Breakthroughs
Thursday, February 23, 2012 at 7:03PM 
"More please!"
...That's my chief criteria for nominating actors for Breakthrough prizes at this site's own annual gongs, the Film Bitch Awards. (For new readers the name is a long story. We're not so bitchy about the movies unless by bitchy you mean so in love with them that we hold them to high standards). We're hoping that Pariah is only the first great performance from Adepero Oduye (pictured left).
Rather than hand Her Lady of Sudden Ubiquity (Jessica Chastain) the gold silver and bronze this year, we're giving her a special "body of work" medal.
It's not our usual practice to nominate someone whose been working as long as Olivia Colman alongside debut artists like Martha herselves Elizabeth Olsen, but Colman was completely unknown to us here in the US.
You can see the Breakthrough nominations under the Film Bitch pulldown menu up top. We've also started handing out medals in the Oscar adjacent categories. Check them out!
P.S. Here's a cute video of the remaining nominees Tom Cullen & Chris New from "Attitude"'s photoshoot if you haven't seen it.
Reader Comments (16)
I saw WEEKEND last, er, weekend in Australia and I've fallen hard. Can't get it out of my head! Both actors were superb, but my heart so went out to Tom Cullen's character. I walked around afterwards with the kind of high you get from seeing a film that you love and know you will revisit in years to come.
LOVE your Breakthrough picks! Even your finalists and semi-finalists are fantastic. I also like that half of your top 10 breakthroughs are Brits.
I get thseizes of giving Chastain the body of work specialty instead of breakthrough, but didn't Fassbender really win the body of work competition this year?
I would love to see Criterion release "Weekend."
I get the idea*** damn iPhone autocorrect
I just can't believe Viola Davis won your gold medal over Binoche's and Dunst's and Jeong-hee's ultra complicated, difficult and ground-breaking works! Talk about an anticlimax. I mean, she is a very strong actress, has immense gravitas, but that's not even half the challege other actresses had to face this year. Wow! That's a shocker.
It's so clear to me this gold medal is not gonna age well... I see at least 5 other actress pulling off the mix of gravitas, seriousness, pain and strengh of Aibeleen, but I can see no other actress bringing that specifically dunstness in Melancholia or the uber difficult puzleness of Binoche's turn... Let's talk about this again in 5 years, ok? Or even a week, because who's gonna remember The Help after this season?
Luv the silver for Theron, anyway. Such a tricky role, such a difficult performance!
The silver for Jane Eyre in Adapted Screenplay makes me happy.
In honor of your body of work winner, I thought I'd direct your attention to rottentomatoes' 2012 oscar nominee gallery, photo number 7. Clearly there is still some more breaking through to be done.
http://www.rottentomatoes.com/gallery/2012_oscar_noms/#10245388
I was shocked to find out that Adepero Oduye is in her THIRTIES! And she plays a what, 17 or 18 year old in the film? And she did it so convincingly! Please god, let me age that well...
I think my personal choice for Breakthrough would be William Shimell...acting in his first film, and he managed to hold his own with Juliette Binoche.
Adepero will probably find life on television...unfortunately, Hollywood is too small minded to give her anything as good as Pariah. I am excited to see Elizabeth Olsen's trajectory, she seems intent on choosing well and not crap.
I was trying to figure out why Olivia Coleman looked so familiar. I JUST realized she was in one of my favorite shows BBC's "Beautiful People"! She was brilliant. So glad to see her get more recognition.
Funny short story about the Oscars: R.I.P. Oscar – A Hollywood Satire by Andie Heid
(includes: The Oscar Games, Movie Star Wars, Catwoman Rises, Battle of the Snow Whites, The Twilight Saga continues…)
Terrific choices in Breakthrough (all well deserved), but it's a shame Nicole Beharie didn't make the list (finalist or semi-). She was marvelous in Shame.