This was a battle of the veteran actresses all awards season long between Curtis and Bassett. And honestly, come Oscar night, I had no idea which name was going to be read out loud. I was cool with Bassett winning because she is such a phenomenal actress and because of her local connection to me. Everyone shaming her for her reaction to Curtis' win is so lame because I know I'd be pissed and looking angry if that was me, so I can't blame her there. Really interested to see the rest of these women as it looks to be a strong category.
2022 Best Supporting Actress
Jamie Lee Curtis - Everything Everywhere All at Once
I was interested to see what Curtis brought to this film because I remembered reading that this wasn't a very big performance, yet here she is as the winner. Well, I would imagine that Curtis won because she is well known and well liked in Hollywood and is the child of two old Hollywood stars. She may have had a nice speech, but her being a nepo baby is probably why she won the Oscar. The success of EEAAO probably also contributed to it and it's interesting because the success of EEAAO is due in part to Curtis heavily pushing it in Hollywood and hyping up her fellow actors and the directors. The performance is fine. I don't think it's award worthy. This is a career award for her time as a scream queen and putting in a lot of work in the industry, simple as that. She plays an IRS auditor and she is funny and entertaining at times and it's clear she had a lot of fun in the role. I just can't really say much more than that about her performance unfortunately. You aren't going to hate it or anything, but you aren't going to see anything truly great and worth giving an Oscar for. Not the first time this has happened and probably not the last time it will happen. That's the Oscars for you.
Angela Bassett - Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
I really thought that Bassett would end up winning come Oscar night, but EEAAO just had too much momentum and wasn't going to be stopped. I don't think Bassett's reaction was wrong or bad or anything, just a woman reacting in the moment as probably most of us would, let's be honest. Bassett is an incredible actress who has been lauded for her small screen and stage work and of course for her big screen career. This is her second Oscar nomination after she was nominated for playing Tina Turner in What's Love Got to Do with It in 1993. It's fitting that she would become the first person nominated for an acting award for the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which has seen many Oscar winners and nominees play characters in the franchises. Bassett busts through the gate playing T'Challa's mother, Queen Ramonda. She was great in the first film and many people were wanting her to be nominated for that same role. I think she is even stronger in this second film. She gets an Oscar moment when she exasperatingly yells to the other Wakandan leaders that she has sacrificed everything and lost her family protecting the country. It's one of those iconic scenes that will get replayed over and over when discussing Bassett's career and pivotal moments in the Marvel universe. Bassett has to be raw and fierce and strong as Wakanda has lost its Black Panther and she has lost her son while still ruling the country and keeping the rest of the world at bay. She also has to play the frightened, worried, emotionally exhausted woman and mother at the same time. Her daughter, Shuri, gets taken by the sea people (I don't think they are ever named?) and her fear and worry are so palpable. Bassett gets you to step in her shoes and feel what the Queen would be feeling and that's what makes her performance so good. She's tough and vulnerable and Bassett balances all of that extremely well. It's easy to see why people were clamoring for her to win and she definitely elevates this film with Chadwick Boseman no longer around. What's kinda funny and maybe a little pathetic is that the Academy decided to award Bassett this year (the year after she was nominated) with an Honorary Oscar. This lady isn't done giving great performances yet! She's in a hit TV show, just got her second Oscar nomination, and is almost acting royalty with husband Courtney B. Vance. Just odd timing to do it now and almost cheapens the award a bit. I'm sure she's happy, though, and hopefully we will see her back here once more.
Hong Chau - The Whale
I was really intrigued to watch this performance because it was the one that I basically knew very little about since Brendan Fraser was the one getting all the hype. To a lesser degree, there were some folks who were wanting Sadie Sink nominated for her role as Fraser's estranged daughter. And because I had heard that the film itself kinda sucked. So how did Chau end up getting nominated? I think it may be a bit of people watched for Fraser and ended up liking Chau's realistic portrayal of a home health nurse. I also think it just kinda came along for the ride with Fraser and possibly people felt good about nominating an Asian woman in a record year for Asian people at the Oscars. Chau was also in The Menu, which was well received, and had gotten previous Oscar buzz for Downsizing a few years earlier. All that to say it's a good performance that really helps the film be a little bit better but isn't something that grabs you. But it is solid, and Chau does a great job at playing a nurse very familiar with Fraser's condition. She reminds me of many nurses I used to work with when I was in the healthcare field. She has that take no shit attitude and will call anyone or anything out and be very blunt about it. She also cares deep down about Fraser and Chau is good at turning the emotion 180 degrees on a dime like when she has to save Fraser from choking or she gets upset at him hiding that he had a lot of money in the bank. She's fully invested in his health and well-being and Chau makes this look totally effortless in her performance. It's a solid performance in a film that is not all that great with the main draw being Fraser's Oscar winning role. Chau at least can feel like a breath of fresh air in this film and that's because she feels so authentic and real and because the film needs it.
