Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2009: Results

5. Boman Irani in 3 Idiots - Irani gives an enjoyable performance as the grimacing grump fixated on his beliefs, and while rushed he delivers his character's new found heart earnestly.

Best Scene: Introduction. 

4. Adel Bencherif in A Prophet - Bencherif gives a moving portrayal of humanity within a world of vicious crime.  

Best Scene: Alone at home.

3. Guillermo Francella in The Secret in Their Eyes  Francella gives a funny, charismatic and also moving portrayal of the "sidekick" investigator who actually might be the most competent of all. 

Best Scene: What might have happened. 

2. Paul Schneider in Bright Star - Schneider impressively transforms himself into this period writer, but also gives a remarkable depiction of a charming yet hectoring man with an insecure heart. 

Best Scene: "I failed John Keats"

1. Fred Melamed in A Serious Man - The shortest performance I reviewed here but the one that it is the hardest for me to forget. He's just leaves an ever lasting impression with his one of a kind portrayal of the most patronizing of passive aggressiveness superiority that is also absolutely hilarious. 

Best Scene: The three meeting.  

Updated Overall

Next: 1958 lead (May not be a lineup, we'll see.) Also going to take a week hiatus to catch up on some 2023 films.

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2009: Boman Irani in 3 Idiots

Boman Irani did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Dr. Viru "Virus" Sahastrabuddhe in 3 Idiots.

3 idiots follows the trials and tribulations of 3 university students against the system man. 

The system represented by Boman Irani's character nicknamed the virus, who is the university professor who personifies the punitive system that emphasizes pressure over all else, and acts as the extreme enemy to our three "idiots". The three who aren't really your typical college comedy slackers, rather they more so just genuinely want a system that doesn't drive pressure at all cost collateral or otherwise. The Virus acts the opposite and is essentially the film's Dean Vernon Wormer, who very intensely acts as a villain in a seemingly lightweight scenario. Irani's performance very much fits this mold as his whole manner seems to be of a man with a stick in the place that they aren't intended for, yet often end up in. He's always a little hunched, always tense, his neck always seemingly very uncomfortable and his face filled with this low key distress at all times. Irani's delivery is the same as he brings this grumpy and intense demeanor to every line. Speaking every word as assured as possible in just how much he would rather drive students to be nervous wrecks and just remind everyone how they're not good enough. Irani presents this obsessive fixation but also a conviction of the man. And this is a funny performance because he is such a pent up grump in the role and just exudes this quality so potently. He acts as a proper foil by being absolutely the opposite of our happy go lucky heroes and just showing this vicious and unhappy man filled with so much anger. Irani's performance is very funny by over emphasizing all these traits to an extreme that makes him enjoyable as a man who takes himself and his position so aggressively. Where the film is probably the weakest I'd say is when it wants him to be a more genuine villain such as when he drives one student to suicide another to near suicide. Creating very real stakes I suppose, but it kind of makes Irani being a cartoon in a way feel less appropriate since he's capable of such severe casualties. They're also outliers in the scheme of the film, that mostly treats him as this over the top fool and that is where Irani's performance works, for every over the top reaction of the man who is constantly grimacing. Again I don't put these missteps on him, he's consistent, it's just an aspect of the film that I don't think works all that smoothly. The character eventually has a change of heart when the trio helps with the successful delivery of his grandchild, which is basically a moment of revelation, so the point is that it is somewhat sudden. Regardless as quick as it is, Irani delivers the moment well in just playing it very straight as the man finding some joy in life in a very simply sweet moment that is befitting the film's aggressively earnest tone. Leaving this as a funny, sort of slight villainous comedic turn, though I wouldn't say it is anything more than that. 

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2009: Paul Schneider in Bright Star

Paul Schneider did not receive an Oscar nomination, despite winning NSFC, for portraying Charles Armitage Brown in Bright Star. 

