2020 Best Supporting Actress
Youn Yuh-jung - Minari
Apparently Yuh-jung is a well respected Korean actress who jumped at the chance to play for American audiences and was rewarded with a win. No surprise that if you are a highly decorated actress in your home country that you may have some success elsewhere if given the chance. She plays the grandmother to the two young kids and mother to the wife in this film. She comes off as kooky and fun and not like your normal grandma. Yuh-jung is refreshing in that she isn't the typical grandma figure. The kid asks her if she can can cook and she says no, can you? And that solidifies her as a very amusing character but also one who is secure in who she is and is there for the love of her family. She watches wrestling on TV, teaches the kids a Korean card game while swearing, and trying to convince her grandson to give her more mountain water, which I think was Mountain Dew from an earlier scene. She's a hoot and a welcome figure into the film and she is delightful to watch. I started to wonder if this is what everyone fell in love with, because I get it but was there more? Yes, there was. And spoilers for those that haven't seen it yet, she has a stroke. She isn't used much after this, but she does more than just be crazy grandma. She has an arc and she affects the very end of the film by causing the fire that burns down the barn and has a heartwarming scene with her grandkids as she randomly wanders off in the wrong direction. There is a lot to take in about those last few sentences, but that's what makes the performance so good. She changes on a dime and becomes a totally different person. We can see why she was a giant of Korean acting in this performance and I am super glad that we got to experience it for ourselves. Yuh-jung gave a fully realized performance that has you fully invested in her and the family. A great piece of work.
Maria Bakalova - Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
I mean, lol, what the fuck is this? I loved the first Borat film. I remember I was in the Army and me and my buddies went to watch it and just died laughing in the theater, especially when he wrestled his fat friend while naked on the bed lol. Who would have ever thought there would be a sequel and that it would have a performance worth nominating? This film is funny as hell, but is also cringe as fuck, as in I cringe in embarrassment watching these idiots do their thing (the folks Borat is hoodwinking, I mean). Bakalova plays Borat's daughter. Let's just pause to say this is a young Bulgarian actress improvising in a sequel and actually getting the Academy to take notice. That's damn impressive. I am impressed. She fully commits to her role and if you told me that was an actual person and not an actress, I would totally believe it. She deserves the nomination just for being in the same room as Rudy Guiliani as he lays back and unzips his pants like the garbage human being he is. Like I can't believe how convincing she is and how dedicated to the role she is. And it's a challenging role! I imagine she didn't get take after take to get it right and had to be delicate with the other people involved while always staying in character and being believable. You can also call this a co-lead with Sascha Baron Cohen, but given that Bakalova was unknown I get why this was put in Supporting. Bakalova also kinda makes this an emotional film about a father and daughter and not just a political satire film. She has the job of making the viewer invested in a film where Borat dresses up in all kinds of get ups and acts completely ridiculous. It's a great job by Bakalova and I'm glad to see that she has been getting some more roles recently, even if they aren't of the Oscar variety. I'm hopeful that she can do more great work in the future even if it's more comedic work like this.
Glenn Close - Hillbilly Elegy
A lot of people saw this as just another Oscar bait role for Close. She actually received a Razzie nomination which was only the third time ever someone got a dual nomination for the same role. I remember people just tearing this performance and film apart when it came out, but it seems really unfair to Close and the film. Is it Oscar bait? Oh most definitely! But I feel like Close's heart is in the right place. If you look at those pictures at the end of the film, she looks identical to Mamaw. And as someone who has grown up with and around older relatives/folks like her, she is spot on for a southern grandma. She fit the look to a tee. She also fits the personality to a tee with the inventive salty language, the taking care of the grandkids while failing the actual kids. I don't have personal experience with that but have known plenty of people who have suffered through similar family situations. I don't mind this film even though it is absolute Oscar bait and the fact that J. D. Vance is now some piece of shit asshole running for Senator of Ohio and might actually win (update: he did), it's just gross. Hard to really feel for him when he supports garbage ideals. Hopefully he loses and fades into obscurity, can't imagine how Usha feels but I don't know their dynamic. Anyway, this is about Close and this is her eighth nomination without a win. It's a record tied with Laurence Olivier, so not bad company. I actually don't think it's worthy of a Razzie and she does a great job of inhabiting her character. The family of Vance came on set and were blown away by how much she embodied Mamaw which says a lot about her performance. It's not bad at all, just in an Oscar bait film where people who don't know the life will ridicule it as some kind of bad acting. Close is good in the role but she was never going to win because the role just doesn't stand out enough in the film. Hard for me to hate on this one.
Olivia Colman - The Father
It's one of those things you see when paying close attention to the Oscars every year and something I have harped on a ton in this blog, but Colman is still in that window after her Oscar win to where she will garner consideration and nominations for solid work. This feels like a nomination because she was a recent winner. Not to say that Colman is bad, but this film obviously belongs to Anthony Hopkins. Colman plays the daughter of Hopkins who is helping take care of her father who is suffering from dementia. It's a heavy subject matter and so you already know what beats the performance should hit. Colman plays the role dutifully with her patience, her frustration, her sadness when her father lashes out at her. There is a bit of a moment near the end where she breaks down crying when talking to her father that probably gets the attention of the voters and is one of those Oscar type of moments. Her work is steadfast and I'd honestly say that if you put this in the Leading category, I might not bat an eye at it. She's in about 40% of the film so it does belong in this category, but she is the main female character. It's solid which is about the best thing I can say. If it wasn't included in this group, that would be okay but it's a good performance from an Oscar darling so here she is. That sounds totally dismissive of her performance but I promise it's not. It plays well off of Hopkins and adds to the sadness of the film and allows Hopkins to shine even more in his role.
Amanda Seyfried - Mank
Seyfried has been putting in work since her debut in Mean Girls and it has translated into an Oscar nomination and an Emmy win for playing Elizabeth Holmes, which was a great miniseries. Honestly, as many others have said about this role, this is a perfect pairing between role and actress. She has the look and feel of a Golden Era actress and makes the role feel lived in. When she is delivering lines with sassy comments or some old 30s vernacular, none it feels odd or out of place. She makes it all feel natural and not just like an actress playing pretend and way out of her depth. The best scenes she has are when alone with Gary Oldman's Mank and it feels like Marion Davies is allowed to be herself rather than a trophy wife to William Randolph Hearst who has to always play a certain type of pretty and naive character. It's a short performance at something like eighteen minutes or so, but Seyfried leaves a lasting mark on the film. We want to see more of her and would be okay with more interactions between her and Mank. Really excited at the kind of work Seyfried is doing lately and feel like she will be back again on one of these lists very soon, maybe even winning. A really perfect role for her that was made more interesting by her performance and helped inject the film with a bit of life whenever she was onscreen.
Kind of a surprising group of nominees. You can clearly see the diversity the Academy has been infusing in the past couple years starting to pay off. Close feels like a throw in nominee, one that the old Academy folks rallied around. I don't hate the performance like some because I've seen that type of person in real life before. But it is Oscar bait and won't be among her best of her eight nominations. Colman was a previous winner who is still in her window where as long as she does good work, she will most likely get nominated and did so here. It's a good performance, but not one that should win anything. Seyfried was a standout, perfectly encapsulating her character and making the film better. Could be a mix of the old and new Academy folks going for someone young, but who played a famous old actress. Bakalova is the biggest surprise because she was a complete unknown and in a Borat film. But she did so much with a tough role that she gets rewarded with second place for me. Hope to see her in more stuff down the line. Yuh-jung was awesome to see and clearly a product of Parasite winning and there being more diversity in the Academy. She also knocked her performance out of the park and ingested some life into her film. Great performance that makes me want to search out her Korean work to see how good it is, too. An interesting group, with a great winner that I think will eventually rank towards the top half of winners in this group. On to the next year!
Oscar Winner: Youn Yuh-jung - Minari
My Winner: Youn Yuh-jung - Minari
Maria BakalovaAmanda Seyfried
Olivia Colman
Glenn Close
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