Well, this was certainly a wild race for a lot of the year. Madison was the front runner before awards were given, then Demi wins at the Globes and the narrative flips to her. Then Torres also wins at the Globes and the Brazil fans get vocal and then Gascon has all of her drama and controversy and meanwhile Erivo is just happy she gets to sing occasionally and be weird with Ariana. And then Madison ends up winning, which was a slight shock to me on Oscar night, though not an upset or anything. Very excited to watch these and see how it all shakes out for me.
2024 Best Actress
Mikey Madison - Anora
I don't know what it says about the Academy or Hollywood that for two years straight now, Best Actress has gone to someone who has been in I guess you could say 'explicit' sex scenes or at least was nude a lot. I'm no prude, but I am not into gratuitous nudity, just feel like it's unnecessary, though understand Madison is a stripper / sex worker and establishes how comfortable she is in her skin. I just hope next year's winner isn't part of this trend because then it just feels exploitive and makes the Academy look like a bunch of gooners. But anyway, there is an actual performance from Madison in this film and it is honestly very good. Her interactions with her fellow strippers seems authentic and she has that very New York accent that works well for the character. Her romance with Vanya is very business like at first since he is paying for her time, but you can obviously see her falling in love with the money and the big house and parties. This ain't no Pretty Woman performance, though, as things start to get messy after she marries Vanya in Vegas and his family finds out and sends some goons to make him divorce her. In this part of the film, you almost believe she actually loves her man as she tries to fight to keep her status and stay married. This is where I think that Madison really starts to shine in the performance. She gets almost primal fighting against the goons and trying to get through to Vanya as they drag her along everywhere searching for him. I love that she keeps fighting and trying to convince them he won't divorce her and it makes the meeting with his parents that much more tense and raw and somewhat emotional when she realizes she meant nothing to him all along and it was just him being a rich spoiled brat using her as his own personal sex toy. The performance has a lot of power behind it as we see Madison trying not to get thrown back into the life she thought she left. The ending is also very interesting in how Madison reacts with Igor and it feels like her trying to process things and someone showing her kindness gets her into working mode, though I don't know to what end. It's a good performance from Mikey and it's cool how a mostly unknown actress comes out of nowhere and wins Best Actress. It feels like the opposite of when they give the Oscar to a veteran like Demi and then have to make up the loss to the new, young actress who then has a couple more great performances. I don't know if Mikey will be great again, but I hope this opens up some new opportunities so we can see what else she can do besides be a scream queen.
Cynthia Erivo - Wicked
I don't really know why I was so worried that Erivo might not be able to pull off this performance. She was the only good part about her previous nomination and that's where I feel like some actors just need to be put in the right spot or even just put in a big budget film to be able to shine. I feel like that's what Colman Domingo needs and is exactly what Erivo got as a huge part in Elphaba and really got to show off what she can do. She has impressive pipes and knocked her famous song out of the park. But she also nails the acting part of the unloved, green witch who has to prove herself to everyone else. I enjoyed her performance and chemistry with Grande a lot, even if it got weird during awards season, because it is the crux of the film them becoming friends and pushing each other. It's fully believable and Erivo displays the anger and anxiety and fear perfectly for the role. I'm interested in how the second film will play as I think Erivo will have a more important part of the whole film as she becomes the Wicked Witch of the West. I imagine it should be great again as the filming was all done at once, so she's not having to recapture the magic of this performance years later and I bet we will see her nominated again for this role next year. Not really a hot take but I'd bet a lot on her being back here again. I think this will become one of those beloved performances that people love when looking back on the Oscars years later and I'm glad she was able to deliver it.
Karla Sofia Gascon - Emilia Perez
This should have been a great, celebratory nomination of the first trans female ever in this category. Instead her awful tweets resurfaced and her behavior in response turned a lot of folks off to her as a person and soured many on the film and performance, too. Obviously, trans people can be awful shitheads just like anyone else and I think highlights that we can't just anoint trans folk as infallible and amazing just because they are trans. Not trying to be controversial, but being trans doesn't mean you are automatically an amazing actress or person. I mean, this performance definitely has its flaws. For one, it's a musical and Gascon can't sing for shit. They even used AI to enhance her voice and make it better, and the director and people that did the songs seemed proud of that fact. But you should at least be able to sing if you're going to be in a musical. I think it's cool that she played the pre-transition version of the character which was probably tough for her to return to those roots and that mindset. It was convincing to me and made the performance better because there was a tangible connection there. I also think she settles in once she is able to truly be her real self. That part of the story is fine, though I don't really see anything amazing in her performance. If she weren't trans, would we be nominating this at all? I don't think so, because the acting isn't quite great, which makes sense as Gascon had mostly acted in telenovelas before this. I'm not anti-woke (which is such a nonsense term) or transphobic, I'm just calling it as I see it, because I think her being trans is a big part of why she was nominated and I hate stuff like that as I've said many times in this blog. I want to see the best of the best nominated and I frankly don't think Gascon's performance is good enough.
