Top 20 Joaquin Phoenix Performances of All Time
This Oscar-winning actor has no shortage of epic roles to choose from. Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for Joaquin Phoenix’s finest performances in feature films.
Transcript
00:00 "When you bring me out, can you introduce me as Joker?"
00:04 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for
00:07 Joaquin Phoenix's finest performances in feature films.
00:11 "Ma'am, you were in the exclusion line."
00:13 "Yes."
00:14 "Did they explain to you what that meant?"
00:15 "Yes, yes."
00:16 Number 20. Meryl Hess - Signs
00:20 This M. Night Shyamalan thriller sold us with its eerie premise,
00:24 but Signs caught audiences off guard with its moments of humor.
00:28 "This crop stuff is about a bunch of nerds who never had a girlfriend in their lives.
00:32 They're like 30 and they work up little codes together and they analyze Greek mythology and
00:36 make up secret societies where other guys who never had girlfriends before can join in.
00:40 They do stupid crap like this to feel special. It's a scam."
00:44 Most of those laughs come from Phoenix's Meryl,
00:47 who moves in with his older brother following a family tragedy.
00:50 Although he helps look after his niece and nephew,
00:53 Meryl possesses a childlike curiosity that wants to believe.
00:57 While Phoenix brings levity to the profound subject matter,
01:00 the character has more inner demons than expected.
01:03 Having struck out in minor league, Meryl is aimlessly searching for direction.
01:07 "Meryl here has more strikeouts than any two players."
01:10 "You really got the strikeout record?"
01:13 "Felt wrong not to swing."
01:23 He doesn't know where he's going, but Meryl's search for a purpose ultimately
01:27 leads him back to his baseball bat.
01:29 Phoenix hits this supporting performance out of the cornfield.
01:33 Number 19.
01:35 Charlie Sisters - The Sisters Brothers
01:37 "What do you want?"
01:38 "It's about slapping each other in public.
01:41 After I slap you, you slap me back, or even.
01:44 So go ahead, hit me. Hit me."
01:46 Based on the 2011 Patrick DeWitt novel of the same name,
01:49 The Sisters Brothers is a dramedy about a pair of assassins in the Old West.
01:53 Joaquin Phoenix and John C. Reilly bring the titular brothers to life
01:57 as Charlie Sisters and Eli Sisters, respectively.
02:00 "Charlie. Charlie."
02:03 "Peek-a-boo!"
02:03 [Laughs]
02:06 "Damn fool. I thought you were gonna kiss me!"
02:10 Now, Phoenix was certainly in good company playing opposite Reilly,
02:13 and the addition of Jake Gyllenhaal and Riz Ahmed only makes things easier.
02:17 But his is nonetheless arguably the standout performance of the bunch.
02:22 "What are we gonna do about them?"
02:23 "We leave them here. They'll end up killing each other or getting eaten alive."
02:29 While Eli has doubts about their bloody lifestyle and dreams of something simpler,
02:33 Charlie is drunk, angry, violent, unpredictable,
02:37 and wholly committed to their career as killers.
02:40 It's one of Phoenix's lesser-known recent films,
02:43 but a must-watch for any committed fan.
02:45 "A goddamn genius.
02:49 Huh, that even pop in your head just out of the blue."
02:52 Number 18. Ray Elwood – Buffalo Soldiers
02:55 "Hey, you want a beer? I'll get you a beer, huh?"
02:57 This 2001 satire, set around the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989,
03:04 follows Joaquin Phoenix as Specialist Ray Elwood, a soldier in the U.S. Army.
03:09 In the eyes of his commanding officer, Colonel Berman,
03:12 he is the definition of a good soldier. But in reality, Elwood is anything but.
03:17 "Where'd you get all this stuff?" "Santa Claus."
03:20 "Ha ha, Santa Claus. That's funny. So he came down the chimney and put it under the tree, huh?"
03:26 "Yep."
03:27 He's actually heavily involved in the trafficking of heroin in West Berlin's Black Market,
03:32 and when a new superior rolls in,
03:34 his carefully balanced disaster of a life is totally upended.
