Best of 2025- the Performances

There were too many performances needing to be mentioned not to give them a place to be in the spotlight

I want to begin with Kristen Stewart. While her direction of CHRONOLOGY OF WATER was not a performance it does reveal that she can do anything. Her turn as a feature director was glorious and shows that she can do anything.

John Lithgow in the RULE OF JENNY PEN is pure evil. Lithgow’s turn is one of the vilest villains ever put on screen and has to be seen to be despised.

VALLEY OF SHADOW OF DEATH has Anthony Wong crushing your heart because sometimes you can't forgive. Wong is one of the greatest actors in the world and it is a terrible thing that Hollywood has only noticed him occasionally in thankless roles. His turn as minister trying to forgive while living in the abyss of grief is shattering because in it we see ourselves and the gulf between us and god's ideal.

SOVERGEIN should have put Nick Offerman into the Oscar race, but Oscar doesn’t notice small films, even with great performances. His turn as an everyman who never understood how the world work is masterful. It will erase him as a comedy genius from your mind.

Ethan Hawke is the reason to see BLUE MOON. His performance is light years better than the run of the mill script. He turns what should have been an okay theater piece into pure cinema. 

Sean Beane in ANOMONE is the film. Bean plays his part small until he doesn't and then he fills the screen and pushes Daniel Day Lewis into the next room. While Bean normally plays action heroes, we forget how good he really is.

Amanda Seyfried (Testament of Ann Lee)/ Jennifer Lawrence (Die My Love) are women on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Their performances in their respective films are hypnotic, raw and the reason to see both films. They leave nothing to the imagination and remind us just how good they both are. 

Charlie Creede-Myles and Alan Cumming in the RIDE BACK HOME are beyond amazing. It’s not so much that they give great performances, rather it is that they become brothers. The act like brothers, they interact as brothers, and they let the silences that creep in between brothers exist. These guys are brothers as I know them. There is love and anger and humor and resentment and life well lived between them, I have rarely seen better.

We need to talk about Raquel Sciacca in HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATION. Sciacca is performing on a level beyond her years. There is a real reason that I am including her in a list of some of the greatest actors and actresses in the world today and that is she belongs there. Her turn as a young girl dealing with a family dealing with a tough time in their lives required something Herculean because she not only had to be our eyes, but she also had to be part of the story. Too often in a role like this the performer will take the easy road and let things happen around them, Sciacca never does this, she is always front and center making the film truly her story. I cannot tell you how magnificent this performance is.  Yes, it’s frequently small and quiet, but that is what the film requires, but in stepping back she never relinquishes the screen, instead she holds the frame. One has to credit director Ken Frank for both writing a complex role for a young adult, and for letting the actress he picked to do what she had to do and get the hell out of the way. Sciacca is a generational talent. Her ability to act not only big, but small, is beyond my ability to describe.   The work of Raquel Sciacca in HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATION is an indication as to why people need to be watching the small inde films and micro budgeted films- namely some of the best work in cinema history is being done for films few people will ever see because it isn’t a big budget Hollywood film with money to burn on PR. This is not hyperbole, but the truth. You need to start to watch small films. If you doubt my words then go watch HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATION since it’s on Amazon and then tell me I’m wrong.