20 Incredible Performances From 2015

10/9) Ryan Reynolds and Ben Mendelsohn in Mississippi Grind

Anna Fleck and Ryan Boden’s American travelogue/gambling drama Mississippi Grind was destined to live and die by the quality of its two lead actors. It’s a character study, after all, about two desperately complicated men with tragic and lonely backstories. Of course Ben Mendelsohn, the Australian character actor who has in a ridiculously short space of time become one of American cinema’s (his adopted stomping ground) best, kills it as lovable sad sack and compulsive gambler Gerry.

More surprising is his co-lead, Ryan Reynolds. So often underserved by blockbusters that don’t know what to do with him, Reynolds isn’t exactly revelatory in Mississippi Grind – he’s been great before, in Buried and Adventureland – but he’s used his at-times manic charisma and underlying sensitivity better nowhere else. Together, he and Mendelsohn work in perfect harmony to deliver two of the most fascinatingly layered performances this year.