03:38 "Is there something going on I don't know about?"
03:40 "What do you mean?"
03:41 "Are you into some kind of shit on the side?"
03:45 Elwood is one of those characters who is at once despicable,
03:49 but also utterly magnetic thanks to his devilish charisma.
03:52 In lesser hands, this incorrigible character could have felt two-dimensional,
03:56 but Phoenix's performance sells it.
03:59 "Hey, this place gives me the creeps." "Yeah, it's supposed to."
04:03 Number 17. Jack Morrison, Ladder 49.
04:07 "Firefighter Jack Morris."
04:09 Joaquin Phoenix is known for playing eccentric, troubled, and strange characters.
04:13 He inhabits these roles in ways that few actors can pull off, but in a certain sense,
04:19 it's almost more impressive to see him similarly excelling in a more relatable role.
04:23 In Ladder 49, he plays Jack Morrison, a dedicated firefighter.
04:28 "I can't do this." "I'm right here, you can do it, Phil."
04:32 "I can't do this." "Yes you can, I'm gonna help you.
04:35 I got guys on the ground. Trust me, Phil. Trust me."
04:38 Over the course of the film, we get an overview of his adult life,
04:41 both professional and personal, and bear witness to the risks inherent to his career choice.
04:47 "You know, Mike asked me tonight if I still love the job the way I did.
04:51 Now for the first time in my life, I didn't know what to say."
04:59 Morrison's life has been one of heartbreak, trauma, and sacrifice, and yet he remains
05:05 committed to his calling, always willing to pay the ultimate sacrifice. The film gets
05:10 heavy-handed at times, but Phoenix's deeply human performance grounds it in genuine sentiment
05:15 rather than emotional manipulation. "Promise to take care of the kids.
05:19 Tell them that I'm always with them."
05:25 Number 16. Willie Gutierrez - The Yards
05:29 "Why don't you come down with me tomorrow and see for yourself? If you like it,
05:33 we'll talk to Frank about it." Directed and co-written by James Gray,
05:37 The Yards is a 2000 crime film about the competing contractors hired to repair railway cars in NYC,
05:43 and the lengths to which they'll go to come out on top.
05:46 "Why don't you come work for us instead of those governor's?
05:49 Don't waste my time." As Willie Gutierrez, Joaquin plays a young man who fully leans
05:56 into and embraces the corrupt lifestyle that comes with his line of work.
06:00 "We had a little, uh, little problem. We're gonna go back again."
06:06 He works hard, plays hard, and hustles even harder.
06:10 "I know so. I know these kind of things. Trust me, I'm blessed with a gift."
06:13 The character seems to have an unshakable confidence in himself despite the fact that
06:17 at any moment, his world could come crashing down. In the role, Phoenix switches faces on a dime.
06:24 Fun-loving and charming one moment, a terrifying force of violence and intimidation the next,
06:30 but always vibrating with energy. It's truly remarkable.
06:34 [Music]
06:39 Number 15. John Callahan. Don't worry, he won't get far on foot.
06:43 "Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the stage,
06:47 Portland celebrity cartoonist, John Callahan!"
06:51 In this 2018 film released by Amazon Studios and directed by Gus Van Zandt,
06:56 Phoenix plays real-life artist, cartoonist, and musician John Callahan.
07:00 After a car accident leaves John with quadriplegia, he tries to come to terms with his own alcohol use
07:05 with the support of AA, channeling his frustrations into his dark and macabre cartoons.
07:10 "Don't worry, boys. He won't get far on foot."
07:14 The film didn't get a whole lot of attention, which is a shame because it did well with critics.
07:18 And the cast, including Jonah Hill, Rooney Mara, and Jack Black, is fantastic.
07:24 "Good to know you, John Callahan, who is an alcoholic. You're in the right place, I think."
07:30 "I'm Donnie and I'm an alcoholic."
07:33 Phoenix is in full swing here, expressing the unwieldy frustrations of his character
07:38 in masterfully chaotic and humorous fashion. And Hill is right there with him.
