This race was kind of annoying, because it was pretty much Brody's second Oscar all the way through. If you have read this blog at all, you would know I hate multi-Oscar winners. I would rather reward someone new because I then feel like you'll be rewarding someone down the line because they lost to Brody's second Oscar. Maybe that's Chalamet or Fiennes, or even Stan, though the first two were more of a threat to win than Stan. Not to say Brody's win won't be my winner or won't be worthy, but I just hate second winners when you have the opportunity to crown someone new and deserving. We shall see if anyone else is deserving.
2024 Best Actor
Adrien Brody - The Brutalist
Some say Adrien Brody is still delivering his acceptance speech to this day. Kidding aside, Brody is/was 2 for 2 at the Oscars and apparently the only male actor to achieve this feat, though the number of guys who have won 2 Oscars is low. Apparently the key for Brody is to be in a Holocaust or Holocaust adjacent film. Maybe Timmy should follow suit since he's pretty emaciated looking already. I keed, so let's get back to Brody's performance. He plays Laszlo Toth, a fictional accomplished architect who survived Buchenwald and made his way to America. He joined his cousin who made furniture and seemed to be unfulfilled until a drunken night with his cousin and cousin's wife gets weird and they encourage Toth to sleep with the woman and then later afterwards the woman accuses him of trying to sleep with her and it leads to Toth leaving. But during this time, the cousin landed a renovation gig at a wealthy man's house as a surprise and Toth leads the reno as the accomplished architect he is. They are found out by the owner, Guy Pearce's character, who screams and yells at them to get out. Later on, Pearce tracks down Toth because he saw his work in a magazine and wants to be his benefactor and the two strike up a relationship based on Toth building a huge complex/building for Pearce. Mild drama ensues and a weird scene where Brody is raped by Pearce happens and you can see how intense this film can be. What I like about the performance is that this feels like a fully realized and complete performance from Brody. He creates a character with so much depth that we almost inherently know that he's been through some shit without having seen or been specifically told of it, simply because he looks ragged and like he's been running from Nazis for a long time. He survived being at Buchenwald and we see that in his eyes and his hesitance to connect with people. One of the things I liked about this performance is how Brody would kinda change when introduced to new people, like he'd take a drag of his cigarette and almost bow up and saunter around while looking at whoever in a cockeyed manner and it feels like a defensive gesture to protect himself. It's a choice that serves the film and performance so well for me. It's little things like that that make a performance feel lived in and like it's second nature for Brody to do. Brody comes from Hungarian lineage and his Hungarian is great; I don't care about the AI upscaling controversy. I like his relationship with his wife, Felicity Jones. It's almost business like in the film. When she comes into the film, they don't seem lovey dovey, it feels matter of fact. She questions him a lot and always thinks before responding to him as if she needs to choose her words carefully. Brody's portrayal grows as the film goes on from someone who was unsure about the world and about life into someone very sure of himself and what he was meant to do. It's a great arc played well by Brody. He also is a heroin addict in the film, yet this isn't played up to some crazy degree where it overtakes the story and film itself. It's too easy to get lost in a drug performance, but Brody plays it natural and let's it be more of an inconvenience and something that happens than something that needs to be played up to a histrionic degree. There is soooo much depth and nuance to Brody's performance. I feel like it's just dripping off the screen and feel like essays and video essays will be done on this performance in the future to dissect everything people see and don't see going on in Brody. I see why the Academy loved this performance. I think he has grown and matured a ton as an actor which is interesting for someone who has already won an Oscar previously. Just like the other nominated performances in this film, Brody's has stayed with me days after I watched the film. It's gotten better in my mind and I can see the brilliance and have settled into being perfectly fine with this win.
