With the 2024-2025 awards season about to kick into overdrive next week (and Golden Globe voting officially ongoing), some performances are already emerging as ones with enough buzz to endure throughout the entire season. Mikey Madison in “Anora,” Denzel Washington in “Gladiator II,” Kieran Culkin in “A Real Pain,” and Adrien Brody in “The Brutalist” are the turns already dominating most conversations surrounding the Oscars. However, there are also performances worthy of awards glory that could easily slip through the cracks.
Let’s look at eight especially outstanding performances from 2024 that Academy Awards voters and other award bodies need to remember. They may not hail from movies with the biggest budgets or promotional campaigns, but they also deserve to be talked about when we’re exploring the best of the best that 2024 has to offer moviegoers.
Zendaya – “Challengers”
Given its more youth-skewing nature and release in 2024’s first four months, it will be a hurdle for “Challengers” to score Oscar nominations. That includes Zendaya’s unforgettably fierce lead performance. After all, over the last 35 Best Actress slots over the seven previous Oscar ceremonies, only three were filled by Black women. That frustrating track record could keep Zendaya from a Best Actress nomination this year, but she should be a shoo-in.
Zendaya’s Tashi Duncan is the beating heart of “Challengers,” thanks to this performer’s work. Whenever the script calls for Zendaya to take big swings, she crushes it, like Duncan’s big alleyway speech to Patrick Zweig (Josh O’Connor). She also excels in subtler areas, like her nuanced physicality when she’s around the two white boys she manipulates. In ways big and small, Zendaya delivers the sort of mesmerizing work in “Challengers” that should be a no-brainer for Oscar glory.
Ilinca Manolache – “Do Not Expect Too Much From The End Of The World”
Writer/director Radu Jude’s “Do Not Expect Too Much from the End of the World“ chronicles 2024 as it actually is. Here is a land full of so much technology and potential…and it’s all used to make corporations feel good and ensure working-class folks barely scrape by. It’s a brutal feature perfectly anchored by Ilinca Manolache’s terrific performance as driver Angela. She exudes a captivatingly messy air as a woman aware that the world is on fire, yet resigns herself to making TikTok videos where she portrays a figure reminiscent of Andrew Tate. The ship that is capitalism is sinking, and Manolache transfixingly portrays the kind of messy humanity that manifests in such grim circumstances.
Maja Ostaszewska – “Green Border”
Speaking of grim circumstances, Agnieszka Holland’s “Green Border“ is an unflinching look at the modern Belarus–European Union border crisis and the immigrant refugee lives brutalized at the hands of Europeans. Holland has concentrated mainly on past humanitarian crises in her works…now she’s made a feature firmly rooted in the present and her home country. This raw evolution of Holland’s filmmaking involves a terrific lead performance from Maja Ostaszewska as Julia. This therapist goes from shrugging off the border crisis as something she can’t do anything about to immerse herself in an urgent cause. Ostaszewska’s depiction of Julia’s evolution is a sight to behold. It’s also one of many awards-worthy performances contained within “Green Border’s“ devastating story.
Ryland Brickson Cole Tews – “Hundreds Of Beavers”
Director Mike Cheslik’s silent comedy masterpiece, “Hundreds of Beavers,” would’ve collapsed if Ryland Brickson Cole Tews hadn’t absolutely crushed it as the film’s applejack salesman Jean Kayak. Luckily, Tews flourishes in these silent cinema confines. Incredibly, Tews channels silent comedy masters of old without ever just flat-out plagiarizing them. He creates something new from cinema’s past. Plus, his physical comedy chops are impeccable, ditto his outstandingly humorous facial expressions. Tews realizes Kayak as someone who can easily tickle your funny bone but also a person you can’t help but get invested in. With this kind of lead performance, it’s no wonder “Hundreds of Beavers“ became one of 2024’s greatest triumphs.
Zarin Shihab – “Aattam”
Early in “Aattam,“ Anjali (Zarin Shihab), the lone woman in a male-dominated acting troupe, walks over to Shajitha (Nandini Gopalakrishnan), one of the few other women at a big party. The two share a warm rapport, and Anjali’s expression of gratitude for Shajitha radiates off the screen with a genuine quality. It’s just the kind of throwaway intimate moment Shihab makes unforgettable in her capable hands. This performer effortlessly weaves a nuanced figure out of Anjali that stands out even in a crowded (and talented) ensemble cast. “Aattam’s” depiction of how sexual trauma survivors are endlessly minimized is heartbreaking in many ways. Zarin Shihab’s performance, though, really makes this narrative shine.
Willa Fitzgerald – “Strange Darling”
Watching “Strange Darling“ inspire such vastly different responses from people has been fun. Some folks (including yours truly) think it’s terrific, while others find it downright misogynistic and tedious. Those are all perfectly valid reactions to writer/director JT Mollner’s deeply unorthodox and trashy thriller full of twists and carnage. However, what really gets me pro- “Strange Darling“ is Willa Fitzgerald’s commanding work as The Lady. Mollner’s writing throws so much at this performer. Fitzgerald shows remarkable dexterity and full-throated commitment with every new layer of The Lady. If the Oscars ever recognized this kind of genre fare, Willa Fitzgerald would unquestionably be a fixture in the Best Actress conversation.
Autumn Best – “Woman Of The Hour”
Among the most prominent individuals that closely encountered Rodney Alcala (Daniel Zovatto) in “Woman of the Hour“ is Amy (Autumn Best), a teenage runaway living on her own. That’s an archetype populating countless movies. It’d be so easy to imagine Amy amounting to just a collection of easy clichés; however, from the moment she’s on-screen, Autumn Best makes an engaging soul even when silently stealing coins from a laundromat. There’s a subtle emotional immediacy to Best’s graceful performance combined with Amy’s external nonchalant air. This richly detailed work makes for an incredible acting debut from Autumn Best.
Usha Seamkhum – “How To Make Millions Before Grandma Dies”
As the title indicates, Usha Seamkhum’s Mengju is slowly perishing in “How to Make Millions Before Grandma Dies.” Just because she’s gradually inching closer to her demise, though, doesn’t mean Mengju can’t leave an impact while she’s alive. Seamkhum is delightful in her screen time, mainly when acting cheeky to grandson M (Putthipong “Billkin“Assaratanakul). She also impresses in brief, quiet scenes depicting her everyday life divorced from M’s schemes and eventual affection. It’s easy for death to consume everything around it, like a black hole. However, Usha Seamkhum deftly injects Mengju with plenty of personality and specificity beyond her impending passing.
DJ Próvaí – “Kneecap”
I’ll never forget walking out of “Kneecap“ and discovering, to my astonishment, that the central members of the titular hip-hop band had played themselves in the film. I’d assumed they were just played by various talented Irish performers. That’s especially true for JJ “DJ Próvaí“ Ó Dochartaigh, a figure I assumed was played by a charming Irish equivalent to Rhys Darby. DJ Próvaí, in the flesh, does wonderful and profoundly engaging work as an everyman who finds himself caught up in the flurry of distinctly Irish rebellion. A sequence where DJ Próvaí’s (who initially worked as a teacher) superiors reprimand him against a pitch-black backdrop is an especially astonishing display of this man’s absorbing acting skills. There’s an instantly likable and underdog air exuded in DJ Próvaí’s performance that not only grips your attention but also justifies having these musicians play themselves in “Kneecap.”
Which performances would you like to see highlighted this awards season? Please let us know in the comments below or on Next Best Picture’s X account, and be sure to check out Next Best Picture’s latest Oscar predictions here.
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