4) Stuart: A Life Backwards
Featuring early ‘before they were famous’ turns from both Benedict Cumberbatch and Hardy, Stuart: A Life Backwards is a wonderful showcase for two hungry actors yet to hit the big-time. Though Cumberbatch is impressive too, it’s Hardy who undeniably has the more tricky role, of the physically disabled, alcoholic, mentally unstable career criminal Stuart Shorter, a young Cambridge man who lived through a life of abuse and homelessness.
Of course, Hardy nails the part, probably the most difficult of his career to date. The film requires Hardy to convincingly shuffle and slur, his condition worsening through various stages, but the most demanding aspect of the role is the emotional turmoil the actor must go through as the whirling dervish that is Stuart. Quietly and powerfully, Hardy manages to give some sense of what made such a violent, destructive, eccentric man the way he was, while remaining sympathetic and believable throughout.