07:43 The end result is a biopic that is utterly unique.
07:47 "Really, these are good. It's really good."
07:50 Number 14. Abbé de Colmier. Quills.
07:54 "Bravo, Dauphin. It's far better to paint fires than to set them, isn't it?"
07:59 "Yes."
07:59 "Wonderful."
08:03 Between Geoffrey Rush, Michael Caine, Kate Winslet, and of course, Joaquin Phoenix,
08:08 there's a whole lot of great acting going on in this underrated film.
08:11 A period drama directed by Philip Kaufman,
08:13 it's a reimagining of the end of the life of the Marquis de Sade.
08:17 "Take your pen in hand, Marquis. Purge these wicked thoughts of yours on paper."
08:23 Phoenix plays Abbé de Colmier, a role that demands he play it subtle and nuanced in a
08:28 film jam-packed with big characters played by even bigger names.
08:31 And you know what? One could argue that Phoenix's performance is the one that has aged the best.
08:36 "But isn't that the duty of art? To elevate us above the beast?"
08:40 Quiet, contemplative, but oh-so-deliberate, Phoenix's performance is a lesson in less is more.
08:46 "I've stared into the face of evil, and I've lived to tell the tale.
08:53 And now I beg you, for your sake, let me write you down."
08:58 Number 13. Bobby Green, We Own the Night.
09:01 "All right, all right, deal again, deal again, I'm feeling hot!"
09:04 In this crime drama, Phoenix plays Bobby Green, a manager of a nightclub in 1988 Brooklyn.
09:10 Though he comes from a family of cops, Green has chosen a life of pleasure.
09:14 "Hey, we've got the best club in Brooklyn, man. Just wait till I take over Manhattan, baby."
09:20 But despite his attempts to distance himself from his family,
09:23 the fact that Russian mobsters frequent his club puts him in the middle of a messy conflict.
09:27 "Congratulations, Captain Joe, good job!"
09:30 Like so many of his best roles, Phoenix plays Bobby as a deeply conflicted individual,
09:35 a man who attempts to remain aloof and detached,
09:38 only to dive headfirst into a world of extreme choices and actions.
09:42 The film was less well-received than Phoenix's previous collaboration with director James Gray,
09:47 but in a film made up of archetypes, Phoenix stands apart by playing Green complex and nuanced.
09:53 "You want me to inform? Are you kidding me?"
09:58 Number 12. Leonard Craditore, Two Lovers.
10:01 Leonard finds himself torn between two women in this romantic drama.
10:05 Although Vanessa Shaw's Sandra is the healthier choice in every sense,
10:09 Leonard can't help but be drawn to Gwyneth Paltrow's Michelle,
10:12 who's also torn between two lovers.
10:14 "So, Leonard, it was great to hang out with you."
10:16 "Oh yeah, you too."
10:18 "And I guess I'll see you around the building."
10:21 "How about I see you first?"
10:22 "Yeah, see you. Hey, you need a place to hide, you know where to come."
10:26 "Oh yeah, I'll keep that in mind."
10:28 Phoenix is at the center of this love square,
10:30 seeing a part of himself in the deeply flawed Michelle.
10:34 Sandra represents true happiness, which perhaps scares our protagonist more than anything else.
10:39 This builds to a resolution that some might read as a happy ending,
10:42 but it just as easily could be read as a tragedy.
10:45 "Are you okay?"
10:48 "No, what's going on? Where were you?"
10:50 "I got you something."
10:54 "Yeah?"
10:56 Giving a reserved performance,
10:59 Phoenix couldn't be more convincing as a man drowning in his own self-destructive nature.
11:04 Whoever he chooses, joy will likely never come naturally to Leonard.
11:08 Number 11. Jimmy Emmett - To Die For
11:12 With films like Parenthood, Phoenix established himself as one of his
11:15 generation's most promising child stars.
11:18 "Maybe I could stay with Dad for a while."
11:19 "What?"
11:23 "Well, I've been here a long time. Maybe I should live with him for a while."
11:30 "You wanna live with your father?"