Paul Schneider seems perhaps an actor best outside of the modern world, where his performances seem to make less of an impression, then when crafting a man of a specific time. Just as he was convincing as an outlaw of the old American west in The Assassination of Jesse James, he is even more convincing as a businessman and writer in London during 1818. Trickier I suppose is he's also specifically a Scottish businessman and writer, an accent often butchered, but Schneider merely makes himself seem a Scottish actor all along, as if one were to only listen to his performance without seeing it you might think it were Ewan McGregory in the part of Brown, aka a genuine Scotsman. And while I have often stated that the importance  of accent work can be overstated at times, when one truly thrives with it, it is something well worth noting which is the case here as Schneider's accent makes you just instantly accept his Brown as a man of the period of this place, and just you'd never guess that Schneider was a California born actor, which is most impressive. Schneider's first appearance sets up what will be Brown from the point of view of Fanny Brawne (Abbie Cornish) who views him as a bit of an overly critical rogue. And Schneider owns this idea and brandishes, even as he insists he wasn't as critical towards her way of dress as presumed, he still puts a bit of criticism even in that. Schneider is wonderful as even his body language here is so very specific in the lack of stiffness in his performance as he arches over his tea. And even in conflict of sorts Schneider's reaction creates a man who loves the idea of it and there is such a sense of delight. As such Schneider has a roguish charm in the way that he presents Brown's manner, that is very direct for the time in particular, as something that he relishes in his methods, even though it doesn't win everyone's favor. Schneider in fact reacts so wonderfully as Fanny is as sharp tongued and in her attack on his writing, Schneider's faux shock suggests a man who lives for the verbal sparring. Schneider creates a man who very much exists in this state as a kind of lifeblood for himself. 

Schneider's performance is an essential sort of bit of id within the film that is so reserved otherwise, including our central characters of potential lovers of Fanny and John Keats (Ben Whishaw), where Brown exists as a certain barrier between the two being able to come together. And every scene that Schneider is in offers a bit of a very distinct energy within this film, because he is so sharp in every sense with his cynical and often irreverent manner. His position is interesting because Brown is Keats's best friend and how he relates to the potential couple is a source of conflict though not in really an obvious way. Schneider brings that chaotic energy that feeds some source of tension, while also being just entertaining within himself by so naturally creating really an alternative sort of man to the period, while not feeling anachronistic from the period. And I think a reason for that is Schneider's performance does evolve, as much as early on he seems there just for that cutting remark that constantly breaks up the potential romantic tension. In the scene when Fanny makes it quite clear she will not be turned off, and that Keats is receptive to this, Schneider presents the inherent burden of jealousy of losing the time with his friend at his beckon call. Internalizing the frustration so effectively, even while his delivery still maintains this certain blunt disdain that at a certain point begins to fake the irreverence. And Schneider modulates his performance to become more pointed towards Fanny and in general his emotions he begins to wear more evidently on sleeve. And Schneider's particularly effective in playing off the emotions and even his vulnerability regarding the importance of his friendship that in his expression denote someone who to a degree begins desperately holding onto it even while trying to maintain his expected manner. And Schneider is excellent in the moment of "warning" Keats more directly, where he couches everything in less cynicism and brings the nervous energy of essentially losing his companion to the situation. 

And Schneider's work finds well the complications of Brown, because as Keats health worsens, the genuine concern in the moment is honest, but he is as much despicable in again his nearly petulant insistence on being the one to take care of Keats. Schneider so naturally segues between the qualities, and we see the way the man kind of loses his power of disregard as the story proceeds. This includes when Brown's sort of roguish manner becomes more obvious when he impregnates a servant woman Abigail, and tries to dodge guilt. Schneider's lying again is so artfully done because he tells the truth by seeing that typical confidence of the character so absent even as he is able to articulate his lies Schneider shows that Brown himself isn't able to entirely believe them. And Schneider is terrific in bringing so much humanity to his faults, I love in particular the scene where he shoos off Abigail during a public discussion where his expression is this remarkable mix of shame while also still having a lack of shame all at the same time. Schneider's work creates such a wonderfully flawed person, who you can write as the villain of the piece, always complicated is he. No moment expresses this better than after he's sent Keats off alone to Italy, and Fanny calls Brown on not being there for his friend. Schneider is amazing in the scene because everything about him is this defense, even his physical manner towards Fanny at first seems to move to avoid her too directly, until she insists on his failure as a friend. Schneider's initial delivery still being this way of the man dodging the truth, trying to obfuscate the truth but in her persistence Brown fully grants the truth. His repeated delivery of "I failed John Keats" is incredible work by Schneider as in every repetition the guilt and the heartbreak reveal themselves more completely, and more painfully, and as much as Brown remains a failure as a friend, we see that deep down he did care, even if that was not enough. And there is a real odd power to Schneider's portrait of a deeply flawed man, where he finds a strange poignancy by so naturally revealing those human flaws even when his repetance remains so tragically limited. 

