It turns out that my annual movie posts are an awful lot like the Academy's reaction to the Lord of the Rings trilogy: they showered the first one with nominations and praise, astounded that it could happen it all, and they buried the third under a veritable avalanche of accolades and little gold men, but they saw the second one, briefly considered it, and then gave it the exact right number of Oscar nominations to communicate "hey, we see you! It's so neat that you're still doing this. Can't wait for next year" before slinking back for another screening of Chicago. And that's kind of where I'm at: the first day of this silly series is massive, beautiful, and a little unwieldy, but still loved by all, and the third day is an eruption of joyous screams, raucous applause, and collective grateful weeping (this is how I imagine you are going to react to me telling you about how great the sound editing on The Wild Robot is, please don't dissuade me of this). But the second is just kind of here--I've got to get through it, you've got to get through it, we've all got to make it to the end before being rewarded with some more pictures of weird eye stuff from The Substance. Not to say that I don't enjoy writing the post itself, just that I will never, ever find a way to be compelling when describing what I like about acting performances, what a director's done with a movie, or how someone has written it, and now, going on two decades into this tradition, I've learned to, if not throw in the towel, at least place the towel adjacent to the ring and let it figure out what it needs to do. (As chance would have it, I also spent yesterday doing a triple feature of Captain America, No Other Land, and the oscar-nominated documentary shorts, which means I spent the better part of 9 hours watching some of the most upsetting and emotionally exhausting stuff out there and then 5 hours driving on icy roads. Which is another way to say that now I am tired and don't know how to properly convey what Coralie Fargeat means to me in this moment.)
So here's what I'll do: announce my ass some nominees and winners in the acting, directing, and writing categories with some brief (...for me) commentary on how it all happened--or may be I'll just accompany each category with some images of noble but melancholy swans? (Maybe not. I just google image searched 'noble but melancholy swans' and just got pictures of regular swans; the Internet really is over.) Enjoy! Or be like the Academy and quietly applaud this day while looking forward to tomorrow when you get to give an Oscar to everyone in New Zealand.
Note: I'll include clips for the acting categories, but there won't be any rhyme or reason behind who gets them or why. It'll just be whatever I feel like/whatever I can easily find on Youtube.
Best Actress
5. Mikey Madison-Anora
4. Demi Moore-The Substance
3. Fernanda Torres-I'm Still Here
2. Tilda Swinton-The End
1. Katy O'Brian-Love Lies Bleeding
Honorable mention: Angelina Jolie-Maria
Kind of a wacky lineup--I knew the top four and their order with absolute certainty but spent 30 minutes thinking about the fifth spot and then had to go lie down, because not a single performance really felt right here. That's not to impugn Mike Madison's spikey cypher of a character in Anora (spoilers in that clip)--her work is strong but ultimately gets in here despite what her movie wants from her rather than because of it, and I almost left her out because of it. But really, no one could stack up to Demi Moore's weapons-grade bitterness and self-doubt in The Substance, Fernanda Torres' facades and micro-emotions in I'm Still Here, or especially Tilda Swinton's slowly shifting portrait of of a woman sliding into the deep end (or maybe one of a woman already living there) and Katy O'Brian's glass cannon of a steroid enthusiast in Love Lies Bleeding (the link is a fan edit, but it's the only thing I could find which gives any impression of her performance--am I the only one who loves that performance this much?). Really amazing work at the top of the category with a staggering drop in satisfying options once you get further in.
Actor
5. Keith Kupferer-Ghostlight
4. Josh Hartnett-Trap
3. Ralph Fiennes-Conclave
2. Sebastian Stan-A Different Man
1. Colman Domingo-Sing Sing
Honorable mention: Adrian Brody-The Brutalist
Now we're cooking with an eclectic combination of discarded script pages, weaponized deep fryers, withering glances, melted face, and the haggard effects of time--every one of these performances feels like it could be at the top of a different year and would be a deserving winner. Tough to overstate the impact of Keith Kupferer's suppressed rages, griefs, and joys in Ghostlight (though Youtube disagrees as this performance is barely on there at all) or Josh Hartnett's manic burleseque of a lifeless person pretending to charm, only coming alive when it's time to do something ugly. I couldn't get enough of Fiennes' perfectly modulated and even more perfectly catty take on religious obligation in Conclave, and Sebastian Stan crowned the best year of his life, performance-wise, with his pile of insecurities and conflicting identities piled into a plaid shirt in A Different Man. But come on, who else was I gonna give this to? I mentioned in my blurb of Sing Sing yesterday that Colman Domingo deserves to be called one of the best actors of his generation, and he sure provided some compelling evidence in favor of that argument this year.
Supporting Actress
5. Chhaya Kadam-Laapataa Ladies
4. Rebecca Ferguson-Dune: Part 2
3. Anna Baryshnikov-Love Lies Bleeding
2. Monica Barbaro-A Complete Unknown
1. Ariana Grande-Wicked
Honorable mention: Isabella Rossellini-Conclave
I ended up having a wildly off-consensus year, with the majority of my nominees being actors that have gotten buzz in this category in exactly one place in the US--right here. And why not? It's more fun to lift up under-seen or under-appreciated performers than it is to anonymously highlight more famous people in buzzier movies. (Plus, I moved Zoe Saldaña in Emilia Perez to lead actress, because come on; she didn't crack the top five there, but certainly would have here.) So hats off to Chhaya Kadam's world-weary purveyor of platform snacks in the lovely Laapataa Ladies (which is a blast and on Netflix--go watch it), a dollar to Rebecca Ferguson's gofundme to pay for the reparative surgery she needs for thanklessly carrying the Dune franchise on her back, and everyone quietly take a few steps back from Anna Baryshnikov's giggly and dead-eyed bizarro world version of Ariana's Glinda in Love Lies Bleeding. Speaking of Glinda, I was tempted to give the top spot to Monica Barbaro for being the most radiant and luminous part of a movie largely lacking in radiance and luminosity, but I went with my gut, which is to say that I went with the performance that most reminded me of a fancy cupcake come to ghastly, unnatural life--one of the funniest performances of the past couple years, with a voice to match. (The clip there isn't a particularly good showcase, but there's a strange dearth of Wicked material on Youtube--they're guarding that movie pretty closely for something that isn't even in theaters anymore.)
