It’s Cate Blanchett’s Oscar to Lose

I haven’t really discussed the Best Actress race in a while. I think last time I wrote something about it, Danielle Deadwyler was Cate Blanchett’s biggest competition. That feels like eons go. Things have clearly changed.

Deadwyler is now struggling to even make it into the the final five. Meanwhile, Blanchett is cruising, her biggest competition will likely be Michelle Yeoh, but I can’t really see the latter winning. Michelle Williams is a distant third for what is clearly a 52-minute Supporting performance.

Yes, it is very likely that Blanchett will win her third Oscar. Deservedly so. It’s a towering performance that she delivers in “TÁR.” The race would all be over if it weren’t for the ‘Everything Everything’ fanboys relentlessly pushing Yeoh.

There is a lot of love for Yeoh’s performance. She’s not only received a large amount of tributes this fall season, from Telluride to Toronto, but plenty of timely offers for roles in big movies. She’s hot stuff right now. Yeoh is the dark horse of the category. Not necessarily the frontrunner. Again, it’s Blanchett’s Oscar to lose.

As far as the fifth and final slot goes. The toxic media onslaught against “Blonde” has, more or less, put Ana de Armas’ excellent performance on the back burner. Olivia Colman might surprise, but her film has a 44% score on Rotten Tomatoes and has been critically panned. How about Rooney Mara for “Women Talking”? No chance. It’s a slight role and she’s outshined by the supporting cast.

If it were up to me, I’d honor Mia Goth (Pearl), Thandiwe Newton (God’s Country), and Rebecca Hall (Resurrection). But who are we kidding here? Their respective films are too small to be noticed.