Cheryl Strayed (Reese Witherspoon) – Wild
Yes, this is an extremely new film to feature on such a list, but Reese Witherspoon’s naked, fearless and career-defining performance in Wild is simply too good to miss out.
Her screen turn as Cheryl Strayed – the young woman who in 1994 opted to hike 1,000 miles of the Pacific Coast Trail alone – is something truly wondrous to behold; a work of heartfelt honesty in all it’s gory detailing. Using the route as a means to exercise the demons from her seriously chequered past (dealing with an abusive step-father, her mother’s passing, the collapse of her marriage and years of reckless, promiscuous behaviour), Strayed is somewhat reborn as she delves deeper, aches harder and sweats further.
Witherspoon wholly embodies this film and indeed her persona by conveying such a broad range of emotion and anguish throughout. One truly hopes the awards are kind towards her as she has rightfully landed a number of nominations for her sensational work in this equally sensational picture.
