Unofficial Academy Awards Discussion Board

Reza wrote
So Dern doesn't figure at all in your scheme of choice?

Not really. She's as good as the usual Best Supporting Actress winner and I can't say that anyone was desperately robbed so it's certainly not a win that keeps me up at night. She certainly deserves an Academy Award for her career. But it's an easy, not terribly-layered role, tailor-made for Laura Dern to knock it out of the park. I could easily go for her performance if there weren't others I liked more.

Which I do. I need to see Little Women again. I should admit that it was my first experience with Little Women so I spent too much of the film trying to track it. Florence Pugh is quite good in it but I need to further latch onto the first hour of the film.

I was let down by the third act of Jojo Rabbit for reasons I've detailed elsewhere but Scarlett Johansson gives exactly the kind of performance she should be honored for but she probably won't be. This performance highlights all of her strengths whereas Marriage Story for me highlights her weaknesses. She's a larger than life human being and her Jojo Rabbit character (like a Resist-era woke Auntie Mame) works because of her.

Sabin wrote:Having finally seen Kathy Bates, I can vote...

And I don't want to. I'm currently undecided between Florence Pugh and Scarlett Johansson. I need to watch both films again.

So Dern doesn't figure at all in your scheme of choice?

Having finally seen Kathy Bates, I can vote...

And I don't want to. I'm currently undecided between Florence Pugh and Scarlett Johansson. I need to watch both films again.

I wasn't terribly thrilled with this category. I loved Johansson and Pugh. I would replace Bates, Robbie and Dern with Thomasin McKenzie, Da'Vine Joy Randolph and Jennifer Lopez, who surprised me with her performance after years of unevenness and even outright dreck. It reminded me of the work she did early in her career in Selena and Out of Sight.

1. Laura Dern
2. Florence Pugh
3. Kathy Bates
4. Margot Robbie
5. Scarlet Johansson

Pugh, although they all have their moments, even though Johansson and Robbie are in movies I very much dislike.

The Bates performance is a very classic supporting performance: mostly small background work with one scene where she takes center stage that is her Oscar clip scene. She's really good. I don't know if anyone saw it, but early last year an anthology series called Manhunt aired a season that centered around the Olympic Park bombing. Roughly speaking, the first half of the season followed the Richard Jewell accusations and the second half followed the hunt for the real bomber, Eric Rudolph. The FBI comes out of this one a little better than in the Eastwood film, the journalist who broke the Jewell story comes out of it even worse (I'm guessing this wasn't controversial because no one saw it), and Cameron Britton's performance as Richard Jewell could be swapped out for Paul Walker Hauser's in the Eastwood film and no one would know the difference--they look and sound almost identical. Judith Light played the Bobbi Jewell role, and she portrays her much differently than Bates did, and much less sympathetically. It makes for an interesting contrast with the Bates performance, although Light's performance is honestly not that interesting--mostly just the grumpy mother. At any rate, it's worth watching, and is on Netflix. If, like me, you're probably going to be stuck in the house for a few days due to ice and snow, there are worse ways to pass the time.

Laura Dern's win will always be little odd to me, partially because singling her out seems a little misleading about how the film was received, but that happens sometimes I guess. I preferred her in Little Women, but it's a good performance. Robbie is probably helped by not playing a real life person, and so not having to deal with any pre-conceived notions we might have of her character, but I don't think the film gives her much of a character. Her phone call scene (with Kate McKinnon I think?) is very strong though.

I'm going to abstain until I watch Richard Jewell...

Currently, I'm torn between Florence Pugh and Scarlett Johansson. I've been wanting to see both films again, Little Women because I suspect it will reward repeat viewings and Jojo Rabbit because I was quite put off by the third act and want to see if the relative merits of the first two outweigh the third. I think Scarlett Johansson is quite underrated in Jojo Rabbit, which makes sense because she's quite underrated in general. I'm not sure if I can think of another actor who can muster the same larger-than-life joie de vivre necessary for the role. The best compliment I can give her is I remember thinking she deserved a nomination but probably wouldn't get one.

You're welcome.

I also think Laura Dern deserved to win in this lineup, although many people tend to think that her performance is just a Big Little Lies reprise and that's unfair. She plays a totally different character and commands every frame she's on screen in Marriage Story, and it's not too much time, only around nineteen minutes. Her physical language and little gestures are amazing, and manages to convey many colors in what could have been a very cliched and monotonous role.

Kathy Bates is my runner-up, in a very affecting performance, and Johansson made an indelible and warm impression, but I prefer Dern's dynamism in the end. Florence Pugh was the greatest Amy March I've seen, but I don't buy as much the whiny and innocent aspect of her character. Margot Robbie is adequate, but I think her luminous and almost mute work as Sharon Tate was more deserving of consideration.

Thanks for posting, Cal. I completely forgot about these.

Voted for Laura Dern. Oscar got this one right.

Voted for Scarlet Johansson

Sorry for my daring but these polls are still pending and it’s been almost a year. Cast your votes. If that’s ok I’ll post one every Monday. Let’s begin with supporting actress.