Nathaniel's Ballot: Supporting Actress
Another chart! This afternoon, Best Supporting Actress in which we find a desperate Polish call girl, a formidable astronaut's wife, a life-saving night nanny, and two survivors/mothers, one creating her own makeshift family, the other trying to save hers for her future grandchild.
Awards Pg 1: Director, Screenplay
Awards Pg 2: Acting NEW
Awards Pg 3: Visuals
Awards Pg 4: Sound
Awards Pg 5: Extra Acting Categories
Awards Pg 6: Character Prizes
Awards Pg 7: Best Individual Scenes
Note: Despite the late-late arrival of these awards they are generally drawn up in list form before the Oscar nominations so they're not unduly influenced by the Academy's decisions. It just takes forever to get them posted and often to argue with myself over the 5th and 6th slots, a murderously awful/arbitrary distinction which should not mean "best" / "also ran" but somehow does. (Only Actress and Picture left to go before we can wrap up with the medals.)
Reader Comments (28)
I honestly don't see what you see in Debicki,am surprised no Dolly Wells as I know you love the film,looking at the lists the Supporting Actor category was as stacked as Best Actress.
Amazing list!
My Picks, in order:
Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk
Sakura Ando, Shoplifters
Awkwafina, Crazy Rich Asians
Sissy Spacek, The Old Man and the Gun
Zoe Kazan, The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
I really like Evan's list... 5 of my top 7 picks.
1. Sakura Ando
2. Awkwafina
3. Michelle Yeoh
4. Regina King
5. Haley Lu Richardson
If you like Mackenzie Davis, you really should check out Halt and Catch Fire (you can skip the dull first season), as she is great on it.
I definitely didn’t dig Foy as much as you did. She’s charismatic (it’s fun to see her in a big picture) and gets some things right. But so much of the detail, especially the voice, is uneven at best.
Were there no Americans available? Speaking of Americans, give Keri Russell a role like that.
Sakura Ando <3
Justice for Foy! She was brilliant in First Man. Her Oscar snub is painful.
Mine:
Regina King, If Beale Street Could Talk
Sakura Ando, Shoplifters *WINNER*
Awkwafina, Crazy Rich Asians
Rachel Weisz, The Favourite
Marina de Tavira, Roma
Elizabeth Debicki, Widows
My List in order of preference
Weisz The Favourite
Foy First Man
De Tavira Roma
Wells Can You Ever Forgove Me?
Yeoh Crazy Rich Asians
Beautiful lineup. Curious what your thoughts were on Dolly Wells in Can You Ever Forgive Me?, especially since you seem really high on the film itself.
Even though she didn’t make your final 5 the fact that you’ve supported Michelle Williams for this all year makes me smile. It’s a lovely performance and the kind of thing that rarely gets the appreciation it merits.
I am almost stumped to find true award-worthy Supporting performances this year. Although I agree that category fraud has gotten out of hand, I can't work up the fury that many on this website are able to so here are my choices: Rachel Weisz The Favourite, Thomasin MacKenzie Leave No Trace, Sakura Ando Shoplifters, Nicole Kidman Boy Erased, and Miyu Sasaki Shoplifters
Shout-outs to Molly Parker in MADELINE'S MADELINE and Danai Gurira in BLACK PANTHER.
Patricia Clarkson and Kristin Scott Thomas would make my list. And another viewing of The Favourite will help, because Olivia Colman makes me wonder (tho I do have her in lead).
Great shoutouts to Richardson and Arianda. Andô is definitely a nominee if I put her in this category. Not sure she isn't a/the lead tho.
Sakura Ando in Shoplifters. What an amazing role and amazing performance. When I watched it the second time and already knew about the "twists", her performance was even more impressive.
An expert in taking the screen time of Oscar-nominated performances brought out the actresses of The Favorite:
Emma Stone - 57:20
Olivia Colman - 49:48
Rachel Weisz - 42:51
^thanks Harmodio! I was very curious.
Also wondering about your thoughts on Dolly Wells. She'd replace Ando in my lineup, but I'm 4/5 with you otherwise!
Even though I liked Widows a lot (I would even like a sequel) I thought the supporting female cast was not good. What it looked like inspired casting with Erivo, Debicki and Coon turned out to be not only disappointing but quite on the bad side of acting (Rodriguez is always there so she's not worth mentioning). The male performances plus Viola fare terrifically (it might be my favorite performance of hers) and Weaver gives easily my favorite performance of the supporting female cast. She makes the most out of so little time.
Tilda in SUSPIRIA
Elizabeth in WIDOWS
Amy in VICE
Regina in IF BEALE STREET...
+ one nobody's talking about: Kayli Carter in PRIVATE LIFE
Love these picks and especially am happy about the Foy mention. I thought she was so fascinating even when just sitting and moving around the house. She really specified and brought authentic emotion to what could easily been just a stock figure.
Does screen time really determine whether a performer is lead or supporting?
lAnthony Hopkins won Best Actor for The Silence of the Lambs and he was in the movie for more or less 20 minutes. Louise Fletcher won Best Actress for One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest and her screen time was similarly limited.
Mackenzie Davis was terrific. Good call there.
I should have mentioned this after the cameo posts but I wish someone (meaning any critic group) had remembered Jennifer Garner's terrific speech in "Love, Simon." I know she often takes work that doesn't challenge her but she shines when given great material. That speech broke my heart.
My Best Supporting Actress:
1. Sakura Andô, SHOPLIFTERS
2. Isabelle Adjani, THE WORLD IS YOURS
3. Mia Goth, SUSPIRIA
4. Regina King, IF BEALE STREET COULD TALK
5. Anne Hathaway, OCEAN’S 8
Honorable mentions:
6. Dolly Wells, CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?
7. Siobhan Fallon Hogan, THE HOUSE THAT JACK BUILT
8. Kirin Kiki, SHOPLIFTERS
9. Myriam Boyer, DOUBLE LOVER
I am loving the Anne Hathaway mentions for Ocean's 8.
C'mon, Put Weisz in Supporting anyway!
I'dd add Amanda Seyfried in First Reformed. I thought she played that tricky role very well and had a great onscreen connection with Ethan Hawke.
And yes, Sakura Andô in Shoplifters is amazing, though I think I'd put her in lead. But category placement is a bit difficult in that film, as it so often is with ensemble casts.
@goodbar Yes and no.
Screentime matters, but also narrative structure, importance of character, impact of the performance, and (sadly, especially during awards season) name recognition (which should not be the case.
Curious if you saw Drew Goddard's Bad Times at the El Royale. To my mind, Cynthia Erivo nailed one of the most challenging roles of the year, given the mix of tones and performance styles it demands. When combined with her work in Widows, I feel she should've received more recognition this awards season. But she seems like a shoo-in for Harriet so it probably won't be long.
And Bad Times also features some exceptional cinematography, production and sound design. I felt sure it would make your list somewhere.
Boluwatife Treasure Bankole for being this year's tinier Linda Hunt ad Yonas in Cafernaum