I have been puzzled by this year’s Best Supporting Actress race for quite some time. I have had all sorts of concerns over the Academy making lazy decisions. Here are five pertinent questions in an effort to either put my mind at rest or confirm that something terrible is coming. My questions are all about different actresses who may or may not have a shot at cracking the Best Supporting Actress lineup this year.
1. What happened to Ellen Burstyn?
Ellen Burstyn is a screen legend; her performances in Alice Doesn’t Live Here Anymore, Providence and Resurrection ensured her status as a highly revered figure within the industry. Unfortunately, there were several decades in which she was not receiving the sort of material that she deserved and she has not received a nomination since 2000. Everybody assumed that she was roaring back into the race with Pieces of a Woman, a film that garnered plenty of buzz for Vanessa Kirby’s subtle, well considered performance. Kirby was picking up most of the accolades, including the Volpi Cup for Best Actress, but Burstyn’s standing in the industry and her one big scene were meant to secure her that nomination.
It was a shamelessly awards mongering performance and the role was clearly written to earn an older actress some recognition. Her ‘scene’ was all histrionics and a little too obvious in its technical precision, to leave me emotionally moved. Despite the mixed critical response to the film, it has a 66% rating on Metacritic, both Kirby and Burstyn were showing up on most awards predictions lists. Kirby has toughed it out and retained her position as a serious contender but Burstyn has fallen out of the conversation.
It seems as though people just stopped being excited by her and tastier prospects came along. People have fallen in love with Maria Bakalova’s zany antics in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm and Youn Yuh-jung in Minari quickly became the favourite of critics. Burstyn just hasn’t remained in the conversation and it will be a surprise if she ends up securing a nomination.
2. Can grunting constitute a great performance?
German child actress Helena Zengel earned a heap of praise for her volatile performance in System Crasher. With that sort of buzz, it was only a matter of time before she appeared in a Hollywood production. She got her chance with Paul Greengrass’s News of the World. It’s tipped to be a serious contender in a lot of major categories and it will almost certainly receive recognition in many of the craft categories. Zengel might have a harder time earning her place in a crowded category but she was nominated at the Golden Globes and critics seem to love the physicality of her work.
I was considerably less enthused with what she was doing and specifically wondered why she spent most of the film grunting. It seems that I’m just on a different wavelength to others when it comes to this performance. I have plenty of friends who have raved about it and I really do fear that she will end up receiving a nomination for this.
3. Do Academy members have to nominate so many actors for playing actors?
Amanda Seyfried was once the frontrunner in this category for her performance in Mank. She plays the infamous Marion Davies, whose reputation was unfairly tarnished due the unpopularity of her longtime romantic partner, William Randolph Hearst, and the critical portrayal of a character who appeared to be based upon her, in Citizen Kane. The film attempts to present her in a more sympathetic light and Seyfried is happy to use a thick Brooklyn accent and her big doe eyes to turn Davies into a warm, likeable figure. I despise the film itself and was hoping that Seyfried would be a bright spot amidst the awfulness. She looked great next to Gary Oldman, but that isn’t saying much. I never found her convincing as Davies and her accent was too over the top.
If she does end up getting nominated, it will be because Hollywood loves to pat itself on back. Even though the film sells itself as a cynical deconstruction of Old Hollywood, it will probably be appreciated by Academy members as a love letter to this period. They just lap it up when actors impersonate any famous person but they particularly love it when they play actors. Cate Blanchett won for her performance as Katharine Hepburn and countless others have been in the mix for playing stars such as Frances Farmer and Fanny Brice. I would like this trend to stop because it tends to yield performances that would be more at home as part of a brief sketch on Saturday Night Live than in a feature film. However, Seyfried has history behind her and voters may fall prey to their usual habits and just give her a nod.
4. Could Hollywood give Dianne Wiest better opportunities?
I’ll be brief with this one. Why hasn’t Dianne Wiest been handed several vehicles that would allow her to shine. She won an Academy Award in 1986 for Hannah and Her Sisters but, following this triumph, she was only offered mother roles in fun but schlocky action films like The Lost Boys. She has experienced something of a resurgence in the early 2020s but I worry that we might see the same cycle getting repeated and Wiest deserves better.
5. Why aren’t we talking about Frances Fisher in Holidate?
This is a rather frivolous contention but Frances Fisher, of Unforgiven fame, deserves more credit than she has received for her performance in Holidate. The film is one of those cookie cutter Netflix romantic comedies in which the plot is predictable while also not making a lick of sense. Fisher plays a typical haranguing mother and her character exists as a plot device to help the plot along. You expect Fisher to show up, lifelessly recite her lines and purse her lips frequently but she does so much more than that. She brings a tenderness, a sensuality, a passion to this part that caught me totally off guard. She’s so compelling whenever she is on screen and I wanted to see her romantic adventures. You’ll laugh dozens of times when she is on screen and find yourself missing her whenever she is not around. If only the film around her was able to share her joie de vivre.
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I am passionate about screwball comedies from the 1930s and certain actresses from the Golden Age of Hollywood. I’ll aim to review new Netflix releases and write features, so expect a lot of romantic comedies and cult favourites.
