AFT Awards: Best Actor in a Leading Role

This is the first category of the 1st Annual AFT Film Awards to be announced. The AFT Awards are my own personal choices for the best in film of each year and the best in television of each season. The AFT Film Awards include the traditional Oscar categories and a number of additional specific honors. Nominees are listed in alphabetical order by film title. Winners will be announced in late February.

Runners-up:
JAMES MCAVOY, STARTER FOR 10
EMILE HIRSCH, INTO THE WILD
VIGGO MORTENSEN, EASTERN PROMISES
CASEY AFFLECK, GONE BABY GONE
JEMAINE CLEMENT, EAGLE VS. SHARK

The nominees:
MADS MIKKELSEN, AFTER THE WEDDING
As the kind-hearted and earnest Jacob, Mikkelsen delivers a wondrously quiet performance in which he, along with the rest of the superb cast, conveys so much with just a look. There is one scene near the beginning of the film that sums up Mikkelsen’s performance superbly, but he remains consistently excellent throughout the film. Who knew that the villain from “Casino Royale” could be such a heartbreakingly nice guy?

BRAD PITT, THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD
Casey Affleck has deservedly earned raves for his performance as Robert Ford in this film, but Pitt’s name has been all but absent from most awards groups. The actor usually known for his cocky and loud lead characters brings to life another quiet character with much more success than in last year’s “Babel”. Jesse James is such a classic character, and Pitt portrays him stunningly while still leaving him as such a mystery. The scene to watch him in particularly is the train robbery near the start of the film.

TOMMY LEE JONES, IN THE VALLEY OF ELAH
Jones is a seasoned actor who has more than held his own in a vast number of films over the past twenty-plus years. Yet he is sharp as ever in Paul Haggis’ underrated and completely forgotten early fall release. Anyone who sees the film will see why Jones came back with a surprise Oscar nomination for his work here. Jones does not overplay the role of the grieving yet meticulously perceptive father, and the results are wondrously effective.

ULRICH MUHE, THE LIVES OF OTHERS
It is truly sad that the terrific Muhe passed away this past summer, but it is some consolation that this role was one of his last. Muhe manages the near-impossible: his character is at the beginning so terrifying and vile yet he makes his German interrogator a sympathetic character by the middle of the film. I cannot say much more without giving the plot away, but Muhe’s performance is one that should be remembered for a long time.

DANIEL DAY-LEWIS, THERE WILL BE BLOOD
Many have written that Day-Lewis giving a great performance is no surprise. The actor has made less than twenty films in the past twenty-five years, so any time he appears on screen is bound to be fascinating. As an oil tycoon whose greed and lust for power engulfs his entire being, Day-Lewis fully inhabits the role more than I think I have ever seen an actor do (save for maybe Marion Cotillard in this year’s “La Vie en Rose”, but wait until the next category for that one. That one clip that keeps getting played over and over at the awards shows with Paul Dano’s character trying to “drive out the devil” in Daniel says it all.