Ariana DeBose has just won the BAFTA for Best Supporting Actress. This, in addition to her important SAG win sets her up to undeservedly win the Oscar.
Don’t ask me how the “West Side Story” actress has become the frontrunner in her category. Her performance wasn’t better than Rachel Zegler, Mike Faist, or even Rita Moreno’s in her own movie. Again. narrative, narrative, narrative. It’s all about that and DeBose has become a darling of social media and punditry these last few months.
Can you seriously pinpoint a scene or moment in “West Side Story” where DeBose stole the show? I can’t. She’s always in the background, or when she is in the foreground gets overshadowed by whomever shares the frame with her. It’s maddening to think she is set to win the Oscar in a few weeks.
I find it very strange that DeBose has had this trajectory to the top of the heap in her category. Will Oscar voters realize that Kirsten Dunst (“The Power of the Dog”) deserves to win this category hands down? I sure hope so. Dunst delivers the best performance of her career. You can feel her character’s mental anguish throughout Jane Campion’s film by purely staring at her weary and anguished eyes. It’s sorrowfully brilliant work on her part.
Hell, give the Oscar to Jessie Buckley (“The Lost Daughter”) if you have to. Just not DeBose.
The short version: "Woman Unknown" was a compromise. The jury deadlocked over "Possible Love" and "NAZA," not able to com to terms, fell back on their #3, May el-Toukhy's film.