Supporting Actor
5. Alessandro Nivola-The Brutalist
4. Clarence Maclin-Sing Sing
3. Yura Borisov-Anora
2. Jeremy Strong-The Apprentice
1. Edward Norton-A Complete Unknown
Honorable mention: Jimmie Fails-Nickel Boys
Absolute agony picking the nominees of this category (the hardest thing I've done today, because I have the hardest life): seven performances felt impossible to leave by the side of the proverbial road (sorry to Javier Bardem/Dune Part Two, who was the only one not mentioned above), and picking the winner wasn't any easier, as none of these seven felt like they stood out too much from the other. So I've gone for a throwing darts kind of approach, and the darts would probably fall differently if you asked me tomorrow. I loved Nivola's unctuous and aggressively friendly cousin in The Brutalist (much more so than Guy Pearce's more celebrated performance in the same movie, which didn't do much for me at all) and Clarence Maclin's hard-won epiphanies in Sing Sing. I suppose the win could have come from anyone in the top seven but was probably going to come down to the final three. I love the kind of quiet, observational performance that Yura Borisov gives, and I *almost* put Jeremy Strong's terrifying Roy Cohn burlesque in the top spot, but ultimately I just sat here for a second, thought about which performance made me brain buzz the nicest, and went with Edward Norton's impossibly snug warmth and generosity in A Complete Unknown.
Director
5. M. Night Shyamalan-Trap
4. RaMell Ross-Nickel Boys
3. Payal Kapadia-All We Imagine as Light
2. Gints Zilbalodis-Flow
1. Luca Guadagnino-Challengers
Honorable mention: Coralie Fargeat-The Substance
Another wildly off-consensus category for me (which, if you don't like those...I dunno, strap in, if you're not already). I'm so here for this era of Shyamalan's work--there's nobody out there earning 'hitchcockian' as a descriptor of their work like he is, just for the economy and ingenuity of his framing and camera choreography alone. Love to set aside two spaces for two works (Nickel Boys and All We Imagine) so devoted to rendering the lives and perspectives of their protagonists as tactilely and tenderly as possible. Here's another year wherein I almost gave my top slot here to an animated film (and one of these days I'm gonna do that, I swear), and Zilbalodis's preternatural sense of time and space--and how to capture it with a camera--would certainly make him a worthy winner. But I can't say no to the stylistic maximalism and sun- and sweat-drenched yearnings of Challengers.
Original Screenplay
5. Kneecap
4. Evil Does Not Exist
3. I Saw the TV Glow
2. A Different Man
1. Challengers
Honorable mention: All We Imagine as Light
Another category with nary an Oscar nominee to be seen, and rightfully so (like really, who wants to live in a world where Anora and September 5 are some of the best written movies of the year). I had to find a place for Kneecap's cheeky and quietly staggering combination of biopic and dizzy fantasy, as well as for the dense (and largely silent) machinations of Evil Does Not Exist. I Saw the TV Glow and A Different Man build very different labyrinths out of identities, chasing their characters down increasingly confusing and upsetting corridors, and either would be a worth winner. But if you're getting bored of Challengers wins, I, uh, don't have great news for you (again) (and stay tuned tomorrow for more bad news!). But who could turn it down in this category--a lazy-eyed thriller-romance-farce about the intersection of power, desire, and regional tennis invitationals?
Adapted Screenplay
5. Dune: Part Two
4. Sing Sing
3. Laapataa Ladies
2. Conclave
1. Nickel Boys
Honorable mention: Small Things Like These
Whereas original screenplay felt like a treasure trove--I could have easily filled the category with five different nominees and it would have felt just as strong--this category sees me grasping at straws to come up with a respectable top five (did I consider putting Twisters and Transformers One here? I might have!). I'll give Dune credit for keeping the series fresh and interesting, finding new and relevant avenues with which to navigate Frank Herbert's book. I'll also wave kindly at Sing Sing, whose lived in dynamics and naturalistic relationships pave over some of the script's more questionable additions. I love the sneaky and subversive space that Laapataa Ladies finds within its genre, pushing back at the expectations leveled at it and its characters while still delivering the narrative that was promised on the packaging. It would be easy to reward Conclave for its tension, characterization, and literate free-flowing monologues, but I'd rather look to Nickel Boys, the movie this year that most renegotiated how to present a book on screen, re-folding the written word into something whose images you can both fall into and run your fingers across, all without losing the power of the words behind it.
And that's it (again)! And thank goodness for that, because Challengers' marketing team is knocking at my door and asking if I want a big check for all the free publicity I've been giving it. (Laapataa Ladies is also sending a smaller team, but I hear they're just bringing a nice fruit basket and as such am less interested.) I'll be back tomorrow with the big banger of the series--the crafts categories, which I love so much that I can only allow myself to assume that you love them to the same degree. In the meantime, what are you thoughts? How many big Oscar frontrunners did I ignore (today...most of them, I think?)? How mad are you that I didn't end up putting the animated Transformers movie for children in screenplay after all?
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