20 Incredible Performances From 2015

12) Paul Dano in Love & Mercy

Paul Dano seems destined to be a supporting actor for life. An occasional lead for the indie world, to the mainstream he’s just not traditional star material to bag the starring role. Instead, he’s a bit-parter who always seems consigned to playing oddballs or men on the edge (think 12 Years A Slave, Prisoners, There Will Be Blood). Love & Mercy follows a similar pattern: Dano again plays someone emotionally and psychologically imbalanced, and again it’s not Dano who’s the lead, but John Cusack (also very good, FYI).

And yet if anyone emerges as the best and most memorable in Bill Pohlad’s Brian Wilson biopic, it’s Dano – even with his relatively brief screen-time. It’s not just that Dano reveals himself as a great mimic, adopting the offbeat manner and energy of the Beach Boys frontman circa the mid-to-late-60s. Dano on top of his usual edgy energy brings to the role an infectious enthusiasm, for his most sympathetic character portrait by miles.

11) Emily Blunt in Sicario

2015 has been a good year for tough women in film. Think Furiosa in Mad Max, Rey in The Force Awakens, Ilsa Faust in Mission Impossible 5. Going in, you’re sure Sicario will follow the pattern set out by a year of putting women in pivotal action roles. But it couldn’t be more different: Emily Blunt has rarely been better than she is in Sicario, but the ordeal her character, Kate Macer, is put through renders her virtually impotent by the end.

Kate is used, beaten and almost throttled to death by the various warmongering men around her. It’s a powerful, important feminist statement by screenwriter Taylor Sheridan and director Denis Villeneuve to write Kate’s story this way, and Blunt puts in a suitably desperate, passionate turn, in a role made as a reminder of how far gender relations still have to go. As a bonus, Blunt’s antagonistic chemistry with Josh Brolin and Benicio del Toro is immensely satisfying to watch.