By This year’s Best Actor category had some fairly strong competition, between Daniel Day-Lewis’ beloved portrayal of Abraham Lincoln, Denzel Washington’s troubled airline pilot in Flight and Joaquin Phoenix’s hauntingly disturbed character in The Master, Flixist almost had a three-way tie! Ultimately though, I believe we settled on the right choice.
Phoenix’s preformance in The Master was breathtaking and unforgettable. He stars as Freddie Quell, a struggling WWII veteran who’s path meanders everywhere from taking portrait photos of families in a newfangled department store to washing up on the shore of a yacht owned by the eccentric leader of a cultish philosophical movement.
What I loved about Phoenix’s preformance was how over exaggerated yet nuanced it was. Most of the time Freddie was an impossible to predict character and his wildcard ways made him an adventure to watch onscreen. If there’s one thing we can say for sure about Phoenix, it’s that he can play crazy really, really well.
Jean-Louis Trintignant – Amour
John Hawkes – The Sessions
Denzel Washington – Flight
Daniel-Day Lewis – Lincoln