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2009: Fred Melamed in A Serious Man

Fred Melamed did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Sy Abelman in A Serious Man. 

Fred Melamed portrays the most evil of all characters, also known as Sy Abelman. A character who is introduced simply enough, as our protagonist Jewish college professor Larry Gopnik (Michael Stuhlbarg) is taking care of his messages one day. And even in his phone introduction, Melamed's performance is most beautifully articulate depictions of patronizing that one may in this case listen to even as briefly as it is. His dialogue is only indicating that it is indeed he Sy Abelman, and asking how Larry is, yet it is Melamed's delivery of this that speaks to so much more than that, in what it will eventually indicate. But what is it that makes Melamed's delivery so malevolent? Well, the kindness of it, the dulcet tones of it, as Abelman's voice is of the dearest friend without a care in the world or any concern regarding what his business with Larry might be. Larry eventually appears as it becomes known that he wants to marry Larry's wife Judith, and suddenly all that friendliness becomes something else entirely. And when Abelman finally appears, he couldn't be kinder in every word, saying how much he respects Larry, and even gifts wine that he properly instructs Larry on. Melamed's physical performance closes in as much space between himself and Stuhlbarg as it seems at all times, and stares him almost unrelentingly in the eye. Yet his voice is still so gentle, and reassuring that they must all behave a certain way. He even embraces Larry indicating that "we're going to be fine". All of this creates this claustrophobia of constant support, presumed warmth, and concern. Yet given the situation that Sy is cuckolding Larry, Melamed's delivery just has this tinge of excessiveness in all of this, that makes it all a little hard to believe. Creating more so an onslaught of a different kind. And when we meet Sy again, he carries on the same way, where you'd think Sy might be wanting to marry Larry rather than Judith with just how physical and loving he is. Meanwhile, Sy and Judith's manner is more so as a legal team dictating terms on Larry's case, which involves kicking Larry out of his own house. Melamed gives the most sinister portrayal of cordiality that one can imagine as he is in this state of a patronizing hostile "friendship", where he speaks every suggestion, which all involve hardship for Larry, with such passive certainty and calm assurance that's the right thing to do. One must give particular credit to Melamed for his delivery of "blame game", like he's their marriage counselor, rather than the adulterer. And there is just something in Melamed's eyes and his mouth, that seems to quietly indicate the true nefarious evil of Sy, behind all his positive structuring of every torturous notion. His only break from this is his reaction of disbelief when Larry suggests he and Judith move in together, with Melamed's hilarious reaction that is as though it is a completely insane notion, unlike his perfectly sane notions that control Larry's existence. Melamed mastered the art of passive-aggressive mind games, where everything he says is a way to hurt Larry and mess with him, but he says it with the utmost kindness. Melamed's performance works in part in just creating this sort of uncompromising claustrophobic environment, where he expresses this control with this ease that makes him all the more unbearable, as he's so horrible well being just so cordial. It also must be stated that Melamed's whole performance of this is effective in that more ominous way, but also is hilarious in just how particular he is. Melamed's way of going about it makes every line, every little weird look and head tilt, just hilarious, even as it is aggravating as all hell. But then rather shockingly Sy dies off-screen in an auto accident. And except for the strong indication that Sy has been sending letters to discredit Larry, he has no more interaction in reality, though he shows up for one more dream. When he speaks to Larry in his classroom, it is a brilliant scene for Melamed because it is a very different performance. One can take this as Larry's version of Sy, or perhaps this is the true Sy revealing himself in his dream. Because Melamed puts on no sense of propriety, no false warmth, care concern, or calm. He now is directly pestering, his delivery is now hectoring and hateful when demanding that Larry explain uncertainty. His declaration that he's "A serious man" is with a vicious sneer, only to be followed quite bluntly he literally is slamming Larry into the wall and bluntly telling him he had sex with his wife. Melamed again now just aggressive aggressive and perhaps revealing just how much ire was truly contained in that "kind" fellow. I could be less generous to this performance but that would be wrong, as it would be on nonsense reasons like brevity. Because the truth is Melamed is one of the most memorable aspects of this film, and he's something from it that I've never forgotten since the first time I've seen the film. Melamed's performance could have been so many other things, but what he is is such an idiosyncratic piece of work, that creates a one-of-a-kind character, in what could be an average character of the "slick adulterer" instead into something else entirely that personifies a world that seems to project kindness, yet only cruelty exists in its actions. A performance that is bizarrely magnetic in creating such a strangely unnerving tone so naturally, while also just being so hilarious in his peculiar nature. As brief as it is, I can't find any reason not to call this a great performance, as with such ease Melamed crafts maybe one the strangest but also one of the most unsettling villains, in such a tangible way, to grace the screen. 