This was the darling nominee and performance of the year. Moore was the frontrunner for much of the year after Madison and trading off with Torres at times. She won the Globe, which is what really skyrocketed her to possibly winning an Oscar, and also won the SAG for this role. It had pedigree and a narrative of her making a comeback after years in the business and not being recognized and I legit thought that on Oscar night, we'd hear her name called. That didn't happen but I imagine being a part of all of this was so thrilling and exciting and nice that the nomination was the reward. She plays a decorated actress who is now doing exercise videos and gets cancelled. So she turns to the substance which will create a younger version of herself, don't we all want that when we get older (no.)? But she has to switch off every 7 days and her younger version doesn't adhere to that because she is caught up in her fame and self indulgence. This means Moore starts becoming more hag like in various ways. It starts with her finger becoming ancient, which she obviously doesn't like. Things happen (watch the damn film) and Sue wins out temporarily, as this creates a monster that takes over Sue and ruins her celebrity life. I think the acting from Moore while searching for the substance and going through with it are great. She meets the physical demands of the horror role and you can sense her frustration at the newer version of herself who doesn't respect her time. It's great physical acting and the acting between the two souls is great as well. It doesn't feel as if Moore is stretched much in an actor sort of way though. Once hot actor gets old and has to try and come to terms with that, which is Demi to a T, so it's not exactly some new unseen side of Demi. It's good acting and I enjoyed it, but I was never wowed and never understood the love Demi was getting other than she's an actor people know from the past who has been in shitty things recently and then finally popped off again for the first time in forever. The nomination is the prize here and I'm glad the Academy didn't just give it to her in a sympathy vote for being older.
Fernanda Torres - I'm Still Here
Torres sort of came out of nowhere, winning the Golden Globe for Drama - Actress, though not against anyone else in this category. But it was a kind of big win for her as it got people paying attention to the performance and the film. At one point, she was the frontrunner and there was a lot of hype around her possibly winning and it being huge for the Brazilian fans and acting community. It was interesting to note that she is the second Brazilian actress ever nominated in this category, the first being her mother Fernanda Montenegro in 1998. So she has the pedigree and I feel that was part of the reason she was so hyped up at times. But also, this is just a great performance overall, all that other stuff be damned. It parallels what is going on in America right now. The alt right gestapo in ICE is disappearing American citizens because they dare oppose the Orange Fuhrer and also ironically have darker skin than them. Torres plays a wife and mother whose husband is disappeared by the military junta (though I think in Brazil it's just military dictatorship, at this time). She was taken in at the same time but let go very quickly and we see the abhorrent conditions and the chaos of not knowing where someone is. She then has to put on the brave face when back with her kids of everything is fine and we will get through this and we will keep fighting to get your father out. And she really does continue to fight as the years go on as she eventually learns her husband was killed from the democracy that took over. And then we see her go on as her family does the same and we see her (actually her real life mother) enjoy a family gathering. Torres is so great in this performance and this role. I wish I had more to say than she was just great, but she holds the family together and navigates a shitty bureaucracy that goes from you get nothing, to here's everything. I dunno, it's a very good performance that is starting to resonate for too many people these days. Torres is actually exceptional in this role and if she had won, I don't think I'd be that mad about it.
A wild race that came down to the one who was originally crowned the winner back in Sundance or Cannes or whatever. Gascon is utter garbage. Not good or interesting or worthy of the actual nomination. Let's forget her. Erivo was a great part of that film and sang the shit out of her songs, respect but not very worthy. Moore is so brave in exposing herself like she did, but we need more than nudity to win, (I say as Madison slaps her pussy one more time to taunt Moore). Torres I think was super close to winning. I think if Madison didn't have the nudity, Torres could have won and I think that is a super hot take! Yes, nudity seems to be a factor for winning recently and it's awful. Great group of women. I kinda want Torres as the winner, a year later, but Madison is fine.
Oscar Winner: Mikey Madison - Anora
My Winner: Mikey Madison - Anora
Fernanda TorresDemi Moore
Cynthia Erivo
Karla Sofia Gascon
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