Joaquin Phoenix movies: 15 greatest films ranked worst to best

15. I’M STILL HERE (2010)

Director: Casey Affleck.  Writer: Casey Affleck, Joaquin Phoenix.  Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Casey Affleck, Sean Combs. 

Let’s face it — “I’m Still Here” is a mess, but I’ve included it here because it was a crucial film in potentially derailing Phoenix’s career. In Casey Affleck’s mockumentary, Phoenix posed as himself, abandoning his acting gig and starting up a music career in hip-hop.  During his press promotion, Phoenix kept in character, which resulted in a catastrophic appearance with David Letterman in which viewers, unaware that Phoenix was in character, thought that was having a nervous breakdown.  Phoenix profusely apologized, and luckily, Paul Thomas Anderson came along with “The Master” that got Phoenix’s career back on track.

14. SIGNS (2002)

Writer/Director: M. Night Shyamalan.  Starring Mel Gibson, Joaquin Phoenix, Rory Culkin, Abigail Breslin. 

Phoenix was lucky enough to encounter M. Night Shyamalan during his good period, and his presence in Shyamalan’s huge hit helped solidify his box-office status.  As Merrill, a failed minor-league baseball player who now lives with his older brother Graham (Mel Gibson), Phoenix gives an ensemble-minded performance as his Merrill is stunned at the mysterious crop circles that have suddenly appeared in Graham’s yard and stands tall when faced with the prospect of an alien invasion.  Faced with carving out a character facing this preposterous plot, Phoenix, like his character Merrill, likewise stands tall.

13. THE IMMIGRANT (2013)

Director: James Gray.  Writers: Richard Menello, James Gray.  Starring Marion Cotillard, Joaquin Phoenix, Jeremy Renner. 

Gray created a great role for Phoenix in his insightful look at immigration at the start of the last century.  Bruno (Phoenix) notices new immigrant Ewa (Marion Cotillard).  Although he doesn’t really consider himself a pimp, Bruno gets her through customs and brings her to his house, with the intention of eventually prostituting her out, while at the same time, falling in love with her.  Enter Bruno’s brother Emil, a magician who takes a liking to Ewa, and he tries to find a way to rescue her from Bruno’s clutches, only to come up short.  Really good work from Phoenix here.

12. PARENTHOOD (1989)

Director: Ron Howard.  Writers: Lowell Ganz, Bobaloo Mandel.  Starring Steve Martin, Mary Steenburgen, Martha Plimpton, Keanu Reeves, Joaquin Phoenix.  

Phoenix really made his mark in Ron Howard’s ensemble comedy focused on the travails of the Buckman family.  Much to the displeasure of her mother Helen (Dianne Wiest), daughter Julie (Martha Plimpton) has married her boyfriend Tod (Keanu Reeves) and gotten pregnant.  When Helen becomes concerned about her porno-obsessed son Garry (Phoenix), Tod steps up to give Garry a man-to-man talk.  Helen is impressed and begins to reconsider her dislike of Tod.  For a role that could have been played as downright creepy, Phoenix makes the choice to make Garry a normal kid who is simply channeling his sexual urges through porn.

11. TO DIE FOR (1995)

Director: Gus Van Sant.  Writer: Buck Henry.  Starring Nicole Kidman, Joaquin Phoenix, Matt Dillon, Casey Affleck. 

In Gus Van Sant’s sharp-edged mockumentary, Nicole Kidman plays Suzanne Stone-Maretto, an aspiring weathercaster on a local TV station who wants more and will stop at nothing to get it.  Fed up with her husband Larry (Matt Dillon), she seduces teenager Jimmy (Phoenix) into killing her husband.  Jimmy follows through on the deal and is soon arrested.  Suzanne basks in the media glory, so much so that it comes to the attention of her late husband’s father, who orders a Mafia hit on the weathercaster.  “To Die For” is a wickedly delicious take on the cult of personality in the American media.

10. BEAU IS AFRAID (2023)

Writer/Director: Ari Aster. Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Nathan Lane, Patti LuPone, Amy Ryan, Parker Posey, Stephen McKinley Henderson, Kylie Rogers, Denis Ménochet.
It seemed almost inevitable that Phoenix would cross paths with filmmaker Ari Aster, whose distinctive and idiosyncratic approach to horror complements Phoenix’s take on acting. In “Beau Is Afraid,” Phoenix stars as a paranoid son of a wealthy businesswoman (Patti LuPone) who, upon learning of his mother’s death, begins a dreamlike journey home for the funeral that forces him to confront everything that makes him afraid. Along the way, Phoenix’s Beau offers a wide range of emotions — from absolute freak-out to calm acceptance — as he faces all of his most feared emotional demons, and Phoenix rises to the occasion to each one.

9. HOTEL RWANDA (2004)

Director: Terry George.  Writers: Keir Pearson, Terry George.  Starring Don Cheadle, Sophie Okonado, Joaquin Phoenix, Nick Nolte. 

In Terry George’s film about genocide in Rwanda, Phoenix plays Jack Daglish, an real-life American reporter who was largely responsible for bringing the plight of the Rwandan people to the world’s attention through his reports from the field.  As Daglish, Phoenix gives a straight-ahead performance here as befitting the material and. by dialing it back, Phoenix is totally believable as a no-nonsense journalist.  For his performance as Daglish, Phoenix earned his third Screen Actors Guild Award nomination.

8. INHERENT VICE (2014)

Writer/Director: Paul Thomas Anderson.  Based on the novel by Thomas Pynchon.  Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Owen Wilson, Katherine Waterston. 

