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5. Jared Leto in Requiem for a Dream

Before Leto gave the performance of his career in last year’s Dallas Buyers Club, this was Leto’s best work in my opinion. Despite stealing his mother’s television to score heroin in the first scene, Harry becomes a character you actually sympathize for. It might be because his arm becomes disgustingly infected, but I think it’s more so that he has this hope that things are going to be okay but they really aren’t. Not by a long shot. Leto’s performance begins earnestly and then slowly morphs into desperate and out of touch.

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4. Jennifer Connelly in Requiem for a Dream

It’s probably because she’s closest to my demographic, but Marion Silver the character I mourn for the most in Requiem for a Dream. She was obviously always a bit fucked up and used, but by the end of this movie she has unraveled so completely that she takes part in sexual abuse and smiles in satisfaction just because it resulted in obtaining drugs. That is devastating, and Connelly becomes this disturbed girl inside out. The part that sticks with me the most is the scene in the restaurant while dining with the man who she knows she has to sleep with for money that her and Harry desperately need. When she fantasizes about screaming “YOU SMUG FUCK!” at him I get serious chills.

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3. Mickey Rourke in The Wrestler

The reason you have to see The Wrestler is to see Mickey Rourke as Randy “The Ram” Robinson (or Robin if you’re catching him at your local deli). This performance is obviously extremely personal and Rourke puts every piece of him on screen. You can just tell that he’s taken down a wall and blurring the line between the actor and the character. It alternates between heart-wrenching and amusing. The best example of the former is when he breaks down to his daughter and fully admits to his failings, and the latter when he hams it up at his grocery store job. There’s also that whole wrestling dynamic of course, and Rourke’s physicality makes him the perfect choice for this role. It just so happens that he also has the rest of his nuanced performance to back up those muscles.

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2. Ellen Burstyn in Requiem for a Dream

Sarah Goldfarb’s character arc is one of the most horrifying ever put to screen. All she wanted was to lose a few pounds and feel somewhat acknowledged as a human being and she ends up going down a rabbit hole that she never could have foreseen. Her addiction to speed masqueraded as diet pills is brutal as the consequences escalate leading to her ultimate rock bottom, wandering the seats of New York City in her nightgown, dirty and rambling like a crazy person. Ellen Burstyn gives herself over to this character, and isn’t afraid to show the darkness and insanity that consumes this woman. One of her best scenes in this film is when she breaks down to her son Harry about how alone she feels without his father. Not only does no one need her, no one pays attention to her. It’s one of the reasons why she becomes so far gone before anyone realizes what’s going on.

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1. Natalie Portman in Black Swan

When Black Swan came to an end, I sat there completely stunned at what I had just seen. It’s one of my favorite films in recent years, one that I find completely brilliant. The biggest reason is what Natalie Portman accomplishes as Nina Sayers. She embodies all the different praises I’ve given to every other performance on this list in one complete package. In the film she manages to be vulnerable, devastating, obsessive, sexual, unhinged, and physical. Taking on the demands of convincingly portraying a ballerina, Portman went through the physical transformation and necessary training to perform the role. That’s just the base of her solid job here. She disappears into Nina so effortlessly, taking on a character the goes to dark places and requires an intensity that never lets up. Just as Nina desires to achieve perfection, Portman has done just that. I really find her to be the ultimate realization of Aronosky’s own fixations in the films he creates.

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What did you think? Who would you include on your list?
Let me know in the comments!

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