11:33 He'd take a step back from the spotlight after playing Gary Buckman,
11:37 resurfacing six years later as Jimmy Emmett.
11:40 No longer a kid, Phoenix was ready for darker, more adult roles.
11:44 This black comedy delivered precisely that.
11:47 Working alongside fellow rising star Casey Affleck,
11:50 Phoenix stands out as an easily influenced young man who makes the leap from delinquent to murderer.
11:56 Nicole Kidman plays the seductive woman that Jimmy is willing to die for.
11:59 "A guy that does that to someone like you doesn't deserve to live.
12:04 That's the truth, he doesn't deserve to live."
12:07 "No, I suppose you're right. He doesn't."
12:14 While Jimmy could have just been a pawn in the grand scheme of things,
12:18 Phoenix masters a tricky balancing act of being creepy,
12:21 vulnerable, and hopelessly devoted, painting an authentic portrait of a manipulated soul.
12:26 Number 10. Napoleon Bonaparte - Napoleon
12:30 Portraying a historical figure as iconic as Napoleon is a tall order to fill.
12:36 And no, that's not a short pun because Napoleon was actually average-sized.
12:40 Phoenix is more than up to the task of playing the French military leader turned infamous ruler.
12:44 "I found the crown of France in the gutter and placed it atop my own head."
12:51 Capturing multiple sides of Napoleon, Phoenix seamlessly transitions between
12:55 being understated and commanding without ever missing a beat.
12:58 Phoenix unearths moments of dry wit, finding the humor in a conqueror who was simply never satisfied,
13:04 no matter how much power he amassed.
13:06 As intimidating as Phoenix can be in the role,
13:09 he demonstrates how Napoleon was also kind of pathetic.
13:12 Some will tell you that Wellington and Blucher defeated Napoleon,
13:15 but it was just as much his inflated ego, which Phoenix fully embodies.
13:20 "I'm destined for greatness. But those in power will only see me as their sword."
13:25 Number 9. Bo Wasserman - Bo is Afraid
13:29 In almost any movie, Phoenix usually plays the most unhinged character.
13:34 Although we wouldn't call Bo "normal,"
13:36 he is the least terrifying presence in this surreal expedition to the edge of all reason.
13:41 "I don't know whose phone this is, I just called the police, they're already on their way."
13:44 "Okay. Line?
13:51 Hello?"
13:55 On a journey to a funeral, Bo winds up at the mercy of a disturbed domestic family,
14:00 a traveling theater of lost souls, and a mother who will never untether him.
14:04 Battling figurative and literal demons, Phoenix earns our empathy as a man who cannot catch a break.
14:10 We'd say that Bo is the most sane person on screen,
14:13 although when you're a magnet for such madness, one must question their own sanity.
14:18 "Ahh!"
14:18 As far as Bo travels, Phoenix supplies the film with a claustrophobic sentiment
14:35 that will inevitably crush our hapless hero.
14:37 Number 8. Larry "Doc" Sportello - Inherent Vice
14:41 We all have preconceived notions of what a private detective should look and act like.
14:46 The same can be said about hippies. You wouldn't expect these archetypes to go together,
14:51 yet Phoenix effortlessly blends them with this one-of-a-kind performance.
14:54 Doc is smarter and more attentive than his shaggy sideburns suggest.
15:10 At the same time, Doc is every bit as dazed and confused as he appears,
15:14 often stumbling into altercations with bizarre supporting characters as a mystery unfolds.
15:19 Although the grooviness of the 60s is still alive in Doc,
15:23 he also reflects the paranoia and grit that would become more predominant during the 70s.
15:27 "This wouldn't be just more of your paranoid hippie bullshit, would it?"
15:31 "Look, have the lab check for traces of copper.
15:34 Not the kind that goes stumbling all over the crime scene, uh, contaminating evidence.
15:38 More like copper than metal. You see, gold teeth are never made with pure gold,
15:42 and it's like to allocate with copper."
15:44 Through Doc's stoned eyes, we're given a unique perspective
15:47 of a changing landscape where free love is harder to come by.
