by Nathaniel R
How is it Friday before the Oscars already? So much to do before then including Final Predictions, my own top ten list, two more Oscar volleys, and ten more categories at the annual film bitch awards (my own long-running party of "best" this & that). Sorry to rush through the duet of the categories we live for: Best Actress and Best Supporting Actress. But they're up. Among the 10 selected actresses there are six current Oscar nominees but only five overlaps; Hong Chau is stronger in The Menu than in The Whale. In both cases, and as always in her career, she's totally elevating her material. "These are tortillas" is among the very best line-readings of the year. Somehow she's calm, polite, and dripping with condescension at the same time. She's just a magical actress and it's so satisfying to see her finally get her mainstream due via that Oscar nod.
And you surely foresaw that I couldn't have a Best Actress list this year without the great Emma Thompson in Good Luck to You Leo Grande (doing her most revelatory work in two decades) and Danielle Deadwyler, so operatically moving in Till.
P.S. Though we can't do the medal ceremony until all categories are posted, I think I've made it clear over and over again that Dolly de Leon will be my gold medalist for Best Supporting Actress. While it's abundantly clear that she was an 'almost there' in 6th place for Oscar's shortlist, given how well Triangle of Sadness did overall, it's still a damn shame she was passed over. I'd boot any of the current nominees -- even the ones I myself nominated -- just to have her in that lineup.