This was Quan's win all the way through the whole process. Not a doubt come Oscar night and it made for such a great Oscar moment and was just an overall feel good story. No one else stood a chance. Hirsch was the surprise nomination of the bunch, much like Judi Dench was the previous year. Everyone thought Paul Dano from the same film would take the spot, but the Academy went the veteran/career nomination instead. Really looking forward to just how Quan stacks up and if he deserved the win.
2022 Best Supporting Actor
Ke Huy Quan - Everything Everywhere All at Once
To me, this was the story of the awards season that was filled with great stories from the winners and nominees. How crazy and awesome is it that the kid that played Short Round and Data has an Oscar? A legit Oscar at that! You could say oh, this is a sympathy award for someone who left the acting world and spent about twenty years working in stunt coordinating before he came back and won an Oscar. But that wouldn't be truly accurate because Quan gave an actually great performance. Seriously, watching Quan in this film was eye opening because he was so good in the role. It made me think of what could have been if Hollywood would have offered him roles or just had roles for him period, we may have gotten some great performances in those twenty years he was out of acting. Quan plays Michelle Yeoh's husband, but we see that he also is a multiverse jumper looking for the true Yeoh to take on the evil Jobu, who is their daughter. He's great as the supportive husband who is a little frazzled at his wife not stopping to talk with him and listen to him. But where Quan shines for me is as the multiverse jumper because he turns serious and badass and just has this commanding presence that makes you pay a little more attention. I love that Quan got to do some fighting sequences since that was what he was doing for those years he was out of acting and you can see he's really great at it. He also gets to play a kind of suave guy in one of the universes and he comes off really charming and smooth and so we see three different sides or characters of him and he excels in all of them. I want to see more of Quan in the future because he's shown he can play any type of role and he deserves to get more work. So this was an absolutely earned Oscar win and I can't tell you how happy his win made me on Oscar night. One that the Academy got right and I hope it catapults Quan into greater things.
Brendan Gleeson - The Banshees of Inisherin
It feels like Gleeson should already have a nomination before and maybe even a win. Crazy that this is his first ever nomination but fitting that it's for a Martin McDonagh film. Gleeson starred in McDonagh's Oscar winning Live Action Short film and of course was great as a hitman in In Bruges. In this film, Gleeson plays a fellow who gives up on a friendship with Colin Farrell because he finds him to be dull and not good with conversation. There is a lot to think about this film when it comes to friendship, loneliness, depression, and mental health. We don't ever really get to the true source of why Gleeson ends the friendship so abruptly. There are hints that he is going through "despair" as the priest he confesses to puts it. That sounds like depression to me and would make sense when Gleeson goes off on Farrell being nice, but never remembered for it, yet he makes music and everyone remembers Mozart. It's like he is having a crisis in his soul about what his purpose in life is and just going to the pub with Farrell talking about boring things ain't it. What I love about Gleeson's performance is he plays his character like he is carrying this heavy internal dread of what's to come in life. Gleeson is scornful of Farrell and admonishes him at times and tries to make him leave him alone, coming off very cold and distant in the process. Yet we still see a bit of that humanity towards Farrell when he helps pick him up after the cop decks him. It's a very complex and understated performance that Gleeson has to balance in a way that doesn't make him an outright villain. We know there is a lot of turmoil simmering under the surface of his character and Gleeson does a great job of displaying bits and pieces of that so we are left wanting to know and see more of what exactly he's doing. He may be this gruff guy, but he doesn't have to do a total 180 and become this effervescent guy to match Farrell's simple happiness. This is what Gleeson excels at and is what he has been delivering for so long in his performances. I am super happy that the Academy finally recognized him because he absolutely deserved it.
Brian Tyree Henry - Causeway
Henry wasn't really a shock as many had him pegged as a fifth choice below even Paul Dano. But Judd Hirsch got that spot, not that it mattered with the Ke Huy Quan train steamrolling everyone. My guess is most folks haven't even seen this little indie film that starred Jennifer Lawrence, produced by her own production company. It was actually nice to see her in another little indie film going back to her roots because this is where her acting can shine through more so than some of the big budget films she's been in. This is about Henry, though, and he plays a guy that Lawrence meets back in her hometown of New Orleans after she comes home from being blown up in Afghanistan with an IED that has given her a traumatic brain injury. While recovering, she meets Henry who works on her truck and the two begin an unlikely friendship that is bonded by trauma. Henry himself had a traumatic event in his past when he was in a car accident that took his leg and his family (though it's never stated out loud who, if anyone, in his car died; we are only left to infer). This film is a very slow burn that is essentially about dealing with trauma and grief. Henry's performance is a very naturalistic one and I read that he and Lawrence worked on the dialogue together to give it that natural rapport. It stands out in the film because Henry is so laid back and it feels like he was plucked from the streets and thrust into the role because it doesn't feel like any kind of big acting. Which is something this type of role and story would quite easily lead others to do, which is go all super dramatic while rehashing the accident he was in and how it turned his world upside down. We don't get too deep into who either of these characters are, the film just lives in the moment with both of them and how their friendship grows and takes a couple tumbles. It's very much a slice of life story and we get to see Henry using his considerable talents, but the film keeps everything pretty low key. It's a short film, too, at just under an hour and a half and I feel like if Henry's character was more fully fleshed out that it could have stood out even more. I just enjoy how simplistic and modest Henry made the performance feel and I mean that in a good way. It's not a showy effort, but we still do see the effort Henry puts into it and that is what makes me excited to see more of his work going forward. My guess is he will probably be in this space again eventually, as he already has an Emmy and Tony nomination under his belt, too.
