Nothing in 2021 has been more stressful than having to chose who I think will take home the Supporting Actress trophy at the 93rd Academy Awards ceremony (okay, that’s a bit dramatic but not THAT far off). This group really set the bar high for the coming decade. At some point along the way, I’m pretty sure I was convinced each of these women would win for one reason or another. So let’s just get into it so I can force myself to cast my vote into the ether (read: the internet).
Maria Bakalova, Tutar Sagdiyev, Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
Listen, I’ve been incredibly vocal for many years about the Academy’s unflinching genre bias; they don’t even try to hide it. The last truly comedic performance I can think of being nominated in this category was Melissa McCarthy’s in Bridesmaids back in 2011. Over the past decade especially, they’ve been obsessed with nominating tear-soaked performances. Well, luckily Maria Bakalova’s performance in Borat, too, was tear inducing, in that I laughed until I cried. Without wasting time, here are the three main reasons she deserves an Oscar.
1.) She improvised an enormous amount of the film. She was able to create real stakes and forge genuine connections with her scene partners, most of which didn’t even KNOW that they were in a Borat film, while thinking off the top of her head. I can’t begin to stress how hard improvisational comedy is and she does so much of it so successfully in this oddly-smart, completely-outlandish flick. 2.) She made a huge cultural splash. When the film first premiered, Bakalova was the talk of the town. The Academy loves to recognize a burgeoning starlet with a story and buzz and Bakalova has the talent to back it up. 3.) She had to act opposite Rudy Giuliani. I mean, give the woman an Oscar just for that, my god. Seeing Bakalova nominated for a comedic tour-de-force performance such as this one is thrilling to me and I hope the Academy continues to recognize more genre films.
Glenn Close, Bonnie “Mamaw” Vance, Hillbilly Elegy
Oh Glenn… This is Ms. Close’s eighth Oscar nomination and will likely be her eighth loss. If the Academy awards choose Close for this film it will be…a choice. This acting legend is, in short, giving a drag performance in a film that feels like it would’ve been the big moment in 2003 but is actually very, very bad Hallmark movie with a Netflix-sized budget. And yet, the Academy may still give her this Oscar as a legacy award just to pat themselves on the back.
Emma Stone Stars As Cruella de Vil in Disney’s Live-Action Film ‘Cruella’
The joy of watching Close on screen is she really does deeply commit to the material (and thank god because this material is all kinds of wrong) and ultimately elevates everything that she’s in, making it hard for any awards body to ignore her, even if they continually don’t emboss the trophy with her name. It’s too bad that her talent was wasted on Ron Howard’s disastrous attempt to make A Beautiful Mind part 2. I really hope the Academy doesn’t feel like it needs to award her for this when we could have the collective cathartic release of watching her win for playing Norma Desmond in the inevitable film adaption of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard musical. Cross your fingers with me, friends.
Olivia Colman, Anne, The Father
I’ve been telling everyone who will listen that The Father isn’t just a drama, it’s fully a horror film. Dementia is horrifying. It’s oppressively sad and impossible to wrap your head around. There are some struggles that are easy to empathize with, some shoes that are easier to slip into than others. Dementia is not one of them. It’s impossible to put yourself into place of the sufferer. In The Father, we see Olivia Colman silently struggle with her father losing himself amidst the confounding nature of dementia. It’s a weighted performance in a dizzying film.
Disney and Pixar Release Trailer For New Animated Film ‘Luca’
We watch Colman’s Anne try to guide her lost-at-sea father back to shore in his own home, remaining relentlessly calm and stoic in his presence, only to choke back tears when he’s not around. Watching her accept her fathers reality is almost as heartbreaking as watching him lose grip on his own. Outside of the central, fictional London flat, it is a very real thrill to watch Colman and the great Sir Anthony Hopkins trade dialogue, Colman holding her own opposite the acting legend. Given how all over the place the supporting actress awards have been (the Golden Globe going to Jodie Foster, the Critics Choice going to Maria Bakalova, and the SAG Award going to Yun-jung Youn), Colman very well could pick up her second Oscar for this performance and it would be abundantly deserved.
Amanda Seyfried, Marion Davies, Mank
My how the mighty have fallen. At the start of film season this year, it seemed like Amanda Seyfried was unstoppable on her quest to the Oscar podium. She’s been a Hollywood mainstay for over fifteen years, putting in the work across multiple genres. She’s a gorgeous, blonde woman seemingly entering the prime of her career, aka, the archetype the Academy is addicted to awarding. And she’s playing an actual Hollywood figure in a movie about Hollywood shot in black and white by one of Hollywood’s most prestigious directors. How could she not win?! And then Mank actually came out and sort of, well, fizzled. Now that sentence may sound crazy given how many nominations it collected.
However, other titles came out and toppled Mank’s chances of winning any non-design awards, including Supporting Actress. It is a shame because I do find Seyfried very talented and find that she always understands the assignment (see: Mean Girls, Mamma Mia!) but this role is just not, well, it. She looks absolutely stunning in it, she really belongs in this era— black and white color correction and finger waves really work for her. And her naturalistic acting style is very warm and welcome in this highly stylized old Hollywood biopic. But with a role that proved to be pretty small and subdued in a movie that very quickly lost it’s audience hype, at this point in the race, it seems Seyfried is just happy to be here.
Yuh-jung Youn, Soon-ja, Minari
Well, finally, 93 years later, we have a Korean actress nominated for an acting branch award. Yuh-jung Youn and her co-star Steven Yeun made history this year as the first Korean performers nominated for acting Oscars. And what a brazen American debut Youn has made. Youn is featured in Minari as the quick-tongued, humor-laden, grand-matriarch of the Yi family, a role that’s garnered her nominations from over forty American award bodies and I do believe it’s a role that will culminate with her being not only the first Korean actress nominee, but winner. It’s hard to imagine anyone else playing this part, a part that proved to be integral to both the dramatic action and emotional grounding of Lee Isaac Chung’s deeply affecting Minari.
Oscar Isaac to Play Solid Snake in Live-Action Metal Gear Solid Film
Outside of the dreamscape Minari swaddles us into, Youn stole our hearts with her SAG Award speech, showcasing her genuine shock and excitement as she was “recognized by Westerners.” I really hope we get to see another authentic, delightful speech from Yuh-jung Youn on April 25th, she really deserves it for a performance that I won’t soon forget. It’s one of those performances that the longer you reflect on it, the deeper it seems to sink under your skin. In an interview with NPR, Youn said this role offered her the opportunity to reconcile with some painful childhood memories surrounding her great-grandmother during war times. She was quoted as saying, “I really understood this script, deeply. It connected me. The script was very authentic and very real to me, and a very genuine story to me. It was very touching.” I think I speak for everyone when I say it was very touching to us, too.
Will Win: Yuh-jung Youn
Could Win: Any of them, truly, but Maria Bakalova
Should Win: Yuh-jung Youn
Should’ve Been Nominated: Tilda Swinton, The Personal History of David Copperfield / Toni Collette, I’m Thinking of Ending Things
