Millennium Mambo 4: The Onion A.V. Club's 20 Performances of the Decade

Few will dispute that Daniel Day-Lewis' turn in Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood is the performance of the decade; even if you can think of a better one, could you really be upset to find him at the top of such a poll? The Onion A.V. Club polled their staff and came up with 19 more:

01. Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview, There Will Be Blood, 2007
02. Heath Ledger as Ennis Del Mar, Brokeback Mountain, 2005
03. Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Neil McCormick, Mysterious Skin, 2004
04. Samantha Morton as Morvern Callar, Morvern Callar, 2002
05. Billy Bob Thornton as Ed Crane, The Man Who Wasn't There, 2001
06. Peter Sarsgaard as Charles Lane, Shattered Glass, 2003
07. Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman, American Psycho, 2000
08. Paul Giamatti as Harvey Pekar, American Splendor, 2003
09. Julianne Moore as Cathy Whitaker, Far from Heaven, 2002
10. Javier Bardem as Anton Chigurh, No Country for Old Men, 2007
11. Mickey Rourke as Randy “The Ram” Robinson, The Wrestler, 2008
12. Jeff Daniels as Bernard Berkman, The Squid and the Whale, 2005
13. Naomi Watts as Betty Elms/Diane Selwyn, Mulholland Drive, 2001
14. Anamaria Marinca as Otilia, 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days [4 luni, 3 săptămâni şi 2 zile], 2007
15. Björk as Selma Jezkova, Dancer in the Dark, 2000
16. Laura Linney as Samantha “Sammy” Prescott, You Can Count on Me, 2000
17. Edward Norton as Monty Brogan, 25th Hour, 2002
18. Denzel Washington as Alonzo, Training Day, 2001
19. Mark Ruffalo as Terry Prescott, You Can Count On Me, 2000
20. Anne Hathaway as Kym, Rachel Getting Married, 2008

Of the 20, 3 won Oscars for their performances, 5 were nominated but didn't win, 7 are female, 1 is in a non-English language role, 12 are Americans and, as is the case for most decade lists so far, 0 are from the year 2009.

The Decade List: Mysterious Skin (2004)

Mysterious Skin - dir. Gregg Araki

Few people, myself included, expected Mysterious Skin to be as good as it was. After the abysmal Splendor, Gregg Araki appeared to have lost it, so imagine the surprise when people actually responded to his, and actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt's, "take my serious" cry. Adapting Scott Heim's novel of the same name, Araki never abandoned the incongruity that made his early films so memorable, even when addressing the issue of pedophilia. The most surprising aspect, however, wasn't simply Araki's formalist return, but that he took such a treacherous subject to a level of complexity it's not usually given.

Yes, there are problems. Araki never develops the women in the film to the extent they should have been. The narration, which is otherwise used effectively, shapes the relationship between Neil (Gordon-Levitt) and his "soul mate" Wendy (Michelle Trachtenberg) instead of the director. Elisabeth Shue, whom I prematurely described as "doing her best Jennifer Jason Leigh," is actually quite spectacular as Neil's mother, but she's gravely underused. Araki still hasn't quite figured out how to direct actors when they're existing outside of his Los Angeles wasteland. I'm grateful then that his actors here are as skilled as they are. The children occasionally come off awkward in a misdirection sort of way (as opposed to in a "children are naturally awkward" way), and Araki keeps a line or two of dialogue ("I am so sick of this stinkin' little buttcrack of a town!") that should have hit the cutting room floor.

Otherwise, I quite admire the film. Enlisting minimalist composer Harold Budd and Cocteau Twins guitarist Robin Guthrie to create the score, Mysterious Skin flows like an overcast dream, synchronously beautiful and haunting. Of the film's many strengths, it's hard to match the power of the closing sequence. I've always contested that ending a film well is one of the biggest challenges for any filmmaker, but Araki has always been adept in this matter. He provides for the two characters, Neil and Brian (Brady Corbet), an inexorable hope that only art can yield. Through the narrative framing, we leave the two boys, forever marred by their inescapable childhood devastations, when the illusion is at its clearest. Araki doesn't lead us to the assumption that all has been wiped away by this moment, but that in this flash of time, restoration could be attained.

With: Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Brady Corbet, Michelle Trachtenberg, Elisabeth Shue, Jeffrey Licon, Chase Ellison, George Webster, Bill Sage, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Richard Riehle, Chris Mulkey, Billy Drago
Screenplay: Gregg Araki, based on the novel by Scott Heim
Cinematography: Steve Gainer
Music: Harold Budd, Robin Guthrie
Country of Origin: USA/Netherlands
US Distributor: Tartan Films/Strand Releasing

Premiere: 3 September 2004 (Venice Film Festival)
US Premiere: January 2005 (Sundance Film Festival)