Breakthrough Performance

2007 National Board of Review - Breakthrough Performance WinnerInto the WildEmile HirschAfter graduating from Emory University, top student and athlete Christopher McCandless abandons his possessions, gives his entire $24,000 savings account to charity and hitchhikes to Alaska to live in the wilderness. Along the way, Christopher encounters aAmazonJunoEllen PageFaced with an unplanned pregnancy, an offbeat young woman makes an unusual decision regarding her unborn child.Amazon

1995 National Board of Review - Breakthrough Performance WinnerCluelessAlicia SilverstoneA rich high school student tries to boost a new pupil's popularity, but reckons without affairs of the heart getting in the way.Amazon

1996 National Board of Review - Breakthrough Performance WinnerJerry MaguireRenée ZellwegerWhen a sports agent has a moral epiphany and is fired for expressing it, he decides to put his new philosophy to the test as an independent agent with the only athlete who stays with him and his former secretary.Amazon

1997 National Board of Review - Breakthrough Performance WinnerRed CornerBai LingAn American attorney on business in China is wrongfully arrested and put on trial for murder, with a female defense lawyer from the country the only key to proving his innocence.Amazon

1998 National Board of Review - Breakthrough Performance WinnerPlaying by HeartAngelina JolieEleven articulate people work through affairs of the heart in Los Angeles.AmazonThe Hi-Lo CountryBilly CrudupTwo cowboys have their friendship tested when they fall for the same girl.Amazon

1999 National Board of Review - Breakthrough Performance WinnerAmerican BeautyWes BentleyA sexually frustrated suburban father has a mid-life crisis after becoming infatuated with his daughter's best friend.AmazonBoys Don't CryHilary SwankA young man named Brandon Teena navigates love, life, and being transgender in rural Nebraska.Amazon

2000 National Board of Review - Breakthrough Performance WinnerBilly ElliotJamie BellA talented young boy becomes torn between his unexpected love of dance and the disintegration of his family.AmazonGirlfightMichelle RodriguezDiana, without her father knowing it, trains as a boxer and achieves impressive success, blazing new trails for female boxers.Amazon

2001 National Board of Review - Breakthrough Performance WinnerLife as a HouseHayden ChristensenWhen a man is diagnosed with terminal cancer, he takes custody of his misanthropic teenage son, for whom quality time means getting high, engaging in small-time prostitution, and avoiding his father.AmazonMulholland DriveNaomi WattsAfter a car wreck on the winding Mulholland Drive renders a woman amnesiac, she and a perky Hollywood-hopeful search for clues and answers across Los Angeles in a twisting venture beyond dreams and reality.Amazon

2002 National Board of Review - Breakthrough Performance WinnerAntwone FisherDerek LukeAntwone Fisher, a young navy man, is forced to see a psychiatrist after a violent outburst against a fellow crewman. During the course of treatment a painful past is revealed and a new hope begins.AmazonSecretaryMaggie GyllenhaalA young woman, recently released from a mental hospital, gets a job as a secretary to a demanding lawyer, where their employer-employee relationship turns into a sexual, sadomasochistic one.Amazon

2003 National Board of Review - Breakthrough Performance WinnerAmerican SplendorPaul GiamattiAn original mix of fiction and reality illuminates the life of comic book hero everyman Harvey Pekar.AmazonMonsterCharlize TheronBased on the life of Aileen Wuornos, a Daytona Beach prostitute who became a serial killer.Amazon