Of the four films I have seen in the category of Best Supporting Actress, the performances were all memorable and deserving. I cannot speak for Danielle Brooks in The Color Purple, but Emily Blunt’s nomination for Oppenheimer is a little surprising, not least because it is her first one, which might prompt one to react, really? I do not expect her to win, but anticipate that we will see her back. In Barbie, America Ferrera got to deliver THAT speech, as well as portraying a believable, real person amidst the nuttiness of Barbie, and it is great to see Jodie Foster back in the Oscars discussion for Nyad. But after her wins at BAFTA and the Screen Actors Guild, I think Da’Vine Joy Randolph has this in the bag for her performance in The Holdovers, that combined warmth, grief, wisdom and a no-nonsense attitude. It would be nice in future years to see more lead roles for women of colour so that performers like Randolph and previous winners including Octavia Spencer, Viola Davis and Jennifer Hudson are cast as Lead performers rather than Supporting.
Speaking of performers of colour, I mentioned previously the historic significance of Lily Gladstone’s Best Actress nomination for Killers of the Flower Moon. She delivers an outstanding performance, literally standing out amongst heavy hitters in the form of Leonardo DiCaprio, Robert De Niro, Jesse Plemons and more. But she does so quietly, conveying the hurt of practically an entire people through understatement and acceptance despite pain. Her nomination is historic and a win would be both important and richly deserved. This is probably the hardest one to call, because Emma Stone’s much showier performance in Poor Things also has a lot of momentum. Strong as they are, I think Sandra Hüller in Anatomy of a Fall, Carey Mulligan in Maestro and Annette Bening in Nyad are behind in this race. It is especially unfortunate for Bening, now on her fifth nomination, but always against stiff competition. The BAFTAs favoured Stone, the SAG awards went for Gladstone. Largely on the basis of overlap between SAG and AMPAS, and because the Academy voters might just want to set a precedent, I predict Gladstone.
Vincent's Views 