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Marc Glassman’s 2023 Oscar Picks – Part Two

Arts Review2023-3-9By: Marc Glassman

 

Academy Award Nominees and My Choices 2023 Part Two 

March 10, 2023

By Marc Glassman

 

Click here for Part One

 

On Sunday, March 12, we’ll all be turning our attention to the Oscar awards ceremony. What will we see apart from Jimmy Kimmel’s opener and some musical numbers? Here are my picks for the big winners.

Let’s take on best female actor first. They are:

 

Leading Actress

NOMINEES

CATE BLANCHETT

Tár

ANA DE ARMAS

Blonde

ANDREA RISEBOROUGH

To Leslie

MICHELLE WILLIAMS

The Fabelmans

MICHELLE YEOH

Everything Everywhere All at Once

 

All the candidates are excellent but the selection is controversial. There were two amazing performance by Black actors, Viola Davis in The Woman King and Danielle Deadwyler in Till, and that neither was nominated has upset many people. Bearing the brunt of the anger is Andrea Riseborough, whose nomination came from a late swell of support from Oscar taste makers. There is diversity in the category with the Latina actress Ana de Armas doing a mind-spinning interpretation of Marilyn Monroe in Blonde and the legendary Asian performer Michelle Yeoh garnering deserved praise as the matriarch in Everything Everywhere All at Once. Yeoh is a potential winner, along with Michelle Williams playing the lovable eccentric mom in Spielberg’s The Fablemans. But I’m going for Cate Blanchett’s towering performance as an orchestra conductor in Tár to win the Oscar.

Okay, how about women in supporting roles?

 

Leading Actress in a Supporting Role

NOMINEES

ANGELA BASSETT

Black Panther: Wakanda Forever

HONG CHAU

The Whale

KERRY CONDON

The Banshees of Inisherin

JAMIE LEE CURTIS

Everything Everywhere All at Once

STEPHANIE HSU

Everything Everywhere All at Once

 

This is another great group of performances. I think the brilliant acting by Jamie Lee Curtis and Stephanie Hsu in Everything Everywhere will cancel each other and Hong Chau isn’t quite Oscar material. That leaves Kerry Condon in Banshees and Angela Bassett in Wakanda Forever. Both are Oscar worthy but let’s pick Bassett for a great acting job and, yes, for inclusion.

Okay, let’s move onto the less interesting gender, the males. For best leading actor, the nominees are:

 

Leading Actor

NOMINEES

AUSTIN BUTLER

Elvis

COLIN FARRELL

The Banshees of Inisherin

BRENDAN FRASER

The Whale

PAUL MESCAL

Aftersun

BILL NIGHY

Living

 

My personal choice would be Bill Nighy for his understated performance as a dying civil servant in Living. Paul Mescal is the new “it boy” in England but he’s too quiet in Aftersun to attract Academy attention. It comes down to Austin Butler’s convincing interpretation of the rock’n’roll King in Elvis, Colin Farrell’s brilliant rendition of a slightly dim Irishman in Banshees and Brendan Fraser as a dying teacher in The Whale. Farrell is brilliant in Banshees and Butler is more than okay in Elvis but Fraser’s sensitive performance puts him over the top as the deserving Oscar winner. 

From leads, let’s look at the actor nominees in a Supporting Role. 

 

Lead Actor in a Supporting Role

NOMINEES

BRENDAN GLEESON

The Banshees of Inisherin

BRIAN TYREE HENRY

Causeway

JUDD HIRSCH

The Fabelmans

BARRY KEOGHAN

The Banshees of Inisherin

KE HUY QUAN

Everything Everywhere All at Once

 

While all of the performers were brilliant, winning the Oscar often comes down to a compelling narrative. Judd Hirsch is 87, and totally commands his scene as the eccentric uncle in The Fabelmans.  It would be like giving him a lifetime achievement award. Ke Huy Quan has a great storyline, too. Despite a starring role in an Indiana Jones film as a kid, Quan wasn’t cast in parts because he is Asian-American. His wonderful performance in Everything Everywhere is a true middle-age comeback. Will he get an Oscar to cap it off?  I think it’s likely. 

 

Now, it’s time for the true biggies. Who is the Best Director?

 

Best Director

NOMINEES

Martin McDonagh, The Banshees of Inisherin

Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, Everything Everywhere All at Once

Steven Spielberg, The Fabelmans

Todd Field, Tar

Ruben Östlund, Triangle of Sadness

 

Great as they all are, this comes down to a race between the quirky Anglo-Irish writer-director Martin McDonagh, the quicksilver f/x heavy duo of the Daniels and the legendary auteur Spielberg. I suspect that McDonagh will win a screenplay prize, leaving the young futuristic Daniels fighting it out with a guy who was the hottest property in the Seventies, Spielberg. I think the Academy will acknowledge the new kids on the block—and, yes, I know that’s a dated reference.

Okay – now it’s time for the top award. What is this year’s Best Picture?

 

Best Picture

NOMINEES

ALL QUIET ON THE WESTERN FRONT

AVATAR: THE WAY OF WATER

THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN

ELVIS

EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE

THE FABELMANS

TÁR

TOP GUN: MAVERICK

TRIANGLE OF SADNESS

WOMEN TALKING

 

I’d love it if Women Talking won but we know that won’t happen. Frankly, even having Top Gun: Maverick or  the new Avatar win would be funny in a freakish way. But let’s be serious. Despite the many nominees, the winner will either be All Quiet, Everything Everywhere or The Fabelmans. Each represents something meaningful and different. All Quiet is about the horrors of war and has contemporary resonance because tanks and brutal fighting in towns and fields are happening now in Ukraine. Everything Everywhere is so computer and editing savvy, we can say that the film represents the digital future of movies. The Fabelmans is an old fashioned film set in a time when a young director learned how to shoot and edit on celluloid. It’s the glorious past. What will win? I’m going with The Fabelmans but the other two would also be great choices.

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