The Best Performances of 2007
by Brian Tallerico

Daniel Day-Lewis as Plainview in There Will Be Blood

Daniel Day-Lewis has long been well-respected and beloved in critical circles, but this is the kind of performance that takes an actor to a completely different level. As an oil tycoon at the turn of the century, Day-Lewis speaks with a fire and a passion that seems to be coming from not just deep within, but underground. He's completely riveting in every scene of P.T. Anderson's epic. It's the best performance of his already illustrious career and a role that will be looked back on like people look at Raging Bull when they speak of De Niro. Like De Niro in Bull or other actor-defining roles, when you watch Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood, everything you know about the actor and his previous work falls away, and you're simply riveted by the character he's playing. The only thing you'll question when you leave There Will Be Blood is why an actor who has only made three movies in the last decade doesn't work more.

BEST ACTRESS

As is often the case, the lead actress category this year didn't have nearly the quantity of candidates as the best actor category, but the quality of work was unquestionably just as high. In fact, while it was hard to gather a list of five best actress candidates in recent years, there was no shortage of choices in 2007, with enough great performances that some work that would’ve been award-worthy in other years didn’t even make our short list.

And that wide scope of performances came from refreshingly diverse range of films. How do you compare the unbelievable charm of Amy Adams in Enchanted to the stark realism of Anamaria Marinca in 4 Months, 3 Weeks, and 2 Days? How do you value the work of Helena Bonham Carter in Sweeney Todd any more or less than the romantic comedy charm of Katherine Heigl in Knocked Up? Great turns all around, but not quite top five worthy.

Then there are the performances from earlier this year that have strangely gone almost completely ignored by year-end lists and critics groups. Ashley Judd in Bug, Carice Van Houten in Black Book, Christina Ricci in Black Snake Moan, and Sienna Miller in Factory Girl all gave some of the most fearless performances of the year. And let's not get started on the criminally underrated Marketa Irglova in Once, a young woman who makes you believe that she could be the kind of love who comes along once in a lifetime. On the other end of the spectrum, despite all the press given to the tragic story of Adrienne Shelly, Waitress wouldn’t have been half the indie hit it turned into without the prodigious charms of Keri Russell.

But Keri will make this list some year soon. Mark my words. As for 2007, these were our picks for the five best performances by an actress, #2-5 in alphabetical order:

Julie Christie as Fiona Anderson in Away From Her

How long has Julie Christie been a living legend? After a rough patch in the '80s, Christie reemerged in Kenneth Branagh's Hamlet and gave one of her best performances of her career in Afterglow. But, even after that, she was looked at by Hollywood as someone whose best days were behind her. Then came Away From Her. As Fiona Anderson, a woman struggling with Alzheimer's, Christie is so believable that you could be forgiven for thinking she actually has the disease. She doesn't (thankfully), but she's just that good. In the end, Christie’s legacy as a living legend might be defined by her ability to buck the trend of going into the great Hollywood unknown and actually delivering some of her most powerful performances in her golden years.

Angelina Jolie as Marianne Pearl in A Mighty Heart

It's often overlooked thanks to her tabloid headlines, but Angelina Jolie moved to a completely new level as an actress this year, turning in a career-defining performance in A Mighty Heart. Jolie injects Pearl with the perfect mix of grace and sadness, making the end to her tragic story all the more painful. It's not a showy, melodramatic role, which so many lesser actors would have turned it into, but it's unquestionably one of the more memorable turns of the year. Jolie took Marianne's pain and made it feel genuine, rather than a manipulative tool of a Hollywood product. It's just a shame more people didn't see it.

Laura Linney as Wendy Savage in The Savages

She deserves notice for her solid turns in Breach and even The Nanny Diaries, but it's The Savages that Laura Linney will be most remembered for in 2007. Since her breakthrough on the small screen in Tales From the City and then on the big screen in You Can Count On Me, has there been anyone in Hollywood as consistent as Laura Linney? Seriously. She's reached that level of what could be called "Streep-ness" where you just know she's going to be at least good in everything she does and very often great. Whether it's a dark film like Mystic River or her light work in Love Actually, Linney is one of the most versatile actresses working today. We'll even forgive the occasional Man of the Year if she throws us a Kinsey and Squid and the Whale on the side. Her work in The Savages is some of her best yet and, just considering the movies named in this paragraph, that's saying something.

Belen Rueda as Laura in The Orphanage

Every year or so, there's a performance of such physical and emotional stamina that it really deserves a different kind of acclaim. As Laura, a woman who may or not be going crazy after the disappearance of her son, Belen Rueda is in nearly every single shot of The Orphanage, and she's completely fearless and riveting in every scene. Unlike a lot of ghost stories, The Orphanage doesn't forget that it's the person at the center of the story that's the most important character, not the ghoulies that may or may not surround her. Rueda sells every twist and turn of a complicated character arc that will have you talking for days after you've seen it. Here's the basic truth - if she was a more well-known name stateside, if Penelope Cruz played the role, for example, she would be getting Oscar talk. It's hard for unknown American actresses to break into the top five, much less unknown foreign ones.

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