Even in Paul Thomas Anderson’s eccentric filmography, “Inherent Vice” is a real loon of a movie.  Phoenix plays 1970’s hippie P.I. Doc Sportello, who is asked by femme fatale Shasta Fay Hepworth (Katherine Waterston) for help in protecting her new boyfriend from being abducted and placed in a mental institution.  Needless to say, things for Doc suddenly become extremely complicated.  For his performance as Doc, Phoenix earned his fifth Golden Globe nomination.

7. NAPOLEON (2023)

Director: Ridley Scott. Writer: David Scarpa. Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Vanessa Kirby, Tahar Rahim, Ben Miles, Ludivine Sagnier, Rupert Everett, Paul Rhys.
In Ridley Scott’s biopic of the legendary Bonaparte, Phoenix characteristically chooses to play the title character in his own style. He makes no attempt to sound French, opting instead for the flat American accent that has become so familiar from his independent film work. The contrast between his unconventional take on the French king — at times a brilliant strategist, at others a spoiled child — with Scott’s skilled, old-school epic battle sequences provides much of the friction that ignites “Napoleon.” Whether that contrast of styles works may be a matter of judgment, but it unquestionably offers more proof of Phoenix’s uncompromising approach to acting.

6. YOU WERE NEVER REALLY HERE (2018)

Writer/Director: Lynne Ramsay.  Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Ekaterina Samsonov, Alex Manette. 

In Lynne Ramsay’s Cannes-acclaimed film, Phoenix, who won the Best Actor prize at Cannes for his performance, plays Joe, a gun-for-hire who is contracted by a NY state senator who engages Joe’s services to find his missing daughter Nina.  He manages to save the girl, but police, believing that she has been kidnapped, storm in and take Nina, severely wounding Joe.  Knowing that something is not right about this set-up, Joe returns to the scene of the crime and is finally able to rescue Nina.  Although “You Were Never Really Here” is a violent genre film, Phoenix’s interior performance is the perfect counterbalance to the mayhem going on around him.

5. GLADIATOR (2000)

Director: Ridley Scott.  Writers: David Franzoni, John Logan, William Nicholson.  Starring Russell Crowe, Joaquin Phoenix, Connie Nielsen, Oliver Reed, Richard Harris. 

Phoenix’s first serious award attention came for his performance as the evil Commodus, ambitious son of Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius (Richard Harris).  As Commodus, Phoenix exuded a decadent sleaziness that he had never before displayed but which was perfect for the character.  Phoenix was finally on the awards map. For his performance as Commodus, Phoenix earned his first Academy Award nomination, his first Golden Globe nod and his second Screen Actors Guild nomination.

4. THE MASTER (2012)

Writer/Director: Paul Thomas Anderson.  Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams. 

After the P.R. disaster that was “I’m Still Here,” Phoenix’s reputation was seriously damaged, but just as he was about to hit bottom, Phoenix was rescued by Paul Thomas Anderson, who wrote a great role in “The Master” that was perfectly suited to Phoenix’s talents.  World War II vet Freddie Quell (Phoenix) who can’t seem to adjust to life back home, is taken under the wing of Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman) who is the spiritual leader of a movement called “The Cause,” to which Freddie becomes an eager disciple, a decision that he will come to regret.  For his performance as Freddie, Phoenix earned his third Academy Award nomination and his third Golden Globes nod.

3. HER (2013)

Writer/Director: Spike Jonze.  Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, Rooney Mara, Scarlett Johansson, Olivia Wilde, Chris Pratt. 

Though few of us would likely consider Joaquin Phoenix a dweeb in real life, he certainly played one effectively in Spike Jonze’s science-fiction romance.  Although Theodore Twombly (Phoenix) has a new loving girlfriend (Amy Adams), he becomes infatuated with his computerized operating system which has a female voice whom Theodore calls Samantha (voiced by Scarlett Johansson).  Although it begins as an innocent flirtation, Theodore has no idea how his relationship with Samantha will impact his life.  For his performance as Theodore, Phoenix was nominated for his fourth Golden Globe Award.

2. WALK THE LINE (2005)

Director: James Mangold.  Writers: Gill Dennis, James Mangold.  Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Reese Witherspoon, Ginnifer Goodwin, Robert Patrick. 

Phoenix’s portrayal of Johnny Cash remains an artistic triumph, not merely attempting a sound-alike performance but instead trying to get to the essence of the man. Phoenix’s performance largely rests on his interpretation of Cash as a husband — a very smart choice and one that stands out among music biographies. For his performance as Cash, Phoenix won his first Golden Globe Award and was nominated for his second Academy Award and his fourth Screen Actors Guild Award.

1. JOKER (2019)

Director: Todd Phillips. Writers: Todd Phillips, Scott Silver. Starring Joaquin Phoenix, Robert De Niro, Zazie Beetz, Frances Conroy.

Undoubtedly the most controversial film of 2019 was Todd Phillips’ take on the origins of Batman’s famed nemesis, The Joker (Phoenix). Critics were wildly mixed about the quality of the film, but Phoenix’s embodiment of the notorious DC Comics villain received near-unanimous praise, along with a career-first Oscar victory for Best Actor. His performance as mentally-troubled aspiring comedian Arthur Fleck carefully followed his descent into madness as he begins to feel being increasingly oppressed by those around him and society in general. It’s a bold, at times brave performance that may be one of Phoenix’s best. The Academy certainly thought so, as did the Golden Globes, BAFTA, SAG and Critics Choice, all of whom heaped prizes upon him.