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Year in and year out, I find myself in a bit of a mid-list rut that has persisted since I decided to sit down and write every best-of moment at once and then post it on myspace (I gave best actor to Clint Eastwood. It was a dark time). For whatever reason, I just don't know what to say about all the big name categories. Like, I have so much to share with you about the spurt-y blood effects in Possessor or weird birdcage dresses in Emma or the carnivorous sets in Promising Young Woman, but I can't say I've got much impart about actors or writers or directors. It's a mystery, and you'd think I'd have accepted it by now, rather than complaining about it anew every year, but I am who I am (and who I am is stubborn trash).
So here's the deal: if you're looking for a punishingly long movie rundown in which you get to read lovingly crafted mini-essays about all the below-the-line aspects of filmmaking, come down tomorrow and you won't be disappointed. For now, however, rather than trying to say something about everyone, I'm just going to present my five nominees in the acting, writing, and directing categories, followed by some brief thoughts on the category at large. Which means this might only take you 10 minutes to read, rather than the rest of the year, and it'll only take me an hour or two to write, rather than until the heat death of the universe! What a concept. So let's get to it--I shall gird my loins and grit my teeth and all those other important gestures I apparently need to say nice things about acting.
Note: I've scattered a few youtube clips of the performances throughout. No rhyme or reason, just whatever I felt like going to find, whenever I felt like finding it.
Best Actress
5. Frances McDormand-Nomadland
4. Wunmi Mosaku-His House
3. Rachel McAdams-Eurovision Song Contest: The Story of Fire Saga
2. Sidney Flanigan-Never Rarely Sometimes Always
1. Viola Davis-Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
Honorable mention: Radha Blank-The Forty-Year-Old Version
A wacky kind of category this year, in that I legitimately played with all of the top 4 the #1 spot, and I think my ranking would change all over again if you asked me tomorrow. How do you deny Wunmi Masaku's haunted stoicism, or Rachel McAdams carrying the whole film on her sunny ridiculous shoulders? (Nothing this year made me laugh harder than "the elves went too far!") It's so tempting to give the whole deal to McAdams--she falls in love with Will Ferrell and makes it seem real! How's that not Oscar-worthy? Still, the real contest is probably between Flanigan and Davis, and it's difficult to deny the way Flanigan moves and speaks like an embankment, right up to the moment she crumbles and then re-assembles herself (definitely check out the scene from Never Rarely Sometimes Always that won the best scene of the year in the post from yesterday). But ultimately I had to stick with Davis's megalith of a woman, all gestures and ambitions and flouted love compressed like a neutron star.
Actor
5. Clarke Peters-Da 5 Bloods
4. Steven Yeun-Minari
3. Chadwick Boseman-Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
2. Riz Ahmed-Sound of Metal
1. Delroy Lindo-Da 5 Bloods
Honorable mention: Kingsley Ben-Adir-One Night in Miami
Another great category here. Particularly happy to give Clarke Peters a shout-out, since awards bodies don't seem to be interested--absolutely nothing in Da 5 Bloods would work if it didn't have Peters as the gentle beating heart at its center. Also love to see Steven Yeun in this post Walking Dead phase of his career, where he continues to deliver difficult, nuanced performances. Chadwick Boseman has been winning the lion's share of prizes this year, and with good reason: his turn in Ma Rainey is as ferocious and dedicated as anything you'll see this year. I almost went with Riz Ahmed, who would easily win this category in another year--what a masterclass of restraint and interiority (shame there aren't any great youtube clips, but seriously, go watch the movie--but not this week, as I am re-re-encouraging you to participate in the Amazon boycott that lasts until the 13th). But I couldn't put anyone above Delroy Lindo this year, who navigates the wildest turns of an already wild movie with grace. Lindo's character sees ghosts, he says, and it's not difficult to take him at face value. And remember that impossible, minutes-long monologue to the camera near the end of the film? How difficult it must have been to pull that off at all, much less sell it with the energy and conviction that Lindo brings. Just a fantastic, charismatic, lived-in performance, and it'll be a real bummer if he gets passed over by the Academy.