Kerry Condon - The Banshees of Inisherin
Condon had a very outside shot to win this for a little bit of the awards season. There was a lot of buzz regarding her performance and if there had been a split from the EEAAO ladies and the Academy didn't want to reward a superhero film, it could have happened. A lot of what ifs and I don't mean to sound flippant about her performance, but it was getting some very good reviews and maybe in a different year could have been a winner. I actually really liked her performance because she felt like the only sane person in the film. That character that the audience can attach itself to and pretend that's how we would act. She is the sister of Colin Farrell's character, and she is called often to reign in his shenanigans and help diffuse any drunken situations, nothing overly bad, just being a good sister taking care of her brother. They live alone together and we gather that she is pretty smart and somewhat stuck on the island taking care of Farrell or at least being the levelheaded of the two. She offers advice on how to deal with things and calls him out on him being stupid. By the end of her performance, we see that the small island has taken its toll on her and leaving is her best option at happiness and not getting sucked into the loneliness and despair that has taken over everyone else. Condon does a great job at playing the straight woman, as it were, reacting like many of us would to the bullshit going on around her. I really enjoy some of the exasperated faces she makes when hearing about whatever new ridiculous thing is going on between her brother and Brendan Gleeson. I think Condon helps temper this film and keep it from going too far off the deep end and is the needed voice of reason. She excels at just being normal and likeable and someone we can almost root for to get away and go be a librarian or whatever the job she accepts is. Sometimes the normal person can be a strong breath of fresh air and that is exactly what Condon is to this film.
Stephanie Hsu - Everything Everywhere All at Once
If you watched this film and were asked who do you think could have won the Oscar for Supporting Actress, I think most people would point to Hsu. She has a much meatier role than JLC and frankly she gives a much better performance, too. Hsu plays the daughter of Michelle Yeoh and is also the villain of the multiverse, Jobu. Hsu's character is gay and while her mother seems okay with it to some degree, it causes tension between the two. It feels like a very real mother-daughter relationship and Hsu does a great job of getting us to feel her frustration at her mom. I'm guessing that's why Hsu is Jobu in the multiverse and it allows her to have a lot of fun playing the various characters. She gets to be funny and intimidating and do some action and fighting scenes and hit people with dildos and talk about a bagel that will end everything. It's a fun performance that has more depth than you think it would because Hsu goes all out and turns what could be a campy, goofy performance into something you could give an award for. I enjoyed her performance much more than JLC and wish that she would have gotten more attention for her work. I'm hoping this can springboard Hsu into more films and we can get to see her work, whether in comedy or something more serious. I know I haven't really given a deep critique of her performance but it is good and she was a great part of the Best Picture winning film.
There are going to be years where I just completely disagree with the Academy and what they liked or at least voted for. I feel like JLC won because of who she is and because she hyped this film up nonstop. And that's the only reason. Well, also because they loved the film, so probably just caught up in the hype, as well. Bassett is my winner because I really enjoyed her performance but also because it kinda feels like she should have more than just a token Honorary Oscar. So wild that the Academy would turn around a year later and give her that, almost like a mea culpa. Hsu is the one from that film that makes more sense for a win. She was so fun in that role and just acted circles around JLC. Condon would quite possibly be a winner in a weak year as she was really the anchor point of that film. She kept it from going off the rails and was a huge reason the film worked. Chau is good and a very important piece of her film, but the film overall is pretty weak and I'd rather see Chau in something better. All that said, the main theme of these nominations is that I hope to see all of these ladies in better films and roles in the future that brings them back here. They all are good and deserve to be nominated again in some capacity. We shall see if that happens.
Oscar Winner: Jamie Lee Curtis - Everything Everywhere All at Once
My Winner: Angela Bassett - Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
Stephanie Hsu
Kerry Condon
Hong Chau
Jamie Lee Curtis
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