Thursday, February 16, 2017

LAMB Devours the Oscars: Best Actor

Below is my entry to LAMB’s Devours the Oscars column. Check out all of their Oscars 2017 posts here.

When the Oscar nominations were announced a few weeks ago, it seemed like Casey Affleck was a lock to win Best Actor for his searing work in Manchester by the Sea. But in a pleasant change of pace for the Oscars, most of the major awards are relatively open. The only real lock is Supporting Actress (Viola Davis, get it), with the other big categories are stuck in two, or even three, way races. Here I’ll take a look at Best Actor – what I think of each performance, and their chances at winning – before concluding with a few snubbed performances I would’ve love to have been nominated.

Casey Affleck – Manchester by the Sea
Affleck has dominated nearly every discernible Best Actor prize this awards season, right up until the Screen Actors Guild awards, when Denzel Washington pulled a bit of an upset. Why the change?

As is often the case when a famous person is having a moment (see: Nate Parker, Bryan Singer, etc.), old rumors of bad behavior are brought up, which can hinder a person’s chance for success. For Affleck specifically, two co-workers sued him in 2010 for sexual harassment. Both matters were privately settled out of court, leaving the public to wonder and scrutinize. I hadn’t heard of these lawsuits until mid-2016, when the press started having a field day with them. Affleck has stayed quiet on the matter, but perhaps the lawsuits will hurt his Oscar chances. Or, will the predominately old, white, male Oscar voting crowd pay the lawsuits any mind? As of this writing, something tells me Affleck will still win. For what it’s worth, he’d get my vote. His performance in Manchester by the Sea destroyed me and has yet to leave my mind. It’s the kind of grim, unconventional work the Academy doesn’t award enough, so for those reasons, I’d love to see Affleck win it.

Andrew Garfield – Hacksaw Ridge
I like to think Garfield’s nomination for Hacksaw Ridge is the Academy’s mea culpa for snubbing him for The Social Network in 2010. But really, Garfield is simply riding the Hacksaw Ridge train here. The (old, white, male) Oscar voters really enjoyed the film, but it’s unlikely to win anything. I liked Garfield’s work fine (though he was much better in Silence), but his spot could’ve been occupied by a more deserving performance.

Ryan Gosling – La La Land
Every year I hold out for a Brody. In 2002, Best Actor was a dead heat between two seasoned vets. Jack Nicholson was going to be the first performer to win three Best Actor Oscars (here for About Schmidt), or Daniel Day-Lewis was going to win his second Best Actor Oscar (for Gangs of New York). Rather infamously, Nicholson and Day-Lewis split the vote, which resulted in Adrien Brody’s surprise (but so well deserved) win for The Pianist. If Casey Affleck and Denzel Washington split the votes this year, then Ryan Gosling could take it. He also has the full weight of the La La Land train behind him. Not likely, but it could happen.

Viggo Mortensen – Captain Fantastic
On Oscar night, Viggo Mortensen should put his feet up and sneak sips of red wine between telling inside jokes with all the adorable kids from Captain Fantastic. When a film only has one nomination (and that nom is in an acting category), it’s very unlikely for the performer to win. Plus, Captain Fantastic is too small a film for the majority of Oscar voters to notice. I’m thrilled Mortensen was nominated, but the nomination is his award.

Denzel Washington – Fences
Don’t get me wrong, if Washington wins Best Actor, it isn’t because of settled lawsuits or #OscarSoWhite backlash. It is because Washington gives one of the best performances of his career in Fences. The man is on fire in the film. Ruthless, vile, argumentative fire. It helps that his co-star, Viola Davis, is a lock to win, and that Washington directed the movie himself. Again, right now, I call the race a near even split between Affleck and Washington, with Affleck just edging out a win.

Snubs
I don’t have a huge problem with any of the nominated performances. I did think Tom Hanks (Sully) or Joel Edgerton (Loving) would occupy Mortensen’s spot, but it’s no real surprise that they missed out. Colin Farrell getting some love for The Lobster would’ve been great, but extremely unlikely. And finally, Michael Keaton’s work in The Founder isn’t exactly Oscar worthy, but I love Michael Keaton and am still not over him getting robbed out of his Birdman win. I will never forget, Eddie Redmayne. Never. Forget.

10 comments:

  1. Still angry that Eddie "Look at me, I'm acting" Redmayne beat Michael Keaton.

    I've only seen Casey Affleck and Ryan Gosling's performances. I wouldn't mind if either of those 2 won but I kinda want Viggo to win because he's fucking cool.

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    1. Viggo's gotta win some day, right? That dude is the man and is such a fine actor. I was very happy that he got nominated this year.

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  2. This is one of the few times i'm happy with all actors nominated. And while i do think Jake Gyllenhaal should have been nominated for Nocturnal Animals, i don't know who i would replace him with.

    Now if i were to pick a favorite to win here it would be Denzel. He is one of my all time favorite actors so it's great to finally see him give a fantastic performance again. While i do still love him, i do feel he has been slumming it a bit lately. Taking easy pay checks over demanding roles. This showed that he still has it in him. But really, i will be happy with any one of these winning.

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    1. I'm really pleased with this line-up too. I'm with you 100% on Denzel. I did love him in Flight, but he crushed it in Fences. It's nice to see that he's still "got it" and then some. And he could very easily win. It'll be an interesting night.

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  3. I still don't understand what Gosling is doing in this category. I would definitely have put Farrell in his place, who gave a more captivating performance.

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    1. I dig him in the movie but I get that the flick wasn't for you. Would've been great to see Farrell get in there somehow. I'm still so happy that The Lobster picked up a screenplay nom.

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  4. Loved to read your analysis on the performances. And you killed me with that line about Redmayne, haha. Birdman is one of my favorite films from the recent years and I’m still angry about that too! Poor Keaton… I also wanted Ed Norton and Emma Stone to win, I loved their little twisted relation. I’d have given Norton the award only for his first scene on the film, when he rehearses the Carver play with Keaton for the first time. I haven’t seen Manchester by the Sea yet and those harassment rumours are an ugly thing, but I read that you compared his performance to Fassbender on Shame on a previous post and I’ve always liked Affleck on everything I’ve seen him, so it wouldn’t be a surprise if he wins. It makes me sad that Mortensen hasn’t had better roles on his career. I’ll never forget how great and terrifying he was on The Indian Runner. At least he got a couple of nominations to big awards when he worked with Cronenberg. I like Gosling, a lot. But I think this is not his best performance. He should have won for Half Nelson (I always cry during the scene when Lover’s Spit starts to play. You can see on his face how he wants to change, but he is simply not able to do it) or Blue Valentine. And he was very impressive in The Believer too. And love that you have included Colin Farrell, you know I’m a big fan of him and I think he’s taking very good roles lately with The Lobster, Miss Julie and True Detective.

    By the way, if you haven’t seen it yet, we finally (it's been a long long wait) have a trailer for Song to Song, the new Malick film, and it looks promising!

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    1. Thanks for the comment! Farrell has been making such good choices, I love it. And in terms of sheer dread of character, I do see similarities with Affleck's Manchester work and Fassbender's Shame work. So I will be very pleased if Affleck wins.

      I LOVE the Song to Song trailer. So my style. Can't wait!

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    2. Watched Manchester by the Sea last night. Agree with everything you wrote about Affleck's performance, and I really liked the film. It totally devastated me in many ways, but I loved it's realistic atmosphere and the little bits of humour. And Michelle Williams is amazing as always too.

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    3. So happy you liked it. What fine work by both of them. I actually think Denzel may take this now...

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