BEST ACTOR/BEST ACTRESS
Bill Murray and Scarlett Johansson, Lost in Translation
It's not possible to talk about the work of Murray and Johansson in this film separately -- they are so dependent on each other that they almost become as one. Their subtle give-and-take is a joint masterpiece of filmic acting, astute and perceptive, creating an undercurrent of deep emotion beneath deceptively airy, teasing play.

almost as great (best actor)
Paul Giamatti, American Splendor
(mired in mundanity, his malcontent is a paradox who embraces the poetry in the very things he despises)
Johnny Depp, Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl
(in the most deliciously absurd performance of the year, he proves himself one of today's boldest artisans)
Billy Bob Thorton, Bad Santa
(pushing comedy to a dangerous edge, he chances being thoroughly unlikable; we like him neverthless)

almost as great (best actress)
Hope Davis, American Splendor
(with a practical soul and a radical's heart, she's a potent foil to Giamatti, challenging us to question convention)
Emma Bolger, In America
(in a child-performance that transcends mimickry, she is the essence of alienated loneliness)
Patricia Clarkson, The Station Agent
(earthy and warmly real, her solitary artist finds life and hope in new friendships)

worth a look (best actor)
Peter Dinklage, The Station Agent
Shia LaBeouf, Holes
Sean Penn, Mystic River
Nick Nolte, The Good Thief

worth a look (best actress)
Juliane Köhler, Nowhere in Africa
Cate Blanchett, Veronica Guerin
Jamie Lee Curtis, Freaky Friday
Alison Lohman, Matchstick Men

BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Sean Astin, The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
In such a sprawling epic, with so many threads and tendrils, it should be impossible to pick one performance, particularly among such a strong ensemble, that stands above the rest. But Astin makes it easy. His Sam -- in many ways, the heart of the entire three-film story -- is a tough, gentle soul who never loses his sensitivity or tenderness while facing evils he's surely never even conceived of. And though Sam is the only character in the trilogy who does not actually change, Astin makes Sam's journey a triumphant one of growing into the man he always should have been.

almost as great
Tim Robbins, Mystic River
(as a man haunted by a terrible past, he embodies the fragile strength required for surviving trauma)
Ken Watanabe, The Last Samurai
(dignified and noble, his warrior-poet is a melancholy elegy for a lost culture)
John Billingsley, Out of Time
(he breathes new life into the standard best-friend role, keeping us on our toes and in suspense)

worth a look
Ed Harris, Buffalo Soldiers
Eugene Levy, A Mighty Wind
Nick Nolte, Hulk
Alessandro Nivolo, Laurel Canyon

BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Emma Thompson, Love Actually
It's only a small part, but Thompson's wife walks a delicate line between despair and exhilaration, from suspicions that her husband is cheating on her to relief that, no, he probably isn't... and when she finally learns the truth, in the most heartbreaking way imaginable, Thompson shrinks her world down into a gleaming, icy-hot moment of harsh reality.

almost as great
Miranda Richardson, Spider
(in the deranged imaginings of her son, her mother goes to the extremes of madonna and whore)
Laura Linney, Mystic River
(in one brief, startling scene, she turns all expectations upside down, chilling you to the bone)
Anne-Marie Duff, The Magdalene Sisters
(crushed by cruelty masquerading as kindness, her young woman finds nothing noble or redemptive in victimhood)

worth a look
Catherine O'Hara, A Mighty Wind
Holly Hunter, Thirteen
Ellen Degeneres, Finding Nemo
Frances McDormand, Laurel Canyon

BEST ENSEMBLE
The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King
It almost pains me to single out Sean Astin, above, because there isn't a single performance in this film that isn't extraordinary. The cameradie the cast developed during the long, grueling shoot that we've heard so much about shines through in their chemistry onscreen, but the single factor that makes it all work is that there's not a one of them who doesn't believe -- in hobbits, in Rings, in trolls, in Middle-earth. They've got conviction... or else they fake it well. Either way, it's the art of acting at its best.

almost as great
A Mighty Wind
(with their usual geeky gusto, Christopher Guest and Co. make a culty subculture their own)
Mystic River
(a cruel hardness cuts through those for whom merely living day to day is a battle)
The Magdalene Sisters
(victims of abuse and persecution struggle to endure a prison of the soul as well as the body)

worth a look
Love Actually
Casa de los Babys
Carnage
Calendar Girls

--MaryAnn Johanson
01.06.04

Looking back at 2003.
Also:
Best and Worst Movies
Best Writing and Direction
Best Production Design and Other Superlatives of the Year
2003 Films Ranked