and heartbreaking in Walk the Line. That year for actresses was weak (the only other nominee who I thought was as worthy as Witherspoon was Keira Knightley as Elizabeth Bennette…really elegant performance).
Totally agree about Naomi Watts in King Kong…I was rooting for her so hard that year.
Agree about Heath Ledger that year, too. His performance is one of the best of the decade. Great, great work. Would’ve switched Terrence Howard for Russel Crowe, however.
They absolutely threw away best supporting actress that year. Michelle Williams and Rachel Weisz were worthy nominations but Frances McDormand? Love her, but North Country was barely a step above a Lifetime movie. And Catherine Keener in Capote was the biggest joke ever. She was in the movie for like 20 mins max, and said about 2 words. The performance was so understated that there wasn’t even a performance! Should’ve axed McDormand and Keener and substituted Scarlett Johansson for Match Point and Maria Bello for A History of Violence. Oscar should’ve gone to Amy Adams–one of the top 5 performances of the decade, in my opinion. Never will I forget the scene in the hospital. Absolutely rips your heart out.
tim, yes it will be the first time for two wins in the best actress category. Swank (God knows why) won for MDB but not for Boys don’t cry. So if Streep wins, she gets her revenge for not having as Best Actress Oscars as Swank does. But I hope she doesn’t win for this performance. I didn’t even want her to win last year. Still waiting for that great performance that will make her EARN her third and hopefully fourth, fifth…
People like to snipe at the Oscars, but I generally find everything nominated to be pretty good, and this year is no exception. Therefore, the great performances that DIDN’T get nominated were:
Actor: Steve Carell (The 40-Year-Old Virgin)…a performance of grace, tenderness, pain, confusion, anger, yearning, love. Somehow he makes this man’s growth so cheerable that a deus ex machina victory for him is something we’re not going to fault the writers. And he’s a comic genius.
Actress: Rachel McAdams (Red Eye) this woman can do romantic comedy, one-set/two-actor theater piece, and action heroine all in 78 minutes. Hitchcock would have liked her.
Supporting Actor: Tobin Bell (Saw 2) In the original, he was a “fooled-you!” plot twist. After this movie, these movies lost all sense of plot and character, thus becoming the torture porn they were accused of. But in this film, a weak dying old man who can barely stand somehow is one of the wiliest, scariest villains in cinema history. And somehow he actually makes this nutjob’s motivation make sense.
Supporting Actress: Summer Glau (Serenity)–Joss Whedon should make more movies. If he can write kick-ass action heroine roles like this, I’d love to see what he could give Angelina to do.
Terrence Howard had a career year in ’05. He was awesome in Hustle and Flow, and he was a very powerful in Crash. The one line he says to Ludacris before he kicks him out the car has stood with me since I saw it.
Glad to see the Adams love!! Just watched that scene again on youtube. My God she just nails it.
And thanks, Jim T. I thought so but wasn’t sure. I’d prefer to see Carey Mulligan win SAG and the Oscar this year, but I can never be unhappy to see Streep win. These awards are turning into the “Who do we owe the most?” awards. It’s sad.
And I’ll get crap for saying this, but I still think Annette Benning deserved the Oscar for American Beauty over Swank.
Guy: THANK YOU. Duris completely and utterly disappeared into that role in “The Beat That My Heart Skipped.” Easily my favorite performance of ’05.
George Clooney’s Oscar for Syriana is one of the most undeserved ever. If he wasnt “clooney” he would not have even got the nomination. As much as liked Rachel Weisz, Amy Adams totally should have won for her beautiful performance in Junebug. And I will never understand the love for Hoffman in TransAmerica. The movie was terrible and her performance was annoying. It was a weak year, but out of everyone I thought Reese was the right choice. However I totally agree about Joan Allen. It was one of those times where the movie was released too early and people forgot about it.
Going by imdb release dates, Min-sik Choi & Ji-tae Yu were amazing in Oldboy, two of my favorites of the decade.
Tim: Sorry, I misunderstood your question — I thought you were specifically asking about consecutive wins.
To clarify, there are only four two-time SAG winners in the film categories (not counting ensemble wins, obviously): Renee Zellweger, Helen Mirren, Daniel Day-Lewis and Kate Winslet.
Of those four, only Day-Lewis has won twice in lead. (Winslet, meanwhile, has won twice in supporting.)
That year, I finally understood the appeal of Johnny Depp. He looked like a classic matinee idol in “Finding Neverland”.
I was glad that David Straitharn was nominated too, and regretful that Viggo Mortensen wasn’t, in one of my favorite performances of the year. Everyone in both those movies were good.
I agree that King Kong was overlooked, and both Watts and Brody were just right in it.
Danny Huston was a great discovery. I remember seeing him and Ralph Fiennes in the beginning morgue scene in The Constant Gardener, and my eyes keep going back to this unknown guy, because everything he did was so right. Fiennes would do something, he’d be good, but then unknown guy would do something and I’d think yes! THAT’S the way it should be.
For fun, I loved Tilda Swinton in both The Lion etc. and as the Angel Gabriel in Constantine. I was glad that Emma Thompson made money writing/producing Nanny McFee; glad to see the Serenity crew and The Transporter back.
And I would have nominated Jesse L. Martin as Best Supporting Actor for Rent.
I agree that the performances in A History of Violence are atrocious. Hurt being the chief offender.
Totally agree with the Laura Linney Squid and the Whale mention – some of her best work on film.
As for the Best Actress category, I’ll take out Judi Dench and Keira Knightley. Would’ve loved to have seen Linney, Naomi Watts in King Kong, Gwyneth Paltrow in Proof, Natasha Richardson in Asylum, Q’orianka Kilcher in The New World, Renee Zellweger in Cinderella Man (no denying she had great chemistry with Crowe) or Vera Farmiga in Down to the Bone score a nom.
