Personal Ballots: Best Actor and Best Actress
Monday, January 23, 2017 at 5:51PM And so it's come to this, the finale of the traditional Oscar-like categories in our own annual Film Bitch Awards. All the nominations have been announced in the first round ("special" non-Oscar related categories still to come). It's years like this when I wish YOU wish 5 were a much larger number in so many fields. There were seven leading ladies I really wanted to honor and six leading men but five does not equal six or seven. Alas. It's also strange when films you really love are denied any nominations in your own prizes. Such was the fate of one film from my top ten list (Embrace of the Serpent). Fences and Lion, two Oscar hopefuls I'm quite fond of, also look deceptively unloved with only two nominations each though with both Best Actor and Best Actress citations, Fences can't complain.
tfw when you realize you're nominated for a Film Bitch Award. (Huppert plays it cool)
In the final nomination tally, 35 movies received at least one nomination, with Arrival and La La Land leading the pack with 8 nominations each (will they also lead the Oscar nods?). The Handmaiden, Moonlight, 20th Century Women, and Jackie trailed not so far behind. The rest of the films weren't as lucky but perhaps they'll rise in the "special" categories to come.
Page 1 Picture, Director, Screenplay, Animation
Page 2 Actor, Actress, Supporting Actor, Supporting Actress
Page 3 Visual Categories: Cinematography, Costume Design, etcetera...
Page 4 Aural Categories: Song, Score, etcetera
Reader Comments (30)
I love LOVE all these actresses.
Sandra Huller's performance is superior to each of them.
Nice choices!
But Braga's character name is Clara
Inspired selections! Viola, Annette, and Isabelle are in my Top 5, too.
Have you seen The Handmaiden? Min-hee Kim deserves infinitely more accolades than she has received.
Did Kate Beckinsale factor into your list at all? Surprised she wasn't mentioned as a finalist or semi-finalist.
Interesting to note: 9 out of the top 10 Best Actress contenders + Viola Davis in a switcheroo from shoo-in Best Supporting Actress win in your top finalists.
What did you think of Taraji P. Henson?
Probable Supporting Actor ballot: Mahershala Ali, Moonlight. Tom Bennett, Love & Friendship. Alden Eherenreich, Hail Caesar. Trevante Rhodes, Moonlight. Patrick Stewart, Green Room. (It's Captain Picard as a Neo-Nazi! Stunningly, perversely mismatched (Gary Oldman doing this wouldn't have even a QUARTER of the impact) and exceedingly well done. At the very least medalist level work in my book.)
Probable Supporting Actress ballot: Elle Fanning and Greta Gerwig, 20th Century Women, Naomie Harris, Moonlight, Imogen Poots, Green Room, Jenny Slate, Zootopia.
Probable Lead Actor ballot: Jason Bateman, Zootopia, Robert Downey Jr, Captain America: Civil War, Ryan Gosling, The Nice Guys, Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic, Denzel Washington, Fences.
Probable Lead Actress Ballot: Amy Adams, Arrival, Annette Bening, 20th Century Women, Kate Beckinsale, Love & Friendship, Viola Davis, Fences, Isabelle Huppert, Elle.
We pretty much agree. Mine are:
Adams, Beckinsale, Bening, Davis, Huppert
Farrell, Gosling, Mortensen, Pine, Washington
Paul Outlaw: Is that reacting to mine or Nat's?
I'd swap Viggo for Colin Farrel, and Elle Fanning for Michelle Williams. Other than that, I'd say we're pretty much in agreement!! (Although it pains me to lose Amy Adams)
@ Volvagia
I was talking to Nat ;-) but you and I match 5/5 in Actress!
Paul: And how much in Lead Actor? 3 (Gosling for The Nice Guys) or 2.5 (Gosling, but for La La Land)?
Meryl a semi-finalist over Kim Min-hee, Kate Beckinsale, and Susan Sarandon? Huh.
This was an outrageously good year for lead actress!
That bit of photoshop with Michelle checking the site really tickled me, Nathaniel!!
Also intrigued about Beckinsale not being considered? Such a great match of actress and role... Definitely a finalist for me!
Interesting picks. Shocked to see Gosling and not Stone. Just watched Aquarius and it was great, but Braga didn't make my five.
Love the Huppert meme! :)
Are these awards informal? I thought the Oscar nominations were announced tomorrow. May 10-50 ladies be nominated.
Nathaniel, did you see Christine?
My ballot...
1. Rebecca Hall, Christine
2. Sandra Huller, Toni Erdmann
3. Isabelle Huppert, Elle
4. Sonia Braga, Aquarius
5. Kate Beckinsale, Love & Friendship
@ Volvagia
I purposely didn't type the film titles, because in Gosling's case I was thinking of both. ;-)
Sarah -- these are my own awards.
eurocheese -- i feel terrible about that but there just wasn't enough room. i think Emma Stone is special in La La Land and i'll be happy for her win but she came in the dread 6th place for me.
Excited to see both of these excellent foreign film ladies make it!
Probable 6-12s for each category:
Lead Actor: Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea, Hugh Grant, Florence Foster Jenkins, Chris Evans, Captain America: Civil War, Peter Simonscek, Toni Erdmann, Anton Yelchin, Green Room, Russell Crowe, The Nice Guys, Ralph Fiennes, A Bigger Splash.
Lead Actress: Sonia Braga, Aquarius, Natalie Portman, Jackie, Emma Stone, La La Land, Sandra Huller, Toni Erdmann, Ginnifer Goodwin, Zootopia, Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins, Ruth Negga, Loving.
Supporting Actor: Tom Holland, Captain America: Civil War, Stephen Henderson, Fences, Billy Crudup, 20th Century Women, Ralph Ineson, The Witch, Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea, Chadwick Boseman, Captain America: Civil War, Shia LaBeouf, American Honey
Supporting Actress: Riley Keough, American Honey, Elizabeth Olsen, Captain America: Civil War, Kate Dickie, The Witch, Alia Shawkat, Green Room, Nicole Kidman, Lion, Tilda Swinton, Doctor Strange, Leslie Uggams, Deadpool..
Yay!! The big 2 awards for me. Loved your picks, Nathaniel. Here are mine:
Best Actress
Annette Bening, 20th CENTURY WOMEN
Lucy Boynton, SING STREET
Sonia Braga, AQUARIUS
Isabelle Huppert, THINGS TO COME (and ELLE)
Natalie Portman, JACKIE
Best Actor
Casey Affleck, MANCHESTER BY THE SEA
Viggo Mortensen, CAPTAIN FANTASTIC
Trevante Rhodes, MOONLIGHT
Ashton Sanders, MOONLIGHT
Ferdia Walsh-Peelo, SING STREET
(I have not seen TONI ERDMANN)
Note: I liked Davis and Washington in Fences, but I felt I had already seen those performances from them. Both are in my top 10 but not Top 5.
Nathaniel: Also, I have to say I was surprised to see you include Natalie Portman after that podcast. I didn't get the impression that you liked her less on 2nd viewing, but it seemed like you put less of the movie's success on her shoulders, hence my expectation of seeing her demoted from the Top 5. But I'm guessing you still love her.
Nathaniel, I count nominations for Moonlight
Picture/Director/Screenplay
S. Actress and S. Actor (twice)
Cinematography and Film Editing
Actress
Isabelle Huppert, Elle (& Things to Come)
Annette Bening, 20th Century Women
Sônia Braga, Aquarius
Kim Min-hee, The Handmaiden
Rebecca Hall, Christine
Actor
Adam Driver, Paterson
Ashton Sanders, Moonlight
Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic
Trevante Rhodes, Moonlight
Denzel Washington, Fences
Supporting Actress
Lily Gladstone, Certain Women
Paulina García, Little Men
Greta Gerwig, 20th Century Women
Viola Davis, Fences
Elle Fanning, 20th Century Women
Supporting Actor
Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
Shia LaBeouf, American Honey
Ralph Fiennes, A Bigger Splash
André Holland, Moonlight
Tom Bennett, Love & Friendship
These aren't final. I can going back and forth with some of them and still waiting on several films, including but not limited to Toni Erdmann.
Gosling but no Stone? FAIL! Jk - I understand how insanely great the Best Actress field is this year.I'm not as high on Portman and Davis as everyone else - so I found it easier to make my ballot.
1. Huppert (both films)
2. Stone (I suddenly get the feeling she's being undervalued compared to other serious/arthouse performances - this is a superb movie star performance, IMO)
3. Huller
4. Braga
5. Adams
runners-up: Beckinsale and Fairchild
1. Simonischek
2. Affleck
3. Gosling
4. Farrell
5. Still undecided
... this was a weak year for this category.
Question: If Huppert had only Things to Come would she still make your final five?
(IMO, yes, yes, yes. Both are astonishing performances)
Cal -- Absolutely.
Fairly surprised to see you love the Handmaiden so much but give neither of the female leads even a mention. I thought both were fairly fantastic.
I still have a few things to see for sure (Things to Come, Paterson, 20th Century Women, Aquarius, The Salesman, Christine immediately come to mind) but as much as I enjoy some of these performances, I find it a rather straightforward nominations list. Mine would look something like:
Best Actor:
Casey Affleck-Manchester By the Sea
Russell Crowe-The Nice Guys
John Goodman-10 Cloverfield Lane
Peter Somonscek-Toni Erdmann
Denzel Washington-Fences
With HM to Ryan Gosling-The Nice Guys, Mark Duplass-Blue Jay, Viggo Mortenson-Captain Fantastic, Jesse Plemons-Other People, Michael Shannon-Midnight Special
Best Actress:
Sandra Huller-Toni Erdmann
Isabelle Huppert-Elle
Min-hee Kim-The Handmaiden
Tae-ri Kim-The Handmaiden
Sarah Paulson-Blue Jay
With HM to Natalie Portman-Jackie, Emma Suarez-Julieta, Ellen Page-Tallulah, Amy Adams-Arrival and Kate Beckinsale-Love and Friendship
Maybe worth noting that La La Land is my #2 film of the year but I don't find either performance that special. I think both leads are perfectly cast and do a great job but I don't consider it great acting or among the best work of either of their careers. They're perfectly good but that shouldn't be the standard for a nomination.
Awesome post. Thanks for sharing