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2009: James Gandolfini in Where the Wild Things Are

James Gandolfini did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Carol in Where the Wild Things Are. 

Where the Wild Things Are, follows a precocious kid Max (Max Records) as he runs away from home to the titular place.

The titular place is filled with large creatures, however, the large creatures act more like children than large creatures or adults, though they are voiced by adults. The main creature played by James Gandolfini who was most famous for playing the very mature content related to Tony Soprano, and honestly, I wouldn't say this is hidden, as Gandolfini's vocal performance is closer to Tony Soprano than his actual voice, which is a bit fitting because in some ways Tony was nothing but an emotional infant. So really this casting makes perfect sense, even if it might be odd on paper, and it might seem odder in execution, though it is quite brilliant. And what makes it all work is Gandolfini's performance, which, much like his work as Tony Soprano oddly enough, makes a fairly despicable character likable. And one has to kind of wonder why. And yes Gandolfini is a charismatic performer, and I guess the incredible part here shows that his charisma comes through even when just being a voice within a "wild thing". And Gandolfini plays the most childish of the Wild Things, and as Carol, Gandolfini is wonderfully childish, to say the least. You just instantly understand this fact, and is also strangely disarming immediately, despite his character going around destroying things when we first meet him. And what is going with him is kind of this perfect depiction of petulance, in a way that is very bizarrely endearing, if you'd probably hate having to interact with a Carol in real life. Gandolfini though brings anger into his voice, but that anger is just always mixed with a child's vulnerability, even though he doesn't hide the age in an obvious way, he captures the spirit of a child's emotion so tangibly. And there is something special about the way Gandolfini so naturally flows and there is a beautiful purity in the moments where he is speaking the excitement of Carol as Max brings new games. He's just as honest though in his meek shyness when he tries to encourage another of the wild things, who he clearly likes, to stick around. Gandolfini is great because he's everything a child can be in terms of emotion, in that it can be very sweet, very endearing, very moving, but also in a way dangerous if not entirely caustic. Gandolfini though is all of these things, so naturally, and in such a way that you just understand him. He's great in the big expressions, but the quiet ones such as wanting a place where only what you what to happen happens, Gandolfini's performance captures this poignant sense of the comfort anyone may seek, however, especially a child. Gandolfini is great in making the way Carol is all over the place, which includes loving Max one second and then wanting to eat him the next, wholly logical in this way of a child's logic. It is genuinely a moving performance because Gandolfini never winks once, never once seems to say "Hey look I'm Tony Soprano in a kid's movie", he rather seeks to truly articulate all the vulnerabