In a career of more than thirty years, he has delivered many great movies and brilliant performances.
Joaquin Phoenix is an actor who is known for getting under the character he is playing and giving performances that enthrall the audience. In a career of more than thirty years, he has given many great movies and brilliant performances which makes it difficult to select his best movies.
Hotel Rwanda was one of the most talked about and famous movies of the year 2004 when it was released. The movie is based on true events and tells the story of Paul Rusesabagina (Don Cheadle) and his wife, Tatiana (Sophie Okonedo), who saved more than 1,200 people in the Hotel where they were staying during the Rwandan genocide that happened in 1994. Phoenix played a character named Jack who was an American journalist who travels to Rwanda to cover the news and take photos of the genocide.
At first, he was a pessimist about the work as he thought people would take these brutal happenings in Rwanda as just another piece of news. The movie was a success at the box office and the performances of all the actors were appreciated and also the movie was nominated for three Academy Awards that year.
You Were Never Here was a psychological thriller drama film directed by Lynne Ramsay and it’s based on a book written by Jonathan Ames. The movie starts when a teenage girl goes missing, and a cynical, brutal enforcer Joe played by Phoenix was hired for the rescue mission. During the investigations, he discovers cases of corruption and wrong use of power by powerful men sitting in good positions in society but it does stop Joe who is ready to use any means required to save the girl. This psychological thriller movie has one of Phoenix's all-time best performances that proves his versatility as an actor.
Joaquin played the character of Freddie Quell, a World War II veteran who is suffering from PTSD because of the physical and mental trauma he faced during the war. Freddie is prone to sudden violent outbursts and has unpredictable behavior because of which he gets into trouble many times but things get worse when he gets accused of giving poison to a fellow farm worker. He escapes to San Francisco, where he meets Lancaster Dodd played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, who is the spearhead of a rising philosophical cult movement known as "The Cause." Dodd recruits Freddie in his organization as he finds qualities like vulnerability, loneliness, and desperation which were apt for being part of his movement. Phoenix gave a fabulous performance as someone who is suffering from PTSD which earned him a nomination for Best Actor in the Academy Awards
