We'll wrap up our TIFF coverage tomorrow with the full index of reviews for now I wanted to point you to IndieWire where they've published their "best of TIFF" critics survey and the results are interesting but also disheartening since they remind us that US critics rush to films that are about to open rather than to films without distributors when they hit festivals. (I'll never understand this really.) They also don't seem to care about foreign language films - only one picture from their entire top collective top ten is in a foreign language (Hungary's Son of Saul) and you have to go down into the #13 before you see them crop up with regularity.
The already wildly overrated Charlie Kaufman joint Anomalisa is #1 just barely in a photofinish with the only marginally overrated Spotlight. Hee. Lots more on the actors and a distinct Oscar possibility after the jump...
Mark Ruffalo with the reporter he plays in SPOTLIGHT
Charlotte Rampling, no argument here, takes Best Lead performance for 45 Years. Strangely Where to Invade Next, the new Michael Moore movie, took Best Documentary but the only thing I ever heard the whole 10 days of TIFF was "it's good i guess. it's fun" which is hardly rabid love!
But the Supporting Poll is a Mess! Mark Ruffalo in Spotlight, who I wouldn't even name in the top 5 of Spotlight's best performances, takes the #1 spot. Don't get me wrong. I really love Mark Ruffalo. Always have. But I have to confess that since The Kids Are All Right (barring Foxcatcher) his performances have felt a little overcooked to me, a little shouty. I'm missing his former naturalism and subtlety but I could see him winning the Oscar for this.
Jennifer Jason Leigh nearly stole the top spot from him in the poll for doing the voice work of a self-esteem challenged girl in Anomalisa proving once again that male critics always go gaga for voice performances of women in movies about sadsack men who fall for them (see also Scarlett Johansson's Her).
Even though wee Jacob Tremblay is the lead of Room (it's all from his perspective and he's in virtually every scene) he is a tiny little boy so he did really well in this poll and I suspect that is where A24 will campaign him and where he could actually be nominated. As we've noted with shaking fist before, Oscar voters would literally never screw over a leading man to give a little boy a lead nomination and they'll rarely even bite in supporting because MEN. WE RESPECT THEM. They'd only do that to the women if a little girl is good in her movie (see Keisha Castle Hughes & Quvhenzane Wallis and a ton of supporting nominations). But little boys do, once in a blue moon, show up in Supporting Actor. They just don't win.
In fact, a ton of the people who did well in supporting in this poll are leads including Alicia Vikander and Tom Courtenay who are each half the show in two marital dramas The Danish Girl and 45 Years respectively. But to be fair and if you want to split hairs and to prove I'm not always a raging psychopath about this Category Fraud Thing, I can see (vaguely) where people are coming from in regards to Tom Courtenay who is much more recessive and backgrounded than Charlotte Rampling despite it being a two-hander. Alicia Vikander on the other hand is locked in a total 50/50 duet with Redmayne so one of these cases of creative category play is far more egregious than the other! In short: Critics love Category Fraud as much as Oscar voters do. There were even supporting votes for Christopher Abbot who has top billing and plays the title character in James White! Sadly none of my choices in the supporting category did well with the IndieWire crowd which I can only assume is because they were a) actually supporting performances and b) were given by people who were less famous than their co-stars.