OVP: Best Supporting Actress (2021)
The Nominees Were...
Jessie Buckley, The Lost Daughter
Ariana DeBose, West Side Story
Judi Dench, Belfast
Kirsten Dunst, The Power of the Dog
Aunjanue Ellis, King Richard
My Thoughts: One of the questions I sometimes wonder with the Oscars is whether or not the role is getting the nomination or if it's the performance. When I judge for the OVP, I always base it solely on the performance, which I think is the correct tactic; roles, even good ones, shouldn't get you an Oscar. But it does feel like AMPAS occasionally forgets that, and even when it does get a good performance with a good role, it feels like they sometimes overestimate it when it comes to a sweep or a win.
I say this as someone who really enjoyed Ariana DeBose's stellar work in West Side Story. When I first saw it, I was wowed, but when it comes to a remake it's hard not to compare it to the previous iterations of the story, and while I try not to do it (if it's in the Top 5, it's in the Top 5, and for me, this is Top 5-you'll see it when we get to the My Ballot hopefully in the next week), in a Hollywood bereft of ideas, I feel like Maria from West Side Story (one of the only roles to win multiple Oscars) is one of those parts it's hard to screw up. She nails the singing and there's a bite in her that's not quite there in Moreno's, but Moreno also seems to give her part more depth, more personality. DeBose is playing one of the best aspects in the finest musical score of all time...she's starting out on third base even if she's admittedly hitting a home run.
Aunjanue Ellis is also playing a trope that feels very much like the "role" is getting the nomination more than she is: long-suffering wife is toward the top of the list of favorite parts for Supporting Actress. Ellis is a good actress, and adds a lot to Oracene Price that isn't on the page. There's a weariness in her that feels cloaked in the scenes with her daughters that disappears when they are not that feels appropriate for a woman who eventually divorced the title character. But the problem is that the script doesn't care about her, and more importantly, doesn't care about her struggles (particularly when it comes to Richard Williams' infidelities), and so it feels like a half of a performance rather than a full one.
Judi Dench is not getting nominated so much for a performance as she is because, well, Oscar loves Judi Dench. Dench's citation for Belfast got her an eighth Oscar nod, putting her in the same company as screen icons Jack Lemmon, Geraldine Page, & Peter O'Toole. While people dismissed this as a throwaway nod, I actually think Dench is strong in this movie (better than even her costar Caitriona Balfe), giving us this wonderful bit of aging from a woman who knows most of her life is gone, but instead of stopping living her life, she's trying a way to guide the next generations of her family into a better existence. It's a smart, capable performance (her best since Philomena), and I think is one that will age well in her long career.
Kirsten Dunst is getting her first nomination after a film career that has spanned decades, and the former child performer saved some of her best work for Power of the Dog. There are moments in the middle of Power of the Dog where it feels like Dunst might be losing the narrative a bit...the alcoholism seems to come as if out of nowhere, not telegraphed enough in the first third of this triptych. But Dunst plays against our expectations by showing us mental health and its ramifications in an era where we don't frequently think of the travails of mental health issues...even if we know they're there. Especially as the film continues, and her allegiances & understandings of this situation shift...you get to see the mechanics of a woman who is over-her-head, and must trust that she'll survive this chess match between the men in her life.
Our final nominee is Jessie Buckley, a very good actress (and great singer) who, I'm going to be honest, gives an Oscar-nominated performance (her first!) that I couldn't get into at all. I think part of it is the writing-there's not enough connection between Buckley as a woman and Colman playing the same part, and I don't really blame Colman here, as she gives her "freed mother" part with such recklessness behind a respectable veneer. There's too many scenes that feel like they're missing from making Buckley's Leda feel fully-fleshed. It's cool that Buckley got an Oscar nod, but had AMPAS waited a year, she might've earned it.
Other Precursor Contenders: The Globes, SAG, & BAFTA all picked Ariana DeBose as their victors, but came up with much different lists of nominees. HFPA had her beating Balfe, Dunst, Ellis, & Ruth Negga (Passing), while SAG had the same lineup except instead of Ellis they chose Cate Blanchett (Nightmare Alley). BAFTA did its totally own thing (which they've been doing more-and-more lately, and I love it), with DeBose besting Balfe, Buckley, Negga, Ellis, & Ann Dowd (Mass). In terms of sixth place, at the time I predicted both Catriona Balfe and Marlee Matlin (CODA) would get nominations (I missed Dench & Buckley), and I honestly still can't pick between the two. Balfe had all of the precursors, but CODA love was so strong I wonder if Matlin might've been just below-the-surface.
Actors I Would Have Nominated: I wasn't in love with Oscar's lineup here (I'm guessing you can tell). Part of that is because there was some really interesting work in films Oscar nominated elsewhere that they skipped (or had gotten enough precursor love that it was clearly on AMPAS' radar). Two that come to mind are Ruth Negga and Kathryn Hunter (The Tragedy of Macbeth). Both find ways to enhance well beyond the page, oddly both inhabiting women with a secret, potentially dooming the leading player forever for being in their sightline.
Oscar’s Choice: It wasn't close-DeBose clobbered the competition here (honestly, no idea who was in second place...maybe Dunst?).
My Choice: I'll go with Dunst over DeBose, I think adding more interesting touches to her character even though both are good. Behind them, I'll do Dench, Ellis, & Buckley in back.
Those are my thoughts-what are yours? Do you want to join the rest of the stampede in crowning Ariana DeBose for doing the thing (I had to) or do you think this was a great moment to just go all-the-way with Dunst's first shot? How did Judi Dench come out-of-nowhere when Caitriona Balfe had done so well all season? And why didn't Marlee Matlin get any love for a Best Picture winner? Share your thoughts below!
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