10. Marjorie, “Bernie”
Shirley MacLaine growls her way through this wildly underrated hybrid of black comedy, romance, and reportage. MacLaine is a winner in every scene, even if she has nothing more to offer than a scowl.
9. Barris, “A Scanner Darkly”
Iron Man was a year away but Robert Downey Jr. was already enjoying his career resurgence when he poured all his twitchy intensity into this paranoid kook who seems capable of anything. We don’t want to look away from him, if only because we don’t trust him for a second.
8. Mitch, “Dazed and Confused”
Willowy Mitch transforms from boy to young man in the course of a night, and the unique physical performance from Wiley Wiggins helps distinguish the incoming freshman as an individual trying to find his way through high school pack behavior.
7. Bob Arctor, “A Scanner Darkly”
Let’s hear it for the vague blur! As this undercover cop attempts to reconcile his fractured, drug-addled identity, animation-enhanced Keanu Reeves delivers one of his most contained, effective performances, culminating in a final scene that drives home the totality of his loss.
6. Dewey Finn, “School of Rock”
The struggling musician who finds his true calling teaching the ins and outs of rock and roll to kids gave Jack Black his most satisfying role to date by drawing out his most amiable and empathetic qualities to unify all the actor’s comic quirks.
5. Olivia, “Boyhood”
While “Boyhood” has a natural center focus in young Mason, its richest material explores the changing fortunes of an average American family, and Patricia Arquette‘s Olivia is in truth the most captivating presence in the story, as she falters through relationships before finding her own way.
4. Jesse, “Before Sunrise” / “Before Sunset” / “Before Midnight”
Entire personality tests could be derived based on whether viewers sympathize more with Ethan Hawke’s character, or Julie Delpy‘s Celine in the “Before” movies. Hawke has done many films with Linklater, but this is their defining collaboration, a sympathetic but unvarnished portrait of artistic masculinity.
3. Wooderson, “Dazed and Confused”
This cruiser could have been little more than a catchphrase character, but Matthew McConaughey‘s breakthrough performance transformed the too-old-for-school horndog into a bizarrely appealing icon with an actual philosophy, rudimentary as it may be.
2. Mason, “Boyhood”
A decade-plus spent shooting scenes with actor Ellar Coltrane paid off in an unusually naturalistic portrait of a growing boy seen as the central character of “Boyhood.” We’re used to the conceit of multiple actors playing one role in different ages, but Coltrane doesn’t just grow into the part, he and the role grow together, making for a wholly unique character development.
1. Celine, “Before Sunrise” / “Before Sunset” / “Before Midnight”
Linklater’s chief focus is often on young dudes, but his three-film collaboration with Julie Delpy (a co-writer on the “Before” series) has created one of the most fully-realized women in cinema. Celine reflects life’s changing desires and priorities. She’s a dramatically charged and empathetic figure whose dynamic response to Jesse’s own idiosyncracies are all too easy to understand.
