In our previous "Best Screenplay" article, I sang the praises of Lake Bell's writing of "In A World...", and the praise for her performance lies in her ability to give that writing life. Bell always played the supporting character in film, and her charming, heartfelt leading performance here shows she was wasted in those 4th and 5th billing spots. She gets to show off her great comedic timing, while also letting it become known that she can handle the pressure and range of a starring role. - Nicholas DeNitto
Long-term relationships are stressful, no matter how in love the couple is. In "Before Midnight", Julie Delpy plays Celine, who is nine years into a relationship with Jesse. The film is a snapshot of a wider story, but within it one can find an unflinchingly realistic portrayal of love. Delpy shows how quickly flirtatiousness can turn into frustration, and how small issues can somehow creep up and become large problems. There's no hedging or vanity here from Delpy. This is an honest, intimate performance that could have been plucked right from real life. - Nicholas DeNitto
There's not a single scene in this three-hour-long coming-of-age film that Ms. Exarchopoulos doesn't appear in. That would be an astounding feat for any seasoned veteran of the screen. At Exarchopoulos' young age (she was 18 when she was cast), it's all the more impressive. With her cherubic cheeks, untamable hair and curious eyes, she possesses the natural gift of a naïf-like face, which serves as a veritable open window into her mind. Exarchopoulos is able to communicate complex thoughts and emotions with just a simple look, a small smile or a single tear. In three swift hours, she manages to conjure a three-dimensional human being out of thin air. There are times in which, given the completeness of the character she portrays, the film adopts the feel of a documentary. "Blue" is obsessed with capturing the entirety of its protagonist's life: her thoughts, her senses, her feelings, her dreams, her fears. Exarchopoulos gives thrilling, believable life to them all. - Jefferson Grubbs
As the title character in Noah Baumbach's pitch perfect film about a young woman's quarter-life crisis, Gerwig is wondrously flawed and wholly human. The actress has an innate mastery of both verbal and physical comedy, but she also knows how to convey the subdued terror that undercuts every action of many late-twenty-somethings in her generation. Frances' reaction to anything uncertain is to either ignore it or distance herself from it. In Gerwig's capable hands, the audience is capable of understanding and identifying with this indecisive young woman, even while feeling exasperated by her relentlessly poor choices. In the style of so many people her age, she masks her fears with sarcasm or affected ambivalence. But just like the humiliating fall she takes in the grimy streets of Brooklyn, Frances is about to awaken to the hard realities of life. Gerwig makes that awakening painful, realistic and cathartic. - Jefferson Grubbs
Disney's "Mary Poppins" has left behind a legacy of wonder and happiness since 1964, so it's a bit surprising to learn that the journey to get the character to the big screen was a 20 year-long nightmare. The project was held up by the character's author, PL Travers, played by the terrific Emma Thompson. Resolute and without whimsy, Travers could have been viewed as nothing more than a wretch. It's Thompson's masterful ability to weave emotion beneath the steely facade that makes Travers so sympathetic. Thompson finds the love and humor within Travers that others couldn't see. - Nicholas DeNitto
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