Timothee Chalamet - A Complete Unknown
I am definitely a big Timmy Tim fan and he is apparently the second only Best Actor nominee to lead two different BP nominated films in the same year, behind Brad Pitt in 2011. That's pretty cool and just points to Timmy's meteoric rise as the top young actor in the business. I love everything he does and was keenly interested in how his Bob Dylan would come out. And I am impressed! He definitely has the look of Dylan and I do like his effort in sounding like him, as well. I am most impressed by his singing and guitar playing ability, all of which was actually done by Timmy and isn't a voice double or actually Dylan and isn't a hands double for the guitar. I just find it so amazing when actors dedicate themselves to learning a whole new medium or activity/ability to be able to do it convincingly so, too. He sounds great and he looks great. I just wish that the film around him was great. I am not the biggest fan of this story that doesn't really dive into who Bob Dylan is or where he comes from or anything really about his motivations. It's like he's a folk music savant who can instantly come up with classic songs after some noodling o waking up in the middle of the night. But that's not really any fault of Timmy and not much he can do with a terrible story. The main thing I hate about the film is how it makes Dylan out to be this fuck boy type of player. He's in a relationship with Elle Fanning, yet hooks up with Monica Barbaro's Joan Baez, without any second thought and keeps coming back to Fanning even after broken up for a place to stay. I say all that to make the point that the film treats him as this enigmatic, mysterious figure and that's the way Timmy has to play the character because the script and story doesn't give him any other choice. So Timmy is hamstrung and still gives us something wholly interesting just because of his own movie star gravitas. Him not winning the Oscar doesn't come as a surprise because he does exactly what the film demands of him. But we can see exactly why Timmy is becoming one of the biggest stars in the world and why he will one day, probably soon, win an Oscar of his own. I can't wait to see what that performance will look like. And why am I calling him Timmy?
Colman Domingo - Sing Sing
It's funny because Domingo is in the same exact spot that he was from last year, I just had to change the film name. And I told y'all he was going to be nominated here again for this film, that one was too easy to see. I've become a fan of Domingo solely because of the Oscars, as I didn't know who he was before this, though he did have an Emmy win for Euphoria and some other awards nominations and love. And he'll probably get nominated for another Emmy at the next show for The Four Seasons, a Netflix show where he gets to be really funny and probably more like himself than we have ever seen in this space (and he did end up getting nominated, damn I'm good). It's a fun performance and it makes me want to see more of him in better films. Rustin and Sing Sing are not great films by any stretch of the imagination. Domingo is what elevates those films into something you need to watch. This film has him as a prisoner who I guess was innocent and we watch as he takes part of a program where the inmates put on theatre shows and watch their process and interactions. It's kind of an inspirational, nothing film - I hate to say it, but you are really only watching for Domingo, as most of the other actors are former prison inmates from the theatre program and there's also a Paul Raci sighting, which was nice to see. Domingo's character is a guy who tries to help mentor the new guy to the program and be a friend but can't quite breakthrough the tough guy exterior. But eventually he does soften and the two are friendly and Domingo helps the guy with his upcoming parole hearing. Domingo has his own clemency hearing which is where the performance really starts to shine as we see him talking to a board that talks over him and seems to gloss over the fact that he had new evidence that showed he was innocent and had the audacity to say she couldn't reach the DA's office to talk to them even though it seems like that's part of her job. During this I could see how frustrated Domingo was getting and I could feel my blood pressure rising in response to him not really getting a fair shake. That proved to be Domingo's breaking point as his anger boiled over at a rehearsal and he quit on the program in righteous fashion that was so palpably poignant. He was like why the fuck does any of this matter as we are still in prison, which I think we can all understand the anger and frustration he had, which was incredible to see. It's what I want more of from Domingo. Yes, he's a great actor in the quiet parts and the internalizations of emotions, but he is a force of nature when he wants to turn on the feelings and raw emotions. It's why I hope he can find some big or great film to show off in soon, because he fully deserves it.
