My 10 Favourite Performances of 2013.

Making my way through the backlog, as promised. 2014's list and 2015's.

10. Bérénice Bejo, Le passé

09. Jonah Hill, The Wolf of Wall Street

(the bromance between these two gives me life! ❤️)

08. Melissa McCarthy, The Heat

07. Lindsay Lohan, The Canyons 

Lindsay got nominated for a Razzie(!!!!) for her performance here. Between that, and awarding Dakota Johnson 50 Shades of Grey last year, when both actresses did commendably with poorly written roles, I think it's safe to say the Razzies wouldn't be able to tell a good performance if it tied them up.

06. Rooney Mara, Side Effects 

She's so pretty. ❤️

05. Léa Seydoux, Blue is the Warmest Colour

Epic Blue is the Warmest Colour post incoming. You have been warned!

04. Lupita Nyong’o, 12 Years a Slave

Thank God this amazing performance of earth-shattering pathos and deep complexity took home the Oscar, and in doing so, beating Jennifer Lawrence's unbearable hamming in a role she was several decades too young for, in American Hustle!

03. Chiwetel Ejiofor, 12 Years a Slave 


02. Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street 

Every other film has stills but Wolf of Wall Street performers are allowed gifs. Because a photo doesn't capture the full comedy of Martin Scorsese's 3-hour unforgettable, profane, & absolutely hilarious vilification or celebration? of heady Wall Street financiers.

01. Adèle Exarchopoulos, Blue is the Warmest Colour

Will give Adèle and Léa the full attention and commendation they deserve in a future entry dedicated to this amazing movie. 

So, a French actress opening the 2013 list and a French actress closing it! Spoiler alert: when I do my favourite performances of 2012 list, a French actress will also (comfortably) be topping that list as well! Although, unfortunately, in that case, Jennifer Lawrence succeeded in stealing her Oscar. #NeverGettingOverIt

--

Breakdown by BBFC rating 
18: 5
15: 4
12A: 1

Chaps: 3
Chicks: 7

Recurring stars

Rooney Mara: 2nd in 2015 (for Carol)

Leonardo DiCaprio: 2nd in 2006 (for The Depahted; hi Scorsese!) and 9th (Blood Diamond) although that list was constructed a l-o-n-g time ago and would be subject to change, 2nd in 2010 (Shutter Island; another Scorsese collab!)

Jonah Hill: 3rd in 2014 (for 22 Jump Street)

My 10 Favourite Performances in an 18-Rated Movie.

I watched The Canyons this week, a Kickstarter-funded movie about the sexual jealousy and betrayal between a hedonistic movie producer and his glamorous girlfriend (Lindsay Lohan). The fact that the film was low-budget was apparent in the shoddy production value, lazy script and daytime TV-esque performances, but Lindsay Lohan was genuinely brilliant, even more so if you consider she had to deliver laughably bad lines and make them plausible. The high quality of her performance jarred with everything else about the film, which was extremely cheap and trashy, but at least it inspired me to do another list: favourite 18-rated performances.

Certain directors seem to be drawn to darker content than others, so it's no surprise that this list features multiple entries from films from three directors: two Fincher-directed performances (both fierce women who like a bit of revenge), two Quentin Tarantino-directed performances, and three Martin Scorsese directed-performances. But not the two seminal Robert de Niro turns (Taxi Driver, Raging Bull) that you might expect to see.

Very honourable mentions: Emily Watson in Breaking the Waves, Christoph Waltz in Inglourious Basterds, Daniel Day-Lewis in Gangs of New York, Uma Thurman in Kill Bill Vol. 1  and Pulp Fiction, Dennis Hopper in Blue Velvet (another spirit animal of mine. I jest. Or do I?), Lindsay Lohan in The Canyons, Léa Seydoux in Blue is the Warmest Colour, Leonardo DiCaprio in The Depahted, Dominique Swain in Lolita and Jonah Hill in The Wolf of Wall Street (heard he gets his penis out in a pool party scene or something).

10. Ray Liotta, Goodfellas

1990. director: Martin Scorsese. Rated 18 for strong violence.

09. Bel Powley, Diary of a Teenage Girl

2015. director: Marielle Heller. Rated 18 for strong sex.

08. Rooney Mara, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo 

2011. director: David Fincher. Rated 18 for strong sexual violence and sex.

07. Leonardo DiCaprio, The Wolf of Wall Street 

2013. director: Martin Scorsese. Rated 18 for very strong language, strong sex and hard drug use.

06. Sharon Stone, Casino

1995. director: Martin Scorsese. Rated 18 for strong violence. Not like a Scorsese film to have strong violence, now is it?

05. Mélanie Laurent, Inglourious Basterds

2009. director: Quentin Tarantino. Rated 18 for strong bloody violence.

I idolised her back in 2010, and I still idolise her now. Au revoir, Shoshanna!

04. Michael Madsen, Reservoir Dogs

1992. director: Quentin Tarantino. Rated 18 for strong bloody violence, torture, strong language & sex references 

03. Kevin Spacey, American Beauty

1999. director: Sam Mendes. Rated 18 for strong language, once very strong, strong sex, violence & drug use 

It's interesting I had Dominque Swain as Dolores 'Lolita' Haze in my honourable mentions list, for this film, one of my top 15 of all-time, has heavy Lolita overtones running throughout. Even Kevin Spacey's character's name, Lester Burnham, is an anagram of 'Humbert Learns'.

And the top two, which was an absolute no-brainer...

02. Adèle Exarchopoulos, Blue is the Warmest Colour

2013.  director: Abdellatif Kechiche. Rated 18 for strong sex and very strong language.

01. Rosamund Pike, Gone Girl

2014. director: David Fincher. Rated 18 for strong bloody violence and very strong language.

Surprise!