by Nathaniel R
Natalie Portman in "May December" © Netflix
Time is up. Argh! We previously talked supporting actors, supporting actresses, and limited roles. Herewith the MOVIE STAR categories in the Film Bitch Awards. We saw surprisingly eye to eye with Oscar voters this year on the men if not quite the women. The 24 actors in this post are not, of course, the only praise-worthy performances this year. People will be angry that two of the actual Oscar nominees don't make my top dozen but I have to answer to my own opinion, else why have personal awards? What follows is a list of twelve performances each for Best Actress and Best Actor that resonated most with yours truly. Though, as per usual, Best Actress was far more competitive and five plus strong female performances were left on the cutting room floor.
After the jump the semi-finalists, finalists, and nominees in both categories...
Best Actor
OSCAR'S CHOICE FOR BEST ACTOR
Oscar chose Bradley Cooper (Maestro), Colman Domingo (Rustin), Paul Giamatti (The Holdovers), Cillian Murphy (Oppenheimer), and Jeffrey Wright (American Fiction) and in a surprising turn of events we love all five of those performances. The race for the gold was eventually distilled to just Giamatti's reliable comic potency and Cillian Murphy's haunted drama; it's in their eyes in both cases. Murphy is poised to win Sunday night and it will be well deserved (though Giamatti would be too).
Oscar's list is great this season so no complaints, really
NATHANIEL'S TOP DOZEN LEADING MEN
The top five was a very difficult choice this year with nine men truly deserving of nominations plus three 'honorable mentions' if you will. I worked through so many permutations and really any combo of the top nine I could probably live with, so in the end I reverted to my original draft, even if it is too similar to Oscar's quintet!
Semi Finalists
Three very good performance that more people should love...
GODLAND
Elliott Crosset Hove as “Lucas” in Godland
Bodil winner (Denmark's Oscar) for Best Actor, Hove is maddeningly entitled and then eventually helpless (but never quite self aware) in the new cultural landscape.
Franz Rogowski as "Tomas Freiburg" in Passages
I must admit I felt the praise for both this film and this performance were excessive. That said, it's still Rogowski so there's lots to admire and enjoy in his star turn as a petulant sexually fluid narcissist director.
THE IRON CLAW
Zac Efron as “Kevin Von Erich” in The Iron Claw
I'm reasonably certain that if The Iron Claw had premiered in the spring or summer, people would have talked a lot more about this performance, his best yet. But sometimes 'very good' gets lost in the shuffle when people start naming "Bests".
Finalists
Believe me when I say that it was painful to leave all four of these men out!
MAY DECEMBER
Charles Melton as “Joe Yoo” in May December
A grounding balancing act between the actorly extravagance of Portman's self-serving artifice and Moore's hermetically sealed delusions. You can feel his hurt, dawning awareness, and even how awkwardly he inhabits adulthood.
Gael Garcia Bernal as “Cassandro” in Cassandro
If you've been reading TFE for any number of years you'll know that we consider him one of cinema's best and most undervalued actors. He's been delivering in a big way for 25 years and this charismatic, moving star turn is yet another example.
Jeffrey Wright as “Thelonius Monk” in American Fiction
Wry, tetchy, righteously aggrieved, and very memorable. So nice to see Wright get the leading role he deserves.
Andrew Scott as “Adam” in All of Us Strangers
Fascinatingly closed off and solitary (as the character) while simultaneously managing to be deeply connected to others (as the star). How does he pull that combo off? Like Melton he beautifully captures something lost, bruised, and stunted from childhood trauma. In the end though, I felt a Gold Medal for Best Ensemble was where it was at with this particular film.
AND THE NOMINEES ARE... (ALPHA ORDER)
Bradley Cooper as “Leonard Bernstein” in Maestro
Thankfully he's not "REIGNING IT IN!" depicting this mythic 20th century force. He rivetingly captures the man's abundant fluid passions, blind selfishness, command on stage, and recurring depression. Bonus points for the way he sells Lenny's whirlwind fall for Felicia; Cast him in every romantic drama!
Colman Domingo as “Rustin Bayard” in Rustin
Another longtime TFE favourite. Like Wright we're so thrilled to see him gifted with a role worthy of his gifts. This role required MOVIE STAR presence to sell a legendary organizer's charisma and unique intersectional place in civil rights history. Domingo brings that and more. If only the film was as playful and exciting as his star turn!
Paul Giamati as “Paul Hunham” in The Holdovers
It's always risky to follow up a classic, but the Payne/Giamatti Sideways reunion proves another endearingly irritable slightly pathetic joy. Cynical shell, gooey center. Bless him for that "killer" comic reaction shot.