Ralph Fiennes - Conclave
I am a big Fiennes fan (a fienned perhaps?) and feel like he should have already won an Oscar for Schindler's List. But alas, here we are after like a 30 year drought where he was still giving great performances that Oscar overlooked. Nominated again this time for playing a Cardinal who runs the Conclave to elect the new Pope. This is a thriller film that has twists and turns and is adapted from a popular book, so it definitely has a bit of a pulpy vibe to me which is where the gravitas and acting ability of Fiennes comes into play to sort of control how serious the tone can get. Because Fiennes' Dean of the Cardinals character controls how the Conclave goes with calling for votes and trying to keep the drama that comes to a minimum. The good thing is that Fiennes looks and feels every bit the part of a Cardinal with how he dresses, moves, and talks, as some parts are in Latin and he impressively makes it sound natural. It's good, serious work for a role and film that demands it, since it is the guy leading the process to pick a new Pope. I think that's what I love most about the performance as a whole is that Fiennes is wholly believable and helps guide us through the process along with the Cardinals and it never feels like he stands out in a bad way. You can see the burden of the job in his face as he navigates the process and the political back room dealings and gossip and drama. This role is heavy and obviously matters a great deal and we see that reflected in the performance. But when Fiennes needs to bring the authority, he very capably and dutifully does. Like when he confronts the group about the woman who was brought in as a nun who had had relations previously with the African frontrunner Cardinal or in dealing with the Italian Cardinal who is fiery and conservative. There are some internal conflicts going on within Fiennes as he questions his faith and wonders why the old Pope wanted him to stay when he wanted to retire. I think these are handled well by Fiennes as he keeps it mostly internalized and we don't get any corny down on his knees cursing God scenes or anything over the top. It's just another great performance from Fiennes who should get an Oscar eventually if he puts in the work because I think the Academy is ready to recognize him for his career efforts.
Sebastian Stan - The Apprentice
It's good to see Stan in something that isn't Marvel. Sometimes those actors get so bogged down in Marvel things that we don't get to see them do some real, good acting for a long time. Dude is a great actor and in like the prime of his acting life, don't waste it all on Marvel movies coming out intermittently. Do it on stuff like this, where you are rewarded with an Oscar nomination, which is a win in itself because there was a dislike of voting for someone playing Trump that was a real thing. But what I love so much about Stan's performance is that he treats Trump as a character and not a caricature. The latter is the easiest thing to do and we have all seen the SNL stuff and all the various things that have satired and lampooned Trump. What Stan does is build an arc and make a fully believable character come to life. In the beginning of the film, Stan's Trump is almost meek, a guy unsure of himself looking for guidance. He meets Roy Cohn, who he will eventually emulate to the worst degree, and finds someone to envy and imitate. Stan plays Trump so perfectly because we see the mannerisms of his body and his speech come to life and get more pronounced as the film goes on. It's incredible work from Stan and is better than just mocking him and making the mannerisms into something funny or ridiculous. Again, Stan kind of plays the early Trump as someone almost scared of what it takes to get power and what it means to do all it takes. As the film goes on, (which is really entertaining) Trump starts to transform into the mogul he becomes by acting like Cohn, even as Cohn dies of AIDS. I just think the transition is so good from Stan as he fully becomes Trump as we know him. It's incredible that this was nominated as I said early because this film had lawsuits trying to keep it from releasing, but I feel his work in A Different Man helped him get here. It's always when an actor has two high profile films that are filled with controversy that it seems to help them get nominated. This is probably the fairest take Trump will get in film for a long time. I can see an Adam McKay film about him coming in the next 20 years that will be crazy and ridiculous, but Stan offers up a legit performance of this garbage human being.
The usual group of solid acting MEN. Stan is the clear fifth nominee, because FUCK TRUMP, and I would never nominate his garbage ass. But power to Stan for getting people to vote for him that wasn't illegally manipulated by Elon Musk (2024 election was stolen). Fiennes is great but nothing that stands out for the win. Domingo is just below him but he is kinda like Fiennes in that he is wasted in his efforts now and will hopefully win in the future, and I am going on record that Domingo will be nominated for the Michael Jackson biopic (so brave of me). Timmy Tim should have won (ok, maybe not, calm down fan boy me) but Brody gave another insane performance in a Holocaust adjacent film and how can you deny him that. It's his bread and butter.
Oscar Winner: Adrien Brody - The Brutalist
My Winner: Adrien Brody - The Brutalist
Timothee Chalamet
Ralph Fiennes
Colman Domingo
Sebastian Stan
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