Julianne Moore is an actor who can be consistently relied upon to choose interesting and varied projects. She mixes major studio movies such as The Hunger Games series with smaller-budget indie movies, the best of which will be discussed later. In an interview with The Guardian, she discussed the need for finding this balance between commercial and independent projects. She said, “You need a commercial profile so that investors will invest in something smaller that I’m in. You can’t make a living doing just indie films.” Despite perhaps having less of a desire for studio movies, she is still someone who can be trusted to go for interesting ones rather than take on anything that comes her way.
Her career began in the 80s with a stint on the soap opera As the World Turns, for which she quickly earned a daytime Emmy nomination. However, it was The Lost World: Jurassic Park that gave Moore her first major leading role. Unsurprisingly, as someone with so much talent, Moore has won an Oscar, an Emmy, and a BAFTA, with several other nominations along the way. She regularly works with acclaimed indie directors Paul Thomas Anderson and Todd Haynes. To see where all these movies place in a ranking of Moore’s best indie projects, look no further.
12 Being Flynn (2012)
Being Flynn is directed by Paul Weitz, who has an interesting variety of titles to his name, including both American Pie and About a Boy. This movie follows an estranged father and son, played by Robert De Niro and Paul Dano, who reunite when the son starts working at a homeless shelter. Dano’s character Nick is startled by the fact that his father is living in the shelter and begins to worry he will end up on the same path.
Moore’s role is smaller, though no less important; as Nick’s deceased mother she acts as a steadying presence in his mind. While far from perfect, Being Flynn has a good story at its center with some great performances too.
11 The Big Lebowski (1998)
The Cohen Brothers’ The Big Lebowski is a cult classic for a reason. Its balance of absurd humor and real emotion has rarely been matched in the decades since its release. The plot follows Jeff Bridges as “The Dude,” who is mistaken for a millionaire who shares his last name of Lebowski and is asked to pay a debt the millionaire owes. Other cast members include John Goodman, Moore, and Philip Seymour Hoffman, to name a few. There are few movies that are more fun to watch than this, and it goes by incredibly smoothly.
10 Don Jon (2013)
Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s directorial debut, Don Jon has a surprising amount of depth despite what the premise might suggest. Gordon-Levitt stars as Jon, a man whose viewpoint of sex and romance has been distorted by porn consumption. When he meets Scarlett Johansson’s character, Barbara, he attempts to recalibrate in order to achieve a more fulfilling relationship.
Moore, as Esther, arrives later, and her presence in the movie shifts its tone slightly. Johansson and Moore both put in excellent performances that are essential in ensuring the movie doesn’t overly indulge in the misogyny depicted.
9 Wonderstruck (2017)
Todd Haynes is a long-term collaborator of Moore’s, and their work together is always exciting, with Wonderstruck being no exception. This movie follows two parallel stories of deaf children in search of a parent, played by Millicent Simmonds and Oakes Fegley. One storyline takes place in the 1920s, presented in black and white with no sound other than a soundtrack, and the other in the 1970s, which has sound and color appropriate for its era. These storylines are inventively portrayed and make the movie more immersive. It’s a truly wonderful, emotional movie that is more formally experimental than many of its peers.
8 Magnolia (1999)
Magnolia is one of Paul Thomas Anderson’s most ambitious movies. Its sprawling ensemble cast features Tom Cruise, Moore, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Jason Robards. Taking place on a single rainy day in Los Angeles, the story covers death and reconciliation while threading the lives of its many characters together.
While Magnolia can inarguably be described as messy, it’s exciting rather than distracting. It marries the large scale of its cast with its more intimate time frame in a way that gives the movie some balance amid its wide-reaching aims.
7 Still Alice (2014)
Arguably, Moore’s best-praised performance is in Still Alice, for which she won an Oscar. She plays Alice, a professor who develops Alzheimer’s disease and must learn to navigate life in a new way. Some of her family members are played by Alec Baldwin, Kristen Stewart, and Kate Bosworth, with Stewart putting in a particularly impressive performance.
While the subject is dark, the movie doesn’t fall into hopeless misery, there are uplifting moments too. It’s unsurprising that this is the role Moore won an Oscar for since she truly is the centerpiece of the movie, with every moment hingeing on the success of her performance.
6 Far From Heaven (2002)
Another highly applauded performance from Moore is Cathy in Far from Heaven, also directed by Haynes. Cathy is a housewife in the 1950s whose world is turned upside-down when she spots her husband kissing another man. She finds solace in talking to Raymond, her gardener, but this friendship becomes complicated as a result of the rising racial tension in their Connecticut suburb.
Dennis Quaid plays Cathy’s husband, Frank, and Dennis Haysbert plays their gardener, Raymond, with Patricia Clarkson and Viola Davis also starring in the movie. It’s an engrossing and emotional story with an incredible cast. Haynes, as always, captures romance and tension in equal measure, creating a strong atmosphere.
5 Gloria Bell (2018)
Gloria Bell is an English-language version of Sebastián Lelio’s movie Gloria. Following the same premise, it centers around Moore as Gloria, a 50-something divorcee who decides to go out dancing in clubs. She then meets Arnold and a romance blossoms between them.
This is another movie that is entirely reliant on Moore’s impeccable acting, and she doesn’t let the project down. It swings from joy to melancholy in a way that is consistently lowkey, avoiding melodrama and dramatics in favor of naturalism. It’s not often that an English-language remake of an international film is good, but with Lelio at the helm of both, this one succeeds.
4 Safe (1995)
The first collaboration between Moore and Haynes is Safe, which tells the story of Carol, a dissatisfied housewife who begins to develop mysterious medical issues with no clear source. There is fascinating conflict between medical science and alternative therapies here. Haynes tells Filmmaker Magazine that he wanted to explore this as a result of gay men in the AIDs epidemic seeking out “healers” such as Louise Hay who argued “that they could make themselves well if they simply learned how to love themselves.” The movie has also taken on extra meaning since the arrival of COVID has further altered the way we view sickness and infection.
3 Maggie's Plan (2015)
In a sharp change of mood, Maggie’s Plan is a comedy from Rebecca Miller, starring Greta Gerwig, Ethan Hawke, and Moore. Gerwig stars as Maggie, a woman who wants to have a baby by herself but inadvertently gets involved with Hawke’s character while he’s married to Moore’s. The story doesn’t end there but keeps subverting expectations. It’s a clever and witty comedy that actually has an interesting plot in comparison to the many formulaic movies in the genre. All three central performers are perfectly suited to these roles and pull off the quirky comedy with ease.
2 The Kids Are All Right (2010)
The Kids Are All Right stars Moore and Annette Bening as a lesbian couple, joined by their children, Josh Hutcherson and Mia Wasikowska. When the kids seek out their mothers’ sperm donor (Mark Ruffalo) and get to know him, complications arise for all involved. The story is so warmly told that it’s hard not to enjoy the company of these characters, who are all well-acted. Writer and director Lisa Cholodenko has crafted a simple story but one that is executed near-perfectly.
1 Boogie Nights (1997)
At number one, we have another of Moore’s collaborations with Anderson, Boogie Nights. Here, Burt Reynolds stars as Jack, a producer in the porn industry who recruits Mark Wahlberg as Eddie. He works alongside Moore, John C. Reilly, and more at a club owned by Luis Guzmán’s character. Eddie swiftly rises through the ranks, but how long can he maintain this status?
Anderson does what he does best here by combining the epic and the intimate, creating a movie that feels exciting without trying too hard. When it comes to enjoyment, it’s hard to beat Boogie Nights’ infectious high energy.
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