2021 Best Actress
Jessica Chastain - The Eyes of Tammy Faye
This is the same person who was nominated for Zero Dark Thirty (she should have won), so this just shows her absolute range of two opposite ends of the acting spectrum. This was only Chastain's third nomination but it just felt like from the get go that she was destined for an Oscar. She had turned in killer work after killer work and admittedly this may be a weaker year where two former winners were nominated but weren't serious contenders. But no knock on Chastain who does all the heavy lifting in this film where she plays Tammy Fay Bakker, a wife of a televangelist who got caught up in some controversies like every other televangelist. First thing that jumps out to me is that her high pitched, sing song Minnesota accent is adorable but also so spot on. She has this giggly, school girl laugh and just comes off as a very naive young woman in the early parts of the film and Chastain was totally believable in those moments. When she busts out the puppets or is giving her new husband a hand job in the bath, her demeanor is exactly as you'd expect a sheltered but curious Midwestern girl to be. She keeps up the high energy throughout the film except where the story calls for her to be depressed or sad or whatever, but she nails this character and makes it her own. It's also those moments where she turns real and in the midst of her post baby blues she puts on airs and acts like her persona to help reel in a big investor for the religious channel's theme park and hotel. Those moments puncture the film in various places and serve to highlight the range that Chastain can work in and reminds us that she isn't a one note smiley, cheerful, ditsy, ignorant woman. But boy does she excel at playing the made up, big haired, fancy dressed Tammy Faye. The film itself may not be very strong but cannot deny how great Chastain is in this performance. It's wild that she wins the Oscar for this and not the badass woman on the front lines in Afghanistan and Pakistan who gets the job done by any means necessary. A striking performance that I hope leads to more great roles for Chastain because I love watching her work and wouldn't mind a few more nominations out of her.
Olivia Colman - The Lost Daughter
Colman has quickly become the new darling of the Academy and good for her! Pretty much everything she has done recently has been great but I do think she is still in that window where she recently won an Oscar and everything she does after that is considered for a nomination. I will admit that I don't like this film at all and believe it's okay to straight up not like films but can at least appreciate the performances. Colman is fine in the role, but it doesn't feel like something that should have been nominated to me. Colman plays a professor who goes to a Greek seaside town for a working summer. She interacts with other guests and watching them makes her reflect on her own choices as a mother in her younger years. She doesn't do a whole lot besides sit at the beach and watch another family and interact with them, an Irish guy who works at the beach during the summer, and her American landlord who has been in the town for ages; all foreign. She does an odd thing where she helps find a missing little girl on the beach but steals her doll which everyone is looking for for most of the film. Her character has these little funny and awkward moments where she may say something naughty and then immediately back track or wave at someone thinking it's another person and then dash away when realizing it's not who she thought it was. It's a bizarre character that Colman does what she can with, but it never makes much sense to me. We never really understand the motivations for anything other than knowing she was an awful mother when younger through flashbacks that shows also Oscar nominated for the role, Jessie Buckley. They play the same woman, yet are wildly different in tone from each other. I think that is part of the intent, but the two never really feel connected and I don't see Colman in Buckley's performance and I need that thread that connects them in my mind for it to work. I could see this same performance working in like a dark comedy or something if you change up some things like the score and the flashbacks, which means it feels a bit out of place. Like I said already, Colman is fine and not really the issue. I think the source and the film let her down by trying to be too ambiguous about who she is and what's going on in her world. I thought that maybe her daughter was killed or molested or she killed her daughter but it just turned out she was a shitty mother. There's not much for me to grasp onto to claim it's a great performance or something worth watching. I'd rather watch Colman work with a better writer and director than first timer Maggie Gyllenhaal (did not understand her Adapted Screenplay Oscar nomination, honestly). Majorly disappointed in this because I know Colman is fantastic and can create amazing things, we were just let down on this one.
Penelope Cruz - Parallel Mothers
Interestingly, this performance had no precursor nominations anywhere other than some local critics groups, but none of the big ones like the Globes, SAG, or BAFTA. So that tells me how much the acting branch loves Cruz to nominate her and how much they seem to enjoy Pedro Almodovar films because his work has been nominated a bunch in various different categories. This was a bit of a wild film, not gonna lie, so I get the appeal of this one. Just the brief description of the story about two mothers giving birth on the same day who bond together and confront motherhood. Sounds innocent enough and that is exactly what I was expecting. Cruz is older and pregnant for the first time but the man is already married but she doesn't regret having the baby. Her hospital roommate is a teenager and scared and regrets the situation that put her there. You'd think they'd bond over the babies and maybe Cruz gains another, older daughter type of thing. Nah, (spoilers ahead, so be advised) she begins to doubt that her daughter is hers and goes to talk with the teen later on and we learn that the teen's daughter died a crib death. Sad, but then we learn that it wasn't Cruz's daughter and the babies were probably accidentally switched in the hospital. Cruz gets close with the teen before telling her and offers her a room in her house and money to nanny the baby. Well, naturally they sleep together intimately before Cruz tells the teen her daughter is actually alive. Drama and tears ensue of course, but this is all with an undercurrent of the guy Cruz slept with being a forensic archaeologist who she is hoping can help get funding to dig where there is a possible mass grave that has her grandfather and others from her small village. I kid you not. It's a very strange combo for a story to film, so needless to say that Cruz has a ton of emotions to work with in her performance. Seems like an actor's dream and Cruz easily rises to the occasion. She's a terrific actress and I have now watched a few of her Spanish performances and I prefer her in her natural language. She runs through the gamut of emotions from being worried and vulnerable, to strong and decisive, to being confused and devastated, sometimes within the same scene. The impressive part is that she never fails to convince us that she is going through any of the myriad of emotions the film pulls from her. It's all done very naturally and normally and we start to ride that emotional roller coaster with her. It's an entertaining ride that I now see why she was nominated and why a lot of the anonymous Oscar ballots that are in various trade publications were saying she was their pick to win. Just know that this is a bit of a crazy ride that can border on melodrama and just enjoy where Cruz takes you.