15:50 Once upon a time, Phoenix was a child star sharing the screen with legends like Diane Weist.
15:59 In "Come On, Come On," Phoenix is now the Hollywood vet with a young screen partner.
16:03 Woody Norman more than holds his own as Jesse, a nine-year-old who's placed in
16:07 his uncle Johnny's care while his parents go through a difficult period.
16:10 "Johnny!"
16:11 "You need something?"
16:12 "My mom tells me stories. They can be fiction or non-fiction."
16:19 "Boy, I don't know any stories."
16:24 Johnny isn't prepared to look after a kid, but he tries to make the best of the situation.
16:29 It turns out to be a learning experience for both, as Johnny unearths his parental side
16:34 while Jesse grapples with who he'll grow up to be.
16:37 "Everybody said a lot of things and there was a lot of concern and sometimes we don't
16:41 completely understand why we're doing the things that we're doing, right?
16:45 But I never did anything because I wanted to hurt your mom or hurt your dad or hurt you."
16:50 Johnny might be Phoenix's most relatable character, showing how even when you're
16:54 middle-aged, you'll still probably be a work in progress.
16:58 Number 6.
17:00 "Joe, You Were Never Really Here."
17:02 "I need my space."
17:03 "Your what?"
17:05 "My space."
17:06 "All right, go get your space downstairs."
17:08 We've seen Phoenix don a wide variety of masks throughout his career,
17:12 but never has he played such a visceral and brutal force of violence
17:15 than in this psychological action thriller.
17:17 In the movie, Phoenix plays Joe, a deeply troubled man who uses his military and FBI experience,
17:23 coupled with the fuel of his own history of abuse, to rescue a girl who's been kidnapped.
17:28 "Security, how many are there? Huh? So one, more than one? Two, three, come on, talk to me."
17:34 Phoenix doesn't say a whole lot in the film, but with his body language,
17:37 facial expressions, and limited dialogue, he speaks volumes about this character's inner turmoil.
17:42 It's strange to call an exercise in violence and despair such as this beautiful,
17:51 but what Phoenix does with the role is a masterclass in acting,
17:54 further elevated by Lin Ramsey's direction.
18:04 Number 5. Commodus, Gladiator.
18:07 With his first Oscar-nominated performance,
18:10 Phoenix revealed just how vindictively evil he can be as Commodus.
18:13 Murdering his way to his father's throne,
18:16 Phoenix plays Commodus with the sniveling punch ability of an entitled rich boy.
18:20 "Who would dare to lecture me?"
18:22 "Commodus, the Senate has its uses."
18:26 "What uses? All they do is talk. It should be just you and me, and Rome."
18:34 "Don't even think-"
18:35 It's a choice that could have backfired,
18:37 but Phoenix prevails as a villain who manages to be threatening and pitiful at the same time.
18:42 One minute, Commodus can be the most confident man in the arena.
18:46 The second that somebody like Maximus one-ups him though,
18:49 Commodus is exposed as the coward he is.
18:51 Phoenix brings a Shakespearean gravitas to the role,
19:02 matching the romanticized tone of this historical epic.
19:05 Although the history part might not always be accurate,
19:08 Phoenix and the rest of the cast all hit their targets.
19:11 Number 4. Johnny Cash, Walk the Line.
19:15 In another Oscar-nominated turn,
19:18 Phoenix delivers one of the definitive music biopic performances as the Man in Black.
19:22 On a dramatic level, Phoenix was well-suited to portray the tormented Cash.
19:26 His musical chops were uncharted territory however.
19:30 "What happened?"
19:32 "He didn't like our gospel.
19:33 So I played him some songs that I wrote.
19:37 And we made a record.
19:40 I mean a real, real record."
19:43 Rather than rely on archival recordings, Phoenix learned to sing for the role,
19:49 adopting a distinct bass-baritone voice that's haunting and soothing all at once.
19:54 Going a step further, Phoenix brushed up on his guitar-playing skills as well.
19:58 While this added to the transformation,
20:00 it's the heart and soul that Phoenix had to nail above all else.
20:03 [Music]
20:19 Phoenix succeeds in a performance that goes in harmony with Reese Witherspoon's
20:23 equally committed portrayal of June Carter.
20:25 Both walk the line between love and heartbreak in this emotional powerhouse.
20:30 Number 3. Theodore Twombly - Her
20:33 Phoenix excels at playing lonely losers,
20:36 and we mean that as the highest compliment possible.
20:39 If anything, we see a lot of ourselves in Theodore,
20:42 who only becomes more introverted with a divorce looming.
20:46 Theodore turns to technology for comfort,
20:48 falling in love with an operating system named Samantha.
20:51 "Oh, what do I call you? Do you have a name?"
20:53 "Um, yes. Samantha."
20:56 "Really? Where'd you get that name from?"
20:59 "I gave it to myself, actually."
21:01 "How come?"
21:03 "Because I like the sound of it."
21:06 Samantha Morton was originally cast as the virtual assistant,
21:09 acting on set with Phoenix,
21:10 although the two avoided making physical contact.
21:13 In post-production, director Spike Jonze chose to replace
21:16 Morton's recordings with Scarlett Johansson.
21:19 Despite this disconnection,
21:20 we completely believe the bond between Theodore and Samantha,
21:24 as if they're two people speaking face to face.
21:26 "I don't know, Samantha. I just... I don't think it's a good idea."
21:30 "You know, I think somebody's feelings are bound to get hurt."
21:33 "It'll be fun. We'll have fun together."
21:36 "I'm sorry. It makes me uncomfortable."
21:40 "I think it would be good for us. I want this."
21:43 The romance may reach an inevitable conclusion,
21:46 but Theodore emerges ready to love again and live like never before.
21:50 Number 2. Arthur Fleck - Joker
21:55 Various actors have been tasked with bringing this iconic character to life
21:58 on the big screen over the years,
21:59 and each of them has done something a little different, for better or worse.
22:03 "You don't listen, do you? I don't think you ever really hear me.
22:10 You just ask the same questions every week.
22:14 'How's your job? Are you having any negative thoughts?'"
22:18 We're not here to pit Phoenix's performance against that of Ledger or Nicholson.
22:22 That's for another time and a much larger discussion.
22:24 What we will say, however, is that with Joker,
22:28 Phoenix has turned in the performance of a lifetime.
22:30 He plays Arthur Fleck as a man utterly unhinged,
22:34 and yet for all his criminal insanity, he somehow remains sympathetic, if not relatable.
22:51 He's a tragic character, one who is at once hard to watch but impossible to turn away from
22:56 due to the sheer magnetism of Phoenix's acting.
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23:14 Number 1. Freddie Quill - The Master
23:19 Phoenix was in an uncertain place when The Master came out.
23:22 He'd only made one other movie in the past four years,
23:25 playing a mystifying version of himself in I'm Still Here.
23:28 "I'm nervous but I'm glad to share it with you.
23:30 And this is our night, it's not my night, this is our night. JP is all of us. Peace!"
23:36 To the bewildered public, Phoenix appeared to be a lost soul, not unlike Freddie Quill.
23:43 Following World War II, Freddie struggles to re-enter society.
23:47 Searching for meaning, Freddie goes from the Navy to dedicating himself to a cult
23:51 led by the charismatic Lancaster Dodd.
23:53 The film revolves around Freddie's journey of self-discovery.
23:56 "Is your life a struggle?"
23:57 "No."
23:59 "Do you like to be told what to do?"
24:00 "No."
24:02 "Is your behavior erratic?"
24:03 "No."
24:09 On Freddie's road to independence though, Dodd just might destroy him first.
24:14 The ending may leave Freddie on an ambiguous note,
24:17 but Phoenix unequivocally found his way back in a performance that solidified him
24:21 as one of the all-time greats.
24:23 What's your favorite Joaquin Phoenix performance? Let us know in the comments.
24:28 "Wait, what? Tell me."
24:29 "Stupid."
24:31 "I wanna know. Tell me."
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24:42 [Music]