Judd Hirsch - The Fabelmans
This was totally a career/veteran nomination where it was probably the Academy's last chance to reward Hirsch. This was like Judi Dench's nomination the previous year that kinda came out of nowhere and claimed the fifth spot that probably would have gone to someone from the same film, like Caitriona Balfe in Belfast. Paul Dano was heavily expected to get this spot and he gave a wonderful performance as the stand-in for Spielberg's father in the film. If he was here, it would be a very strong inclusion for the group and you would point to him being here as a no-brainer. But Hirsch is here instead and these kinds of nominations can go two different ways usually. One, they are completely undeserved and they are just getting in on their previous star power or standing within the Academy. Or two, they actually come in, light the film on fire, and then promptly leave. I am speaking of these very short, almost cameo like performances from older actors that we get every now and then. Hirsch essentially only really has one main scene, though it's basically three short scenes together. He is Uncle Boris and comes to the Fabelmans after his sister dies, who is Michelle Williams' mother and she plays Spielberg's mother in the film. Anyway, he bursts into the film, tells stories over dinner, and then has an intimate, somewhat wild chat with the Spielberg character in his room. Then he leaves and that's that. Hirsch comes in looking like a crazy man talking about being a lion tamer and speaks almost half in Yiddish. His one scene in the bedroom is memorable as he explains that his art will always be at odds with his family. Not even a pep talk, just a frank realization that a life in the pictures will be tough. Honestly, though, Hirsch breathes some much needed life into the film. The early parts of the film with the family can be a bit dull at times and Hirsch comes in like this whirling dervish and jolts us awake and is someone you think about after the film is over and long after he left the film itself. So yeah, this is pretty entertaining but it is way too short to be a winner. Not terribly upset that he was nominated, though it did deprive us of seeing Dano nominated.
Barry Keoghan - The Banshees of Inisherin
It's cool to see Keoghan get rewarded here because it feels like he is one of those up-and-coming actors who will be nominated in the future and may even win. He is able to play all different kinds of characters from the Joker to a serious superhero of sorts to the town gom in this film. I learned that gom is Irish slang for idiot or fool and that is his character, the town simpleton of sorts who is constantly showing up in people's business and saying some offensive things but is backed with lots of humanity and sincerity and humor. He's a guy that has no filter and tells it like it is and it gets him in trouble a lot. Keoghan brings an affected quality to the performance where his character is always kinda swaying or looking around or touching his face. Sometimes that doesn't work and feels too put upon by an actor, but Keoghan makes it work well within the film and with the other actors. Some will enjoy the mannerisms and the way he talks, while others may not. I enjoyed the performance as I think it really added to the feel of the film overall with it being set in the 1920s and it shows how dysfunctional the small island community can be. And it has a bit of the loneliness and desperation that the others in the film are dealing with in their own ways, which I kinda think the film is really about along with friendships ending. He awkwardly asks out Kerry Condon's character and she declines and he just accepts it knowingly. He wants to spend time with Colin Farrell's character and just wants to be around people, probably to avoid his abusive cop father. That's where the humanity comes into play for me because this isn't just Keoghan playing a mentally slow character for laughs. He tries to form this role into an actual character and he is very much a less important character than Brendan Gleeson. I enjoyed this performance and I suspect that it mostly came along for the ride with the others, nothing wrong with that. I believe he will be back here and probably sooner than later.
This was a no-brainer from the start and I'm so happy Quan got his Oscar. I am also happy that he had a huge role in the Loki series right after this and is getting roles that he should have been getting those 20 years he was not acting. Hirsch is a token nominee. It's the Academy giving a career nomination and nothing more. He's great in the role but it is so brief, and Paul Dano did so much better work in the film. Keoghan is good in his role and I feel like this guy is trending up. He will be a force to come with possibly multiple nominations in the future. That's how talented he is and how strong I feel about his acting ability. Gleeson just has a meatier role and is a veteran who knows exactly what to do and it's surprising that this was his first ever nomination. If Quan wasn't steamrolling through the awards race, Gleeson probably would have won. Henry is solid and subtle. I love subtle acting a ton and this is good work. This guy just needs a Grammy nom to be an EGOT nominee, which is no small feat. I'm sure we will see him again in these categories. Avery strong year that everyone can enjoy.
Oscar Winner: Ke Huy Quan - Everything Everywhere All at Once
My Winner: Ke Huy Quan - Everything Everywhere All at Once
Brendan Gleeson
Brian Tyree Henry
Barry Keoghan
Judd Hirsch
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