Welcome to the 2025 SiftPop.com Sifties!
This year, the SiftPop writers came together to nominate five performances for Best Performance. Unlike the Oscars and other major awards shows, we didn’t differentiate between lead and supporting performances or between actors and actresses. This is simply a countdown of the five best performances that we collectively saw!
It seemed impossible that anyone could overshadow Benoit Blanc in his own movies. But Father Jud Duplenticy, the man of faith behind Wake Up Dead Man, is a different breed of person from the other people we’ve seen in this series. He wants to be a man of God, and he puts up with a lot from his current boss in the order to fulfill that mission. This is a man at a crossroads, who is looking for a sign for what he needs to do next. As the narrator and main character of the movie, Father Jud presents a vantage point about the role of religion and the church in people’s lives that gives people comfort and hope. His phone call with Louise is the spark he needs so he can be the priest he always thought he could be. His past as a boxer gives him endurance and patience, but it also haunts him. Other than Blanc, Father Jud might be the strongest character in the entire series because we rarely get to see someone go through such a meaningful arc in these movies. O’Connor makes such a strong impact with this role, and for him to outshine Daniel Craig is a truly phenomenal undertaking.
Like him or hate him as a person, Sean Penn is a great actor. And in One Battle After Another, he manages to be the standout performance among many standout performances, reminding us why the great actors love portraying villains. And specifically, more complex villains, like his Col. Steven J. Lockjaw, who wants to belong and become a white supremacist, but one of them fancy ones with an office and everything, despite him having a “weakness” for Black women. And it is Penn’s performance, how far he is willing to go to make it happen despite not being 100% happy with it, that sells that character and makes him someone so easy to root against. Also, what a perfect ending for this “gem” of a human. He’s the perfect character to love to hate.
For a movie whose synopsis focuses on the impact of William Shakespeare’s son Hamnet on the writing of his magnum opus, it is Jessie Buckley who anchors the film as its protagonist. Buckley has two standout scenes — one halfway through the movie, and one in the film’s final moments — that will stick with you forever. Her performance as Agnes requires a wide range of emotional depth, from romance and motherly love, to grief and pain. The acting in Hamnet, both from Buckley and her counterpart in Paul Mescal, is primal and emotionally raw. It can be difficult to rank something as subjective as performance, but the difficulty level required for Buckley’s work in this film is tough to argue.
Timothée Chalamet became well known for portraying a specific kind of character. He often played characters with their hearts on their sleeve, but a lot of complexity below the surface. He began to eschew that a bit with the Dune movies, particularly Part Two, but it’s taken to a whole other level with Marty Supreme. Marty is brash and outspoken, loud and cocky, and it seems like the only thing going on below the surface is self-preservation. That’s a positive regarding the performance, by the way, because for Chalamet to play someone like that while maintaining his humanity is quite a feat.
What is the most impressive aspect about Michael B. Jordan’s performance(s) in Sinners is that, despite him portraying twins, he’s not “all over” the movie. Meaning his performance is more subtle. He still allows everybody else shine, but you will remember him the most, given how he portrays both twins. They are both different, yet on some level, they are the same, and they have each other until the end. It’s that subtlety, while still being memorable, that is something impactful and stays with you.
Make sure to check out the previous 2025 Sifties winners, and check back tomorrow for the winner of Best Movie!