3 Stand-Out Movie Performances In 2019

            When you’re watching a movie every once-in-a-while a minor character will just jump off the screen. It’s usually because of how good the actor is at taking a supporting character and breathing originality and fire into the role. Since we tragically don’t have the amazing array of character actors that used to populate movies in the 30s and 40s, these stand-out actors are even more invaluable. Here are three that just made me crazy this year at the movies.

            Archie Yates (JoJo Rabbit) A daringly unconventional comedy by director Taika Waititi set in Germany during World War II about a little boy- Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis) trying to be a good little Aryan soldier, made all the more bizarre by the fact his imaginary friend is Adolf Hitler (played by the director). Right from the beginning the tone is sardonically outrageous and you wonder if the director can land this plane without skidding off the runway into tastelessness. One of the reasons the movie works is Jojo’s best friend Yorki (Archie Yates) a round-faced, be-speckled boy who just lights up the screen every time he appears. Later-on in the film Yorki is seen lugging a military rocket down the street which accidentally goes off when he cheerily greets Jojo. His dejected sigh, “Oh God…” afterwards is riotously funny. He is a great comic anchor in the film.

            Julia Butters (Once Upon A Time…In Hollywood) Quentin Tarantino’s bittersweet look back at movies, washed-up TV stars, and the Manson family circa 1969 Los Angeles, offers Leonardo DiCaprio a wonderful turn as Rick Dalton, an over-the-hill star forced to play villains on TV westerns. When he shows up to do the show “Lancer,” he goes off to memorize his lines on the set and runs into a savvy child actress also in the episode, played with astonishing bravado by Julia Butters. She is old-beyond-her-years and filled with blazing self-confidence but still somewhat starry-eyed about the industry. When Rick chats with her, he is colored by his own cynicism but also saddened as to what lies ahead for her down the road. Butters is just incredible in the scene, and later-on when she compliments DiCaprio after he shoots a scene and says it’s “some of the best acting I’ve ever seen,” it’s poignant as it is funny.

Martha Kelly (Marriage Story). About three-quarters through director Noah Baumbach’s painful, funny and heartbreaking look at a divorce, the husband- Charlie (Adam Driver) is forced to welcome into his home an “evaluator” to monitor time spent between he and his son. This takes place at Charlie’s new L.A. apartment he’s not all that familiar with and he is madly cooking while his son his playing with toys in the other room. He’s desperate to make a good impression but the visit is a disaster. Actress Martha Kelly (Baskets) arrives playing Nancy Katz, the “evaluator” and there’s something “off” and kind of puzzling about her from the get-go. She’s unnervingly quiet and when asked if she would like anything to drink she replies- “I’m easy, just water.” During the course of the conversation Nancy makes strange comments about children flying in planes with recycled air. She seems clueless as to what Charlie is talking about when he tries to explain that he is a theater director and has to fly to NY for tech rehearsals. The son doesn’t seem to want to play along and the dinner is awkward and made even stranger by Nancy’s near-alien presence. It’s a wonderful sequence because it’s such a catastrophe but hilarious at the same time. It’s Martha Kelly’s strange, other-worldly quality that nails the scene, and I found myself recalling it days afterwards and laughing out loud. She’s absolutely wonderful.