Cillian Murphy as “Robert Oppenheimer” in Oppenheimer
It's all in those giant haunted eyes, silently imagining the atomic future, afraid of what he (and then the world) is capable of. Bonus points for the way he connects Oppenheimer's sexuality and ego and intellect to this, a man in a perpetual dance with nihilism.
and...
PAST LIVES
Teo Yoo as “Hae Sung” in Past Lives
For that delicately rendered inchoate searching quality. This is a deeply moving and organic turn, making you worry for this lost soul and fall for him in a kind of 'what if' way. He makes every line about him resonate with truthfulness, too. Utterly convincing at each age depicted and in terms of linguistic limitations. In real life the actor jumps borders and languages far more easily -- he's made films in Russian, German, English and Korean now.
Best Actress
OSCAR'S CHOICE FOR BEST ACTRESS
Sunday's contest will likely be won by either Lily Gladstone (Killers of the Flower Moon), the first Native American nominated, or previous winner Emma Stone giving her best performance yet (Poor Things). Sandra Hüller (Anatomy of a Fall) was the critical darling of the season, while the often excellent Carey Mulligan (Maestro) and national treasure Annette Bening (Nyad) round out the shortlist. It's a solid list though only three of those women made my top dozen.
Semi Finalists
THEATER CAMP
Molly Gordon as "Rebecca-Diane" in Theater Camp
She's always a comic delight. This is an indelible hilarious creation as a musical theater obsessive on and endless life loop who finally might be jumping off. She lives up to that needlessly doubled name. In an ideal world she would have been up for the Golden Globe for Best Actress in a Musical or Comedy.
Sofie Gråbøl as “Inger” in Rose
In this little seen Swedish drama, Grabol thoroughly convinces as a mentally ill older woman on a trip to Paris. You can see the younger woman she once was flicker in and out in this surprisingly funny drama.
Julianne Moore as “Gracie Atherton-Yoo” in May December
A very actorly performance but not without its very smart choices. Loved the exaggerated emotionality in the face of perceived slights or even simple inconveniences.
THE TASTE OF THINGS
Juliette Binoche as “Eugenie” in The Taste of Things
Is there a more lyrical actress alive? In this quiet performance, she's emotionally expressive simply being and doing onscreen.
Finalists
Greta Lee as “Nora Moon” in Past Lives
A sly turn as an immigrant holding on to her past somewhat half-heartedly through a childhood friend but still thrown by the persistence of this version of herself.
Teyana Taylor as “Inez” in A Thousand and One
Nominated in the "Breakthrough" category - it's always a thrill when singers prove to be electric actors. She ably carries this drama with unpredictable and fierce energy as a secretive single mother.
Virginie Efira in literally anything (this year: Madeleine Collins, Other People’s Children, Revoir Paris) We gave her a special Body of Work gold medal for her consistent brilliance, seen thrice over this year on this side of the pond.
And the nominees are (ALPHA ORDER)
Sandra Huller as “Sandra Voyter” in Anatomy of a Fall
From her memorable somewhat glib intro -- a show off whose show is thrown off -- through the final razor edge of impulsive fear that her son might be her undoing, she exquisitely anchors this courtroom drama / mystery. With each new scene she reveals more of her character in this intricately constructed star turn.
Carey Mulligan as “Felicia Montealeagre” in Maestro
From her lovely spontaneous laugh and mid-century cadences, to her receding self and pained reflecting monologue, to the way she merely looks at her husband in so many different ways; she's a magical actress.
Natalie Portman as “Elizabeth” in May December
Leaning into her own natural artifice (is there such a thing?) she aces her line readings as this amoral actress of questionable talent who takes herself far too seriously as she "researches". From that self-serving agent-of-chaos sexuality to the breathtaking in-character letter to that deliciously ironic "it's getting real" this is her finest moment since Jackie.
Margot Robbie as “Barbie” in Barbie
In her greatest performance (by a mile), she plays both Idea and Object superbly. Hilarious and earnest in equal perfect measure, while she miraculously threads the awakening of Actual Personhood through it. This is Movie Star Acting at its very finest.
and speaking of impossible acting challenges...
POOR THINGS
Emma Stone as “Bella” in Poor Things
"It's alive!" Listen, sometimes you don't need a jolt of electricity to see a Fantastical Creature come ti unlikely life, just a great great actor. Stone's supremely confident and daring work braids physical comedy, intellectual curiousity, and sexual impulse together. Then she plays with their collisons, compatibility, and organic evolutions. Her best screen performance yet and she was hardly lacking for great ones.