With “Dope,” “The Diary of a Teenage Girl,” “Sicario,” and “Tangerine,” some very accomplished writers and directors gave actors the chance to shine in unexpected and thrilling ways.
“The Diary of a Teenage Girl”
The year is 1976, and Minnie Goetze is in the midst of a sexual awakening. After she begins sleeping with Monroe, her mother’s boyfriend, the 15-year-old aspiring cartoonist becomes distracted and overwhelmed by her “all-consuming thoughts about sex and men.”
On paper, the plot sounds deranged. How does a story centered on adolescent sex and drug experimentation and a wrongful relationship between a grown man and a minor result in a must-see film? The answer is simple: brilliant performances.
Christopher Meloni, though in the film for just a few moments as Minnie’s estranged father, provides much-needed contrast as the only real adult in her life, while Kristen Wiig excels as Minnie’s bohemian mother. In the type of role everyone wants to see her play more often, the “Saturday Night Live” alum is heartbreaking as a woman living in routine malaise; her concern with her fading beauty is only made worse by her boyfriend’s desire to sleep with her daughter. And while Alexander Skarsgård’s Monroe should be a character you actively root against, it’s the confidence Bel Powley possesses as Minnie that makes it difficult for you to believe their relationship is wrong. A breakthrough performance for the young U.K. actor, Powley leads this troupe of veteran players in Marielle Heller’s directorial debut. —Rebecca Strassberg
“Dope”
There’s a camaraderie among the “Dope” trio that extends beyond director Rick Famuyiwa’s choice to put them in colorful, patterned shirts and on a complementary assortment of BMX bikes. Hip-hop heads Malcolm (Shameik Moore), Jib (Tony Revolori), and Diggy (Kiersey Clemons) feel connected beyond their look and Inglewood, Calif., locality. Their shared geekdom is a definite on-the-page bonding agent, but it’s the cast that authenticates it. When Malcolm is unexpectedly saddled with a dope stash, a handgun, and a phone, and a thug threatens to snuff them if they don’t come up with cash quick, their friendship takes shape in the face of possible jail time, death, or worst of all, a missed chance at Harvard. But the stakes aren’t at the expense of comedy. “Did he actually say he’ll kill you and your friends if you don’t get rid of these drugs, or just you?” Jib asks before Diggy shoots him a look—to which he responds, “Don’t act like you weren’t curious, too!” Famuyiwa told Backstage it was grueling to find the cast—rounded out by Zoë Kravitz, Chanel Iman, Blake Anderson, and rapper A$AP Rocky—because it required playing (and casting) against expectations, a skill that speaks to film’s overall theme: perception versus “the reality of who you are.” —Briana Rodriguez
“Sicario”
Taylor Sheridan intertwines the global and the personal in his screenplay for this drug cartel thriller, which left audiences and critics reeling this fall. Director Denis Villeneuve captures the former with slow, aerial panoramas of the deserts surrounding the U.S.-Mexico border, and the latter with intimate close-ups of his cast.
Starring Emily Blunt as hard-boiled FBI agent Kate Macer, Josh Brolin as laid-back CIA officer Matt Graver, and Benicio Del Toro as the mysterious Alejandro, “Sicario” hits hard precisely because its actors understand the stakes they’re playing. In this world, even seemingly trivial actions—picking someone up at a bar, deciding whether to sign a questionable document—can have dangerously far-reaching consequences, so this ensemble’s most ordinary behavior is studied with excruciating detail. And when the operatives move as a unit (particularly during the film’s set piece, a nerve-racking raid in a tunnel across the border) it’s a marvel to watch each actor slide one foot in front of the other, guns and eyes trained forward with the same single-minded concentration. No single actor could convey the complexity of today’s international drug wars; the makers of “Sicario” hired several to bring those myriad issues into sharp focus. —Jack Smart
“Tangerine”
With backing from Magnolia Pictures and the Duplass brothers, “Tangerine” stars Kitana Kiki Rodriguez and Mya Taylor are the first transgender actors to launch an official Oscar campaign—and they’re certainly deserving of the recognition. This uncompromising, un-PC revenge comedy about two transgender prostitutes and their pimp-turned-lover features two of the year’s most talked-about performances from first-time actors Rodriguez and Taylor. Rodriguez absolutely enraptures as fast-talking firecracker Sin-Dee, and Taylor meets her mark for mark as Sin-Dee’s (slightly) less unhinged voice of reason, Alexandra. When Sin-Dee—fresh from a month in the slammer—finds out her own Chester (James Ransone) has been cheating with a “fish” from the block, all hell breaks loose as she vengefully struts the streets of L.A. on the lookout for Dinah (Mickey O’Hagan). Mix in the subplot of well-intentioned Armenian cabbie Razmik (Karren Karagulian), a married man who lusts for the likes of Sin-Dee, and we’ve got a smattering of supporting talents convincingly (and hilariously) embodying society’s ostracized and woebegone. Writer-director Sean Baker and co-writer Chris Bergoch’s script sizzles with hard truths faced through much of the trans community’s trying day-to-day, but its unforgettable characters and resourceful, indie direction (by way of iPhone 5s) makes this a dark comedy well worth its hard swallow. Merry Christmas, bitch! —Benjamin Lindsay
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