Alternate Best Actor 2022: Christopher Abbott in On the Count of Three

Christopher Abbott did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Kevin in On The Count of Three. 

On the Count of Three follows two friends as they make a suicide pact to kill each other on the count of three. 

Christopher Abbott plays one half of that duo, who after a brief scene of the two apparently about to go through with their pact, find his Kevin in a state mental hospital. If one has seen his performance in James White, this in a way seems to be in Abbott's wheelhouse which is as men on edge of a mental breakdown or perhaps experiencing it. After that opening scene, we see him converse with a counselor over having attempted to commit suicide. Abbott's performance is remarkable in just this opening as his delivery is this rush of an attempted constrained emotion. Abbott is able to realize this mental illness as an innate quality in a way that manages to be both overt and subdued, externalized and internalized. The opening conversation establishes this so well because Abbott speaks his opening lines of being alright with such a perfect attempted calm, in that there's nothing at all calm about what he is saying but the man is trying to be calm. Abbott's performance expresses this constant pull into Kevin's anguished state even at this moment as he's trying to outwardly present himself as being "okay" in the simplest of terms. Abbott matches this within his expression which is impossibly tight showing Kevin trying his hardest to hold it in, which in turn makes his obvious state of discomfort all the more abundantly clear. 

As the counselor presses him, Abbott is fantastic in just showing the sudden brutal release in his delivery which is almost as this instinctual flow filled with so much pain as he speaks to his mind in a constant state of horror. 

The film's main plot begins when Kevin's friend Val (Jerrod Carmichael) comes to visit him in the mental institute, in order to break him out so they can kill each other. Val differs from Kevin in presenting overtly as a man with a determined sense of his suicide, suicidal as just a basic state of depression, despite having much going on in his life, though having somewhat connected troubled childhood. We get here a fascinating rapport between the two as friends, and Abbott's performance changes considerably around Val. Abbott is effective at the moment in presenting in a way an innate comfort with just his friend there and instantly no longer seems as agitated as he was before. This is to the point that when Val speaks about his intention, Abbott's performance naturally segues from Kevin's own pain to being rather concerned for his friend's state. Abbott shows Kevin in a way this quiet sense of surprise and the way that Kevin is taken aback to the point he becomes less assured of his own intention to kill himself. Abbott shows really Kevin when he's been with Val, where there is some degree of comfort in the sense that he is with a friend, and pulls back on that. He also develops with Carmichael a natural chemistry between the two of them. There is this certain off-beat synergy the two do have as Abbott delivers a lot of talk around lines that are effective in the way almost that Kevin seemingly can be himself a bit around his friend and there is some sense of affection just by that comfort alone. Although darkly in this particular situation as Val convinces the two of them to kill themselves as a unit. 

The act itself goes wrong when Kevin balks at the last moment, suggesting that they enjoy the day itself before dying. Abbott is quite effective in just bringing this visceral fear of uncertainty into the act and showing that as much as the anguish is real his conviction to end it is yet to be 100%. Unfortunately for him, he has a reminder of his life quickly when an old high school bully comes by to remind him of his painful past of being bullied and then freaking out. Abbott is amazing in the scene in the way he almost folds into himself as crumples into this state of such intense anxiety as he closes off in the reminders of the verbal abuse essentially through some new verbal abuse for him to deal with. The moment he leaves the situation we see the aforementioned freakout where Abbott is great in just showing the release of anger into the wind as he shows Kevin not taking direct action against his abusers but rather just lashing out in his suffering without any real solace from the act. Rather Abbott's whole performance in a way suggests that Kevin only suffers the more he thinks about in a way.  Abbott again excels in terms of granting a very tangible sense of Kevin's history at this moment. Showing someone who just is in the constant cycle of being abused by others and that in turn only makes his already troubled mental state all that much worse. Again what is so remarkable is that even after he calms down at the moment, Abbott's manner is of someone who still isn't right within himself, as rare can he be. 

Again the bits of solace we find is just talking with Val, where Abbott speaks a mile a minute but with that, he's good at creating some sense of relief. He's also quite good at managing the darkly humorous moments the two then have as they discuss their "freedom" since they both expect to die. Both manage to deal with these lines, which cover typical non-comedic elements like racial discrimination and mass shootings, with really the right casual energy to them. They don't "sell" them nor do they undersell them rather they just come to them as two very much off-beat friends dealing with a particularly strange situation. And it completely works as again it creates the sense of the uniqueness of this friendship between the two, and whereas strange as it is Kevin at times becomes the upbeat one. Abbott makes it work though by basically showing that every interaction with Val gives him some sense of life and the two having fun together is what gives him some kind of actual life. Abbott is able to make the moment of just genuine joy, where he wants the two of them to go dirt biking, 100% of it is just actually something happy. Abbott performs it well though in just the way he presents it with a childlike sense of fun to it, suggesting that this was long an escape for Kevin in a life with few escapes. 

Eventually the more time the men spend in the day the more they spend contemplating their existence, where we do see some of what compelled Kevin to this state as he was already troubled which was further exacerbated due to being sexually preyed upon by his child psychiatrist (Henry Winkler). In these quiet moments of reflection where he considers what the doctor did to him, and in turn, considers killing him, Abbott's quiet work internalizes just so much pain that is festering in the man as this state of mental decay. There is no obvious comfort in any moment of it and Abbott presents so potently this state of suffering. Abbott is particularly effective in the moment of that petrification that almost allows the doctor to murder him instead if Val didn't step instead. Here's where I think the film falters just slightly because it rushes a bit to get to its ending, not that what we get is bad, in fact, I'd say it's good, but the film probably could've done more with it. In turn, Abbott needs to rush to a rather pivotal point in the character very quickly and I think a bit too quickly structurally. Abbott though still is terrific and is effective in showing the killing of the doctor as this state of a kind of jubilation for himself. There's a certain mania but also even a power that exudes off of him as though Kevin is reacting to finally seeing a demon of his getting wiped after believing he always had to live with them. The final scene with Kevin is the one I think just needed a little more time, though Abbott does what he can with it, I think it could've been more powerful than it is if it was just a bit more drawn out. Having said all that, along with James White, Abbott creates another striking portrait of mental illness, that isn't about reflecting in just big moments, but rather the often way it festers as a near constant.