Anthony Hopkins was the real supporting actor of the year in Proof….and Hope Davis should’ve scored her first nom for that same film.
“These awards are turning into the “Who do we owe the most?” awards. It’s sad.”
They’ve been this way for years now. I want Meryl Streep win – I hate that children (i.e. younger actresses) always seem to collect the Best Actress Oscar over seasoned vets.
Another name to add to the pile: Emily Mortimer in Match Point.
Maybe I’m alone on this one, but I just adored Q’orianka Kilcher in “The New World.” In fact, I’d even add Colin Farrell and Christopher Plummer to the best of 2005 – perhaps not Oscar-worthy, but definitely some topnotch acting.
I really don’t get the love for Naomi Watts in King Kong. Very unoriginal, sometimes boring performance, for me.
My best actress winner would have been Charlize Theron. She was amazing and so powerful in North Country, even if the movie sucked. Not as good as she was in Monster, but it was a weak year.
Couldn’t agree more here…Ledger should have walked away with this Oscar. However, I’m not as mad as about his loss as I was back then because it seems like his performance has had a much stronger staying power than Hoffman’s.
I quite liked Witherspoon and I’m glad she won. I didn’t think “Brokeback Mountain” was the Best Picture of the year, but Heath Ledger’s performance was astounding (as was the entire cast). Ralph Fiennes not being nominated for his turn in “The Constant Gardener” is unforgivable, it’s as horrendous a snub as Joan Allen’s that same year. Naomi Watts was also unjustly ignored, people seem to forget that she was acting alongside a giant green-screen for much of the time, essentially talking to herself, when you realize that, it’s hard to ignore the amount of talent it takes to express (believably) the affection she felt for Kong. I have never really considered this year “weak” before (because, in my opinion, the right film won BP that year), but looking back I realize that so many of my favorite films were not given the amount of attention I thought they should have gotten. “Match Point” was definitely one of the year’s best films and both Mortimer and Johansson were deserving of acting notices. Sissy Spacek was also wonderful in “North Country” as was Taraji P. Henson in “Hustle & Flow”.
John,
Your praise f0r Anthony Hopkins’s performance in “Proof” is, well, uncommon. I certainly thought he phoned it in.
I’ll add Anna Faris in Just Friends and Robin Wright Penn in Nine Lives. Both brief roles, but incredible performances.
my nominees included –
joseph gordon-levitt – mysterious skin
glenn close – heights
claire danes – shopgirl
maggie gyllenhaal – happy endings
clifton collins jr – capote
val kilmer – kiss kiss bang bang
ray wise – good night and good luck
and heath ledger’s ennis del mar gets my vote as performance of the decade
I think all of these inclusions are pretty spot on. A few that I thought were worthy of nominations:
Ellen Page / ‘Hard Candy’
Ray Winstone / ‘The Proposition’
Taraji P. Henson / ‘Hustle and Flow’
I remember when Kris wrote that Terrence Howard had turned in the best lead acting of the year. I wasn’t sold, but intrigued. After watching the film a couple times, I came to agree. I don’t think he was leaps and bounds better than PSH or Ledger, but he had an edge for me. Really well done.
I didn’t care for Amy Adams performance in Junebug, highly overrated in my opinion. Rachel Weisz deserved her Oscar in spades, it was a much more touching and powerful performance.
Ralph Fiennes was brilliant in The Constant Gardener. I watched it the other day and think it deserves more attention. Meirelles did an amazing job adapting the book for the screen (in terms of direction).
Naomi Watts in King Kong was superb.
Eric Bana was also excellent in Munich. Although not perfect, that film is very much underrated.
The only actors that year who truly deserved to win were Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Rachel Weisz, who both gave in my opinion the best performances of the year. Outside of them, the rest were just jokes.
I thought “Junebug “was awful and while Amy Adams is a fine actress, she did not deserve to win and i’m glad she didn’t. Scarjo’s performance in “Match Point” was seriouly overlooked however, a very complex performance that needed to be awaded.
No love for Embeth Davidtz in “Junebug” ? That’s a shame.
I too was amazed by Robin Wright Penn’s heart-wrenching performance in “Nine Lives”.
Damian Lewis in “Keane.”
Tiny movie, but I thought he was incredible in it.
Also, it wasn’t Oscar-caliber or anything, but I was always moved by John Hawkes in “Me and You and Everyone We Know.”
This year was my senior year of high school and my first really intense year of Oscar-watching, and like you John I was FLABBERGASTED that Reese Witherspoon won for such an average performance in an average film. Especially since I thought Felicity Huffman’s work in “Transamerica” was absolutely staggering. So so so so so so so SO frustrating. I still have yet to see Joan Allen’s performance from TUoA though…will have to catch that…
For me, this stacks up as a pretty poor year for Oscar. I didn’t agree with any of the Best Picture nominees. (I’d have gone with Cache, The Constant Gardener, A History of Violence, Match Point and Oliver Twist.)
Performances which I’d have liked to see nominated include:
Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Matthew Goode, Scarlett Johansson and Emily Mortimer in Match Point
Ralph Fiennes in The Constant Gardener
Viggo Mortensen in A History of Violence
Maurice Benichou in Cache (If you’ve seen the film, you’ll never forget him!)
Leanne Rowe in Oliver Twist (a wonderful and poignant Nancy)
And I agree that Anne Hathaway was very good in Brokeback Mountain and deserved some recignition.
Sorry – recOgnition!
Strathairn was extraordinary. One of the performances of the decade.