by Nathaniel R
Da'Vine Joy Randolph owns the Best Supporting Actress party. She brought baked goods and "it".
Dearest readers, imagine my terror when I realized this morning that it was just one week until the Oscars. That's the deadline to finish the Film Bitch Awards (at least in the Oscar-parallel categories). So let's have our final pre-Oscar discussion about Best Supporting Actress, mine and theirs...
OSCAR'S LINEUP
The somewhat volatile precursor season (in this category) led to an underwhelming lineup. Years with indisputable frontrunners like Da'Vine Joy Randolph in The Holdovers sometimes create vacuums wherein strange shortlists materialize. Two common outcomes of a big sweeper effect is that passion votes can matter a lot which probably helped Jodie Foster in Nyad and Danielle Brooks in The Color Purple since they weren't in well-loved movies, and that the most-seen / most-discussed movies get a huge boost in all categories which helped America Ferrera in Barbie and Emily Blunt in Oppenheimer. Randolph will win the Oscar in a landslide, and given Oscar's preferred five, she deserves too! More about this race on that Oscar chart.
NATHANIEL'S TAKE
The Film Bitch Awards force me to narrow down favourites to 12 in each category from which 5 become nominees. I wrote the rules years and years ago and I still adhere to them! 5 is the perfect number for actual nominees so most every awards show is now doing it wrong as they expand and expand. Nevertheless there are always more than 5 that truly impress. In short, the following are not the only 12 performances that I have praise for (no offense to anyone who didn't place) but these are the dozen I loved most in this particular category...
SEMI-FINALISTS
aka excellent praiseworthy work
Stella Gonet as "Margaret" in EL CONDE
Stella Gonet as "Margaret" in El Conde. Dear reader, I was not prepared for the final plot twist but even before Gonet's iron, fanged arrival at the climax of Pablo Larrain's satiric vampire picture I had been prepared to hand her the gold medal in Best Vocal Performance. The last scenes in the picture ruled her ineligible there but what incredible narration throughout, so rich in black-as-night comedy and point of view characterization.
MASTER GARDENER
Sigourney Weaver as "Norma Haverhill" in Master Gardener. Perhaps we talk about Sigweavie too much here at TFE but we're still waiting for her to get the right role in the right picture that helps people to recognize her gifts again. She was maddening and impressive in this otherwise underwhelming drama as a racist classist wealthy widow. This honor is not because I literally stood next to her in Italy this past summer by utter chance; I'm still reeling from that unexpected encounter in the wild. xo
CASSANDRO
Perla De La Rose as "Yocasta" in Cassandro. Gael Garcia Bernal deserved more flowers for his wonderfully human star turn in this wrestling drama. When a lead is undervalued people people also tend to miss the greatness around him or her. De La Rose, who I'd never seen before, was heartbreaking and endearing as his single mother.
BLUE JEAN
Kerrie Hayes as "Viv" in Blue Jean. I hope more people discover this 80s set lesbian drama now that it's streaming. Hayes is pitch-perfect as the protagonist's tender but disappointed butch lover. May more casting directors notice her!
FINALISTS
aka I was sad I couldn't find room for them as nominees
THE COLOR PURPLE
Danielle Brooks as "Sofia" in The Color Purple. I held my breath waiting to see if the wonderful Broadway revival of this musical adaptation would transfer well to the big screen. The transfer (in general) was sadly middling but Brooks (who was incredible on stage) still had fire, humor, personality, and presence to spare.
NYAD
Jodie Foster as "Bonnie Stoll" in Nyad. It's so wonderful to have her back where she belongs (aka in front of the camera). While we needed more this time from our beloved Annette Bening as the titular swimming heroine, Foster stole the show as her loyal but understandably exasperated bestie.
SALTBURN
Rosamund Pike as "Elsbeth" in Saltburn. While I'm not a fan of the film, Pike rose above the overworked muddle, striking the perfect tone as the pampered, casually hilarious, and tragically oblivious matriarch.
AND THE NOMINEES ARE (ALPHA ORDER)
FERRARI
Penelope Cruz as "Linda Ferrari" in Ferrari. From her shocking merciless introduction through her cold desolate "wins" in a hellish marital battle but most of all for that inner volcano of grief that she never tries to conceal (comfort of others be damned), Cruz owns the screen.
ALL OF US STRANGERS
Claire Foy as "Mum" in All of Us Strangers. For her riveting and intricate duet with Andrew Scott as a mother trying to work through her own homophobia and make peace with her now-adult son. Bonus points for the hints of terror, psychic residue from her own death
ASTEROID CITY
Scarlett Johansson as "Midge Campbell" in Asteroid City. Is there anything this celebrated but under-admired movie star can't do? She proves, once again, a nimble master of serving both genre and auteur vision while still delivering MOVIE STAR every time. Her stylized work is expertly deadpan yet fully imagined.
ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT'S ME MARGARET.
Rachel McAdams as "Barbara Simon" in Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret. Family-friendly material and good hearted characters are rarely equated with "Great Acting" but McAdams is so warm, real, and lived-in that she elevates an already over-achieving picture.
and
THE HOLDOVERS
Da'Vine Joy Randolph as "Mary" in The Holdovers. Awards sweeps have a way of making wonderful performances feel insanely overpraised which can result in a backlash wherein the acting becomes crazily undervalued instead. Can we meet in the middle and accept that even if the awards sweep is overkill, this is well-judged touching work as a grieving tired mother. Bonus points for the way she keeps keying you back into Mary's inner life, with that friendly but half-hearted investment in more flamboyant people's dramas. She refuses to be a mere foil to the central duo.
Hope you enjoyed. Please share your own ballots in the comments!