For Your Consideration: Joseph Gordon-Levitt

He might have less to lose than Ledger & Gyllenhaal, but Gordon-Levitt does heavier lifting as Neil McCormick in Mysterious Skin, a tantalizing and tender tragedy about two guys destroyed by a shared childhood experience of sexual abuse. Gordon-Levitt's hypersexual-yet-somehow-underplayed performance got no love from the Indie Spirit Awards, which chose decidedly non-indie best-actor nominees (Ledger, the Clooney-backed David Strathairn), but his might be the acting feat of the year -- no role was as potentially disastrous and no performance is as comparatively triumphant. Due credit goes to his co-star Brady Corbet, whose character is Neil's inverse, and writer-director Gregg Araki, who wrangles Scott Heim's helical novel into visual grace.