I’ve been saying for a few months now that Jessica Chastain might sneak up a victory come Oscar night, but her win at the Screen Actors Guild this past Sunday was nevertheless surprising.
Chastain’s performance in “The Eyes of Tammy Faye” was the kind of work that elevated mediocrity. You can’t take your eyes off her in this film. It’s a showy role, but far from her best work (that would be Maya in “Zero Dark Thirty”). The 44-year-old actress has been around for quite some time now and it seems as though Oscar might finally be calling.
And yet, it’s far from a done deal that she will end up winning Best Actress come the third week of March.
Penelope Cruz could easily sneak in to nab her second Oscar for her excellent work in “Parallel Mothers” — a film that needs to be seen by enough voters to give Cruz a fighting chance. Sony Pictures Classics mostly bypassed giving out digital screeners for the film throughout awards season, but now they are being dished out at reckoning speed to the voting body that hasn’t yet seen the Almodovar. This is the same gameplan that occurred last year when SPC was in charge of Anthony Hopkins’ campaign for “The Father.”
What to make of the other nominees?
Kristen Stewart surprised with a nomination, after being snubbed by SAG, for her role as Princess Diana in the polarizing “Spencer.” It’s no secret that the industry hasn’t taken to liking the film as much as critics, but Stewart’s humble campaigning since September, a hustle, has been admirable. I’m not saying people would vote for her purely on likability, but it does help.
Another polarizer was “The Lost Daughter,” which had Olivia Colman stealing a toddler’s favourite doll for sheer self-therapy. Colman’s performance, the best of the five nominees, was filled with psychological nuance. This was demanding work by the British Actress that would, at the very least, be respected by her peers in the Academy for its sheer daring. However, her recent Oscar win may be too fresh in voters’ minds to warrant another victory this soon. Chances are Colman will win another Oscar, but not for this one.
Finally, there’s Nicole Kidman. Can she do the impossible and win for a performance that wouldn’t even rank in the ten best of her illustrious career? We all know how Nicole’s narrative unfolded this year. Before anyone saw “Being The Ricardos,” they were already saying “she’s wrong for the part, doesn’t look like Lucy, they should have hired Debra Messing,” etc. Then it opened and everyone said “oh, Nicole’s better than we expected…not bad!” And then somehow that got turned into Best Actress Oscar heat. Now that the dust has settled, I can’t imagine votera seeing her performance in ‘Ricardos’ and saying “there’s our best Actress winner!”
It looks as though this race will likely come down between Jessica Chastain and Penelope Cruz.
“Hope,” Na’s first film in ten years — his last one being the exemplary “The Wailing” —is a gloriously messy, blood-soaked sci-fi epic that may become a cult classic despite—or because of—its polarizing nature.