20 Incredible Performances From 2015

15) Brie Larson in Room

The issue with depression on film is typically that both filmmaker and actor feel the need to over-egg the pudding, and make grand dramatic gestures in an effort to convey the feeling of being depressed. In his last film, Frank, writer-director Lenny Abrahamson tackled the subject with rare honesty and understanding; perhaps predictably, with Room, he’s made another humanistic study of it.

Depression is not what the film is about, per se. More so Room is about Jack (Jacob Tremblay) discovering the world for the first time after he has, along with his mother, escaped from confinement by his mother’s kidnapper after years. But the Ma character, played by Brie Larson, makes for a totally convincing and unflashy look at a person in the grip of deep depression. It’s a quiet and subdued turn from Larson, but an atmosphere of despair surrounds her like a fog, even as she’s being playful and joking around with her son – the joy only ever seems like an act.

14) Idris Elba in Beasts of No Nation

The last time Idris Elba played an African leader, he was fiery and inspirational as Nelson Mandela in Long Walk to Freedom. In Beasts of No Nation, it’s a very different story. Here, in Cary Fukunaga’s horrifying war drama, Elba is all villain as the merciless head of a regiment of child soldiers rampaging through West Africa.

Known only as the Commandant, Elba’s swaggering warlord uses his ‘troops’ to massacre innocent men, women and children, and even rapes the boys he has at his command whenever the mood takes him. It’s a cruel, distinctly unglamorous role to take on, but Elba bravely jumps in. He recalls John Huston in Chinatown: a bad man that has no reason to hide his despicable nature, and has instead allowed it to fester and strangle out what decency there ever was.

13) Tom Hardy in Legend

It’s been a busy year for Tom Hardy: Mad Max: Fury Road, Child 44, London Road, The Revenant. As expected, he excelled in all of them. But there was another film of Hardy’s in 2015 in which he outdid himself, by facing probably his biggest acting challenge to date: Brian Helgeland’s swinging 60s crime biopic Legend, in which Hardy stars opposite himself in a double lead role.

In Legend, Hardy plays both Kray twins: the psychotic, self-destructive Ronnie, and the charming yet volatile Reggie. There are actors that go whole careers without ever giving the impression they’ve fully inhabited a character; in Legend, Hardy does it twice.

The film’s nothing much – Helgeland is no great director, and it would appear the Oscar winner is losing his knack for writing, too – but Hardy is the real deal, transcending the weaknesses of his director. If there was an Oscar for Best Performance in a Bad Film, Hardy would win hands-down this year.