Supporting Actress
5. Youn Yuh-jung-Minari
4. Yeri Han-Minari
3. Maria Bakalova-Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
2. Candice Bergen-Let Them All Talk
1. Miranda Hart-Emma.
Honorable mention: Molly Parker-Pieces of a Woman
Another strong showing for Minari's stellar ensemble--couldn't decide between Youn Yuh-jung's scrappy grandma and Yeri Han's mix of defeat and tenacity, so I just went with both. Bakalova is ridiculous but undeniable--somehow, improbably, this Borat sequel has a legitimate emotional arc whose power comes entirely from Bakalova's giddiness and loyalty. Plus, she's doing improv comedy in a second language with people who literally might start shooting if they knew what was going on. I know we don't grade on degree of difficulty, but come on. (Also, "I swallowed the baby" made me aspirate half of my entire meal.) (Uh, tw: talk of abortion, implied incest in that clip, because it's a Borat movie.) Candice Bergen never plays down, even when the film is playing down on her, playing the broke palimpsest queen of the cruise ship. My top choice, though, has gone completely under the radar. Maybe I've got a very specific Miranda Hart-related weakness? Every time I see her in a movie, I want to toss a bunch of golden statues at her, but nobody else every joins me on that particular train. But Hart is such a joy to watch here: silly, clever, kind, and confused, the kind of woman who has already forgiven life for what it has done to her, but still doesn't quite know what to do in return. This picnic scene is the clear Oscar clip (if that were happening, which it's not, tragically), but it doesn't necessarily convey the way she radiates her own warm into the rest of an (intentionally) chilly movie.
Supporting Actor
5. Daniel Kaluuya-Judas and the Black Messiah
4. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II-The Trial of the Chicago 7
3. Chris Lowell-Promising Young Woman
2. Aldis Hodge-One Night in Miami
1. Paul Raci-Sound of Metal
Honorable mention: Bo Burnham-Promising Young Woman
Some very off-consensus picks here and some very on-consensus ones. Kaluuya, arguably the Oscar frontrunner, makes for a stirring Fred Hampton--the oration sequences alone are worth the price of admission. Abdul-Mateen II and Hodge feel like the clear standouts of their respective large ensembles to me, but the conversation at large hasn't really mirrored that (and both are missing on Youtube as well, with their more famous screen partners burning all the available oxygen). I might be courting controversy by including Chris Lowell; I don't want to spoil the film if you haven't seen it, but I freely acknowledge that singling him out over every performance in the film is...a choice. But the petulance and the pathetic way he screws up his face to cry have stuck with me, and it's my party, so here he is. (Here's a scene, but definitely don't click on it if you haven't seen the movie already.) Which brings us to Paul Raci, who's the clear and obvious winner, and is probably my pick for performance of the year (give or take Delroy Lindo).
Director
5. Kelly Reichardt-First Cow
4. Emerald Fennell-Promising Young Woman
3. Chloe Zhao-Nomadland
2. Eliza Hittman-Never Rarely Sometimes Always
1. Darius Marder-Sound of Metal
Honorable mention: Isabel Sandoval-Lingua Franca
Lots of wonderful choices this year, from Reichardt's stew of control and intuition, the wild provocations and immaculate framing that Emerald Fennell threw into Promising Young Woman, and soon-to-be Oscar winner Chloe Zhao's keen eye for lives lived circling the margins in Nomadland. It would have been easy to give #1 to Eliza Hittman, whose even-handedness and dogged downplaying of real-life horrors are a real achievement. But the choice was ultimately (a little too) easy for me, as Marder put together one of the most well-crafted and observed movies of the year and made it sing, if only to itself.
Original Screenplay
5. Relic
4. Becurau
3. Minari
2. Sound of Metal
1. Never Rarely Sometimes Always
Honorable mention: The Forty-Year-Old Version
Eclectic group of nominees here, from the labyrinthine memory horror of Relic to the genre-mashing antics of Bacurau. I don't necessarily love Minari as much as everyone else (though you'd be hard-pressed to see that, given all its mentions thus far), but I couldn't deny the grace and depth with which it blends childhood and migration narratives. Almost put Sound of Metal at the top, as my love for that movie is clearly just a little out of control, but decided at the last minute on Never Rarely Sometimes Always's immaculate structure and heavy silences.
Adapted Screenplay
5. The Invisible Man
4. Emma.
3. One Night in Miami
2. Nomadland
1. First Cow
Honorable mention: News of the World
I've been struggling all year to fill this category--somehow most of what I watched wasn't adapted, and if it was, I didn't love it. So I've rounded out my nominees somewhat by default, but that doesn't mean there's nothing to be found here, like Invisible Man's clever genre reworking or the way that Emma. skips over its source material like a rock sliding over ice. One Night in Miami is a great example of how to adapt a stage play, if you're looking for something that is both loyal to the theater experience and a successful piece of film. Nomadland would be a great call, I'm giving it to First Cow's look at frontier entrepreneurship, the possibility of dreams, and the inevitable ugliness baked into the founding American myths.
And once again, that's it for tonight! I'll be back tomorrow (or Saturday, depending on real-world responsibilities) to wax poetic about CGI faces sci-fi laser sounds, and I'll be back again on Sunday to offer up some predictions for Monday's Oscar predictions.
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