In a year of meaningful roles, who deserves an Oscar?
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Peter Rainer Contributor
Whenever I see a great movie actor interviewed on a talk show or film festival panel, I am always stunned at how these seemingly ordinary mortals can somehow entirely reshape themselves when wrapped up in a role. Many actors, I suspect, are equally confounded by what they do. It鈥檚 a mystery that can鈥檛 really be explained, and perhaps is best left that way.
The Oscars air March 10 on ABC, affording a perfect opportunity to contrast the nominated actors鈥� red carpet chitchat with their transformative work on-screen. As is my annual custom, here is my take on some of the standout acting nominees, as well as a few of the best performances of the year that went unrecognized by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.听
Best actress
Why We Wrote This
A story focused onWho will win an Oscar and who should win sometimes have very different answers. Our film critic highlights the best performances he saw in 2023, some of which may be honored at the Academy Awards on Sunday night.
Of the five nominees, Lily Gladstone, playing the beleaguered Osage wife in Martin Scorsese鈥檚 鈥淜illers of the Flower Moon,鈥� gives a soul-deep performance that is as eloquent in its silences as in its spoken passages. The catch here is that, if one goes strictly by screen time, Gladstone鈥檚 work qualifies as more of a supporting role. This is the main problem I had with the movie. There should have been much more of her. But it鈥檚 a tribute to her performance that one thinks of Gladstone as the film鈥檚 centerpiece.听
Her only real competition in this category is Emma Stone in 鈥淧oor Things,鈥� portraying a woman who starts out with the mind of a toddler and ends as a free-living feminist. It鈥檚 quite a feat, although, like the movie itself 鈥� a steampunk cross between 鈥淔rankenstein鈥� and 鈥淧ygmalion鈥� 鈥� it strikes me as more of an audacious stunt than a reason to celebrate.听
The other three nominees 鈥� Annette Bening as the vehemently competitive long-distance swimmer Diana Nyad in 鈥淣yad鈥�; Carey Mulligan as Leonard Bernstein鈥檚 wife, Felicia Montealegre, in 鈥淢aestro鈥�; and, particularly, Sandra H眉ller as the novelist and suspected murderer in 鈥淎natomy of a Fall鈥� 鈥� are all commendable. H眉ller, by the way, is equally good, in an entirely different tonal key, as the wife of the Auschwitz commandant in Jonathan Glazer鈥檚 masterpiece and best picture nominee, 鈥淭he Zone of Interest.鈥澨�
Among the deserving but overlooked, I would rate highly Leonie Benesch as the harried German middle school instructor in 鈥淭he Teachers鈥� Lounge,鈥� a nominee for best international feature. She conveys the expanding desperation of someone whose do-good efforts lead her into bad byways. Laure Calamy in 鈥淔ull Time,鈥� as a hard-pressed Parisian hotel worker, is an ardent wonder. And in A.V. Rockwell鈥檚 too-little-seen 鈥淎 Thousand and One,鈥� Teyana Taylor, in her first leading movie role, absolutely galvanizes as a mother who kidnaps her son from foster care.
Best actor
Of the five nominees, I like best Jeffrey Wright as the tetchy college professor and novelist in 鈥淎merican Fiction.鈥� I have seen Wright in over two dozen movies and TV shows, and onstage. Never has he been less than terrific. Paul Giamatti, as a tetchy prep school teacher in 鈥淭he Holdovers,鈥� overdoes the Scrooge stuff early on, but then settles into someone recognizably human. (Giamatti ranks high on the All-Time-Most-Snubbed list for not having even been nominated for 鈥淪ideways.鈥�)
Three of the best actor nominees are playing real people. In the misguided 鈥淢aestro,鈥� Bradley Cooper鈥檚 Leonard Bernstein is an energetic piece of mimicry. As civil rights icon Bayard Rustin in 鈥淩ustin,鈥� Colman Domingo is better than the movie. Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer in 鈥淥ppenheimer鈥� captures the physicist鈥檚 ethereal, head-in-the-clouds side but not his dandyish, control-freak demeanor. The best unnominated performance for me is Beno卯t Magimel鈥檚 as the culinary connoisseur in 鈥淭he Taste of Things.鈥� Don鈥檛 watch while hungry.
Best supporting actress
Da鈥橵ine Joy Randolph, as the cafeteria manager in 鈥淭he Holdovers鈥� whose son has recently died in Vietnam, gives a master class in how to make the most of one鈥檚 screen time. Her every word, gesture, and glance contain so many听dizzying emotional levels that I sometimes wished the entire movie had been about her. It鈥檚 almost preternatural the way she can combine funny and sad in the exact same moment.
Danielle Brooks is the powerhouse Sofia in 鈥淭he Color Purple鈥� 鈥� a role she first triumphantly played on Broadway. She goes from a fierce force of nature to an incarcerated woman in the pits of depression. In both embodiments, she compels our utmost attention.
Viola Davis, as Michael Jordan鈥檚 don鈥檛-mess-with-me mother in 鈥淎ir,鈥� was typically wonderful, and should have been nominated. I also admired the unnominated Scarlett Johansson in 鈥淎steroid City.鈥� She plays a self-infatuated movie star, and she does so without a trace of condescension or a wink to the audience. A whiff of melancholia wafts through her performance.听
Best supporting actor
Lots of good, nominated work in this category. Sterling K. Brown鈥檚 partying plastic surgeon livens up 鈥淎merican Fiction鈥� whenever he swaggers on-screen. Robert De Niro, who I imagined would be miscast as an early-20th-century Southwestern cattle baron in 鈥淜illers of the Flower Moon,鈥� is entirely believable. As Ken, Ryan Gosling is both hilarious and, of all things, touching in 鈥淏arbie.鈥� Mark Ruffalo, as the insufferable dandy in 鈥淧oor Things,鈥� gives one of the most obstreperously funny performances I鈥檝e ever seen.
Best for me is Robert Downey Jr. as Atomic Energy Commission Chair Lewis Strauss, the chief nemesis in 鈥淥ppenheimer.鈥� Downey has been so identified with the Marvel and Sherlock Holmes franchises that for many moviegoers it鈥檚 understandable his intensely focused work here would come as a revelation. (Some viewers didn鈥檛 even recognize him.) But one has only to look at his performances in everything from 鈥淟ess Than Zero鈥� and 鈥淐haplin鈥� to 鈥淭wo Girls and a Guy鈥� and 鈥淲onder Boys鈥� to recognize just how extraordinary he can be. And how versatile. Downey鈥檚 harrowing, real-life history of drug usage, which he has successfully overcome, makes him the sentimental favorite to win in this category. But sentiment needn鈥檛 play a part in tipping the scales. He deserves the honor regardless.
And finally, hats off to the unnominated John Magaro. He plays the novelist husband in Celine Song鈥檚 marvelous, best picture-nominated 鈥淧ast Lives,鈥� co-starring the also excellent Greta Lee and Teo Yoo. It鈥檚 not always easy playing a good guy. Villains are easier. Magaro portrays an essentially decent man who fears the love of his life is drifting away, and that there is nothing he can do to prevent it. You need a tremendous fund of empathy to give the kind of performance Magaro gives here.
Peter Rainer is the Monitor鈥檚 film critic.听
