Notable Performances of the Past Decade

Instigated by a recent viewing of Scent of a Woman, and Al Pacino's exaggerated but effective portrayal of an indelicate, retired Lt. Colonel.

I thought I'd post some my favorite notable performances of the past decade.

When considering a film's success or failure, for me, the director gets most of the accolades (or criticism). But sometimes an actor's performance is such that to ignore it seems criminal.

In no particular order: 

1. Daniel Day-Lewis in Gangs of New York and There Will Be Blood. There is none higher...and it took a reminder from a friend to remember. The man is to acting what Cormac McCarthy is to setting. Rough-hewn and brooding with violence, but always graceful and beautiful, and wrought with a sense of self. 
   
2. Ulrich Thomsen in Brothers. Not the 2009 remake, but the Danish original (2004, Susanne Bier dir.). Thomsen simply devastates with his portrayal of an MIA soldier, presumed dead, who returns home to find life having gone on without him.
3. Ralph Fiennes in The Constant Gardener. Fiennes plays a gentle, almost typical English Man whose wife is murdered during a campaign against exploitation by pharmaceutical companies on Kenyans. Questions arise about her fidelity and integrity, leaving Fiennes' character at odds with the truth. Brilliant but painful performance. Reminded me of his earlier work in Sunshine.
4. Glenn Close in Damages. A legal drama for the FX television network, but completely unconventional. Close plays a ferocious, manipulative character usually associated with male stereotypes. She does so without losing an ounce of femininity or drudging up expected gender role placement. 
5. Natalie Portman in Goya's Ghosts. Not a particularly great film, but one with sumptuous imagery. Portman deftly plays two different characters, both subjected to inhuman treatment and despair. Her performance alone is what makes the film worth watching. 
6. Ray Winstone in Sexy Beast. Much is said about Sir Ben Kingsley's acting here (and rightly so). But Winstone positively exudes charm and gaudiness and tenacity. He does so with a subtle sense of his character's moral compass that keeps him always in the audience's good favor. 
7. Ulrich Muhe in The Lives of Others. Another prime example of subtlety. Muhe plays a conflicted member of East Germany's Stasi police, who finds himself questioning loyalties while he spies on a writer and his lover. One of the best films I've ever seen, and Muhe was astounding. A huge loss to cinema when he died in 2007, at the age of 54.
8. Guy Pearce in The Proposition. A violent character examination of moral relativity. Pearce's character is a man facing certain death, and yet compelled by a sense of moral obligation, he follows its path. 
9. Emily Watson in Punch Drunk Love and Synecdoche, New York. My secret crush aside, Watson is one of those rare creatures who can play sweet, lovable female roles without becoming saccharine. She gives them dimension, complexity, a tenuous resolve. A lovely creature. 
10. Philip Seymour Hoffman in Charlie Wilson's War and Doubt. A string of astounding performances where his characters erupt off the screen, filthy at times, but always with clarity. Also a great orator, in the vein of old Pacino. 
11. Ian McShane in Deadwood. Probably the finest character ever to grace television. Dirty and foul and ruthless. But never without a strange sensitivity, a line of compassion that he balks at when confronted with it. McShane is Al Swearengen. 

So many more could be placed on this list: Kate Winslet in The Reader or Revolutionary Road; Paul Giamatti in The Hawk is Dying or Cold Souls or The Illusionist.

George Clooney and Tilda Swinton are outstanding in Michael Clayton, and what about Tom Wilkinson's opening monologue? Has to be one of my faves.  

Feel free to add your own to the list.