Doesn't this just kinda feel like a no-brainer of a casting for Lucy Arnaz? I think if you tried to come up with anyone else, you really couldn't. It's a dream match, but the film is such a huge disappointment that it's a shame that Kidman didn't get to shine in a film that could match her star power. The film is bad and Aaron Sorkin is mostly to blame. His writing is noticeably poor where some scenes just fall flat and don't have that punchy wit and bite he is known for. He also directed the film which was the wrong move because it needed a different eye and to avoid his stylistic choices. Another poor choice was Javier Bardem as Desi Arnaz, who just could not embody Desi at all. I know this is about Kidman's performance, but all that needs to be said to understand that she's the only good thing about the film. I have never been the biggest Kidman fan, but she gets the look and, mostly, the voice down for Lucy. Seems like a low bar to clear but it's not the case for Bardem and others in the film. I love that she has that domineering presence that Lucy commands and she feels like she is in charge and part of the mastermind behind a very successful show. The film is about a single week in the life of Lucy and Desi as they produce and work on an episode while other issues pop up behind the scenes in their personal life. Kidman handles her husband, her co-stars, the studio folks, the press, everyone with a hard headed determination. She can turn and become the Lucy we know from TV and be lovable and funny and engaging. The chemistry with Bardem is okay, but I feel like with a different actor, maybe that love would have been a bit more spicy and palpable which is what I was expecting. It's hard to get super excited for the performance because the film is a mess and you know that in more capable hands with a more accurate cast, that Kidman would have been more of a contender. It's a decent performance that is betrayed by a bad film.
Kristen Stewart - Spencer
I don't think a lot of people realize that Stewart has turned into a phenomenal actor and has been delivering great work for years now. It's good to see the Academy finally recognize her with a nomination, as she has already won a Cesar Award (which is the French Oscar equivalent) back in 2015. I feel people still think of her from her Twilight days but she was acting way before that. Her nomination for this film shows that her talent has grown immensely as she takes on the role of Princess Diana in a very un-princess like way. This is a Pablo Lorrain film, so if you have seen Natalie Portman's turn in Jackie, you know what kind of film it is. It's a highly stylized film with sweeping camera motions, dramatic ethereal score, and an intense acting job at its core. Intense best describes Stewart's performance of Diana as she seems to constantly have a grimace or frustrated, exasperated look on her face throughout the film. It's mostly a look at the pressures she faced assimilating and being comfortable in her role within the Royal family. She wants to be an everywoman but has to contend with the traditions and expectations of the private Royal life. Stewart matches the intensity of the film with her performance and she matches the accent and mannerisms of Diana extremely closely. I read an article that asked some worker, maybe the chef that is featured in the film, about how she compared to Diana and said that she was the closest he had ever seen to match her movements and personality. High praise because there have been so many variations of Diana on screen especially recently. But that's what Stewart brings to the performance is that attention to detail and high quality work ethic. I read that she worked on the accent for six months before shooting began for the film and it shows in the performance and makes for such a great piece of work from her. I'm not a big fan of the film overall but Stewart makes it a must see for her performance alone. I know that we will see more of Stewart in the future in these categories and hope to see more great work from her soon.
Maybe not the strongest group this category has ever seen. I don't think Chastain would win in stronger years, but I am glad she did. She just feels like she should have an Oscar because she consistently puts in great work. I keep it as the winner because everyone else already has one except Stewart and she deserves it. Surprisingly, I wasn't really a fan of Colman's work. The performance is fine enough, but it's not nomination worthy and was totally different from Jessie Buckley's version. I wish someone else had been selected here in her place, no slight against Colman, though. Kidman was entertaining as Lucille Ball, the film just kinda stinks is all. Stewart was fantastic in a tough role that has been done to death recently, no pun intended. It feels like we will be seeing her again in this category very soon with everything she's been doing recently. Cruz was actually very good in a film that was pretty wild. The performance could have been total melodrama but she skates that line perfectly and we get an interesting creation out of it. A decent group with intriguing performances. Let's get to 2022 now.
Oscar Winner: Jessica Chastain - The Eyes of Tammy Faye
My Winner: Jessica Chastain - The Eyes of Tammy Faye
Penelope CruzKristen Stewart
Nicole Kidman
Olivia Colman
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