One of the harder categories to call, 2010 has been an excellent year for male leading performances. Honourable mention goes to Ryan Gosling and Aaron Eckhart (Blue Valentine and Rabbit Hole respectively) for emotionally deep portrayals of men embroiled in difficult relationship problems. DiCaprio (whose turn in Inception also deserves applaud) brings a powerful and chilling performance in a role he’s shown such expertise in recently, that of a man on the brink of insanity, which ultimately results in the success of Shutter Island. 2010 marked Jesse Eisenberg’s ascension from the shadow of Michael Cera’s geek chic dominance, into the realm of real lead character acting with his astounding imitation of Facebook’s ‘college dropout-cum-genius-cum-billionaire-cum-social misfit’ creator, Mark Zuckerberg in The Social Network. But the closest competition for this year’s winner was Colin Firth and his heart-warming and remarkably believable rendition of King George VI, and his struggle to overcome a speech impediment to inspire his nation at the cusp of World War II, in this year’s feel-good, instant classic The King’s Speech.
After much discussion, this decision eventually came down to an excruciatingly close photo-finish. The deciding factor that tipped Franco over the equally superb performances of Eisenberg and Firth was the objective fact of their respective casts. While excellent by any merit, 127 Hours might not be as good of a film as its contenders here, but its achievement is a league above. Eisenberg and Firth are complemented by outstanding ensemble cast performances; whereas quite simply, Franco is the film. For almost its entire 94 minute run, we spend the movie with just Aaron Ralston and his camcorder alone. He receives little help from his environment as we’re trapped along with him in the barely a metre-wide crevice. Despite this restriction, Franco presents a deep, nuanced character; arrogant, self-centred and yet entertaining and endearing. Through his dreams, hallucinations and monological discourse with his camera, we’re gripped with moments of both humour and tragedy, often falling within moments of each other. Over the course of his emotional journey, he takes us through excruciating pain and anguish, cutting self-discovery (pun only partially intended) and inspiring resolve as he brings himself to do the unthinkable to survive. Firth will likely receive a well-deserved Oscar for both his performance this year and recognition of his past achievements, but this (equally prestigious) award goes to Franco as no performance this year was as central to a picture or left us leaving the cinema as touched, inspired or impacted.http://www.notyetrated.co.uk/2011/02/best-of-2010-actor-in-leading-role.html
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