From the more restrained and glue performances that stuck all the pieces of a movie together to some of the louder and more memorable in 2020. There’s a little bit of everything in our Top 5 awards.

Here are our picks for the Top 5 Best Supporting Performances in a Drama Movie.

5.) Mark Rylance in The Trial of the Chicago 7

In The Trial of the Chicago 7, Mark Rylance portrays William Kunstler, part of the defence counsel for the Chicago 7. He’s a centred and needed level performance for a cast of rather loud characters. It’s perfect casting and a pitch-perfect performance from Rylance that helps the movie from feeling too hectic in part of its cast and the snappy script from Aaron Sorkin.

– Dylan Blight

4.) Sacha Baron Cohen in The Trial of The Chicago 7

Portraying Abbie Hoffman in The Trial of the Chicago 7, Sacha Cohen Baron delivered a levelled mix of laugh-out-loud moments and dramatic speeches. Alongside Jeremy Strong, moments like when Hoffman and Rubin arrive at court cosplaying the Judge are very funny. But as Cohen has proved over the years, he’s adept at turning that dramatic switch on a dime and when Hoffman takes the stand in the film’s final act Baron delivers his lines as gospel. A lot of the film’s pivotal scenes rely on him and especially, the film’s last act. 

I want to shout out how funny it is to me personally to give Sacha Baron Cohen an award for dramatic acting in the same year he released a sequel to Borat. 

– Dylan Blight

3.) Toni Collete in I’m Thinking of Ending Things

It’s hard to talk about Toni Collette’s performance in I’m Thinking of Ending Things without spoiling the film but there is no doubt that she plays a key role in the film’s success. Collette plays the Mother to Jesse Plemmon’s Jake and when we are first introduced to her she is the super awkward and embarrassing mother we all feel like our own mother is when we introduce them to someone important to us. As the movie progresses she becomes so much more and Toni Collette does a fantastic job bringing her to life.

2.) Florence Pugh in Little Women

For decades, Amy March had been considered the least likable of the March sisters in Little Women. But with Greta Gerwig’s adaptation of the 1868 novel, Florence Pugh may have changed that for future generations.

Pugh is really good as the childish Amy March in the “Part One” sections of the film, crying outside after being disciplined, pining for Laurie and cruelly burning Jo’s book. But it is in the more adult “Part Two” sections where Florence Pugh shines and makes Amy more than the girl who ends up with Jo’s man. The scene in the painting room where she talks to Laurie about marriage being an economic proposition is one of my favourites from this year and I can’t wait to see Florence Pugh in more scenes like this in the future.

1.) Paul Raci in Sound of Metal

At the heart of Sound of Metal is Paul Raci as Joe. He runs a community for deaf recovering addicts and is central to Ruben getting better. He’s a sweet man who’s lost his hearing in the Vietnam War and is also a recovering alcoholic. He wants to help Ruben, but he makes it very clear his community is about helping fix what’s wrong in your mind, not with Ruben’s hearing.

Paul Raci gives such a sweet and tender performance as Joe. It’s impossible not to like the man and appreciate what he’s trying to do. Raci alongside Riz Ahmed delivers one of 2020’s most powerhouse acting scenes towards the film’s ending. A real shell shocker leaves you wet around the eyes and asking where the gold awards are for both these men. 

– Dylan Blight

This Top 5 list was compiled by Dylan Blight and Ashley Hobley.