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Top Five Female Performances of 2018

Unlike the actors, the actresses had a much better year in 2018. Yes, the supporting roles were weaker, but the lead ones were absolutely terrific and thus picking just five with three honorable mentions was very difficult for me. But eventually I managed to crack it and the variety of different roles and types of performances is very exciting here.

5. Melissa McCarthy – Can You Ever Forgive Me?

This biopic dramedy hugely rests on the shoulders of Melissa McCarthy and in some part even Richard E. Grant. But Mel herself is awesome here. I have always appreciated her and she proves her greatness here in a role made for her as it’s dramatic and moving, but also very comedic and a lot of fun. I hope this brings more great roles for her in the future.

4. Carmiña Martinez – Birds of Passage

Carmiña Martinez is by far the most intriguing aspect of Birds of Passage which speaks volumes as this Colombian crime epic is highly authentic across the board. But she stands shoulders above everyone else in terms of her terrific, nuanced performance as this very tough, powerful matriarchal figure and the most important character in the entire film.

3. Hailee Steinfeld – Bumblebee

I have always loved Hailee Steinfeld and her Edge of Seventeen performance earned her a place on my list two years ago and here she got another, even higher placement. Bumblebee is a stupendous blockbuster with the protagonist Charlie being the heart of it thanks in no small part to Hailee’s truly remarkable, wonderful, moving performance.

2. Emily Blunt – Mary Poppins Returns; A Quiet Place

How the hell did Emily Blunt not receive an Oscar nomination this year?! I am still baffled and truly mad at the Academy for this glaring omission having in mind she owned the year of 2018. Her supporting performance in A Quiet Place is superb, but it is her turn as Mary Poppins in Mary Poppins Returns that makes that entire movie stand out as such a strong reboot sequel. She’s different than Julie Andrews and plays the feistier version of Mary beautifully.

1. Glenn Close – The Wife

When Glenn Close lost to Olivia Colman at the Oscars, it felt like a punch to me and I felt so sorry for her as she was robbed of that gold undoubtedly. Her performance in The Wife truly is outstanding and having in mind I didn’t expect that level of greatness, she truly blew me away. The character’s great and the role is so difficult as it demanded a lot of nuance from her, but she truly excelled at first playing her rather subtly, but then in the second half losing it entirely. She demands the screen in her every scene and is thus easily the best actress of 2018.

Honorable Mentions:

Toni Collette – Hereditary – Of course the Academy continues to dismiss the horror genre as Toni Collette’s turn in Hereditary is masterful and all the greater for the role is so hard.

Sakura Ando – Shoplifters – Sakura Ando is simply wonderful in Shoplifters in this motherly, very touching role and all of her sequences to me were so emotional.

Amandla Stenberg – The Hate U Give – Amandla Stenberg is superb and revelatory in this underrated flick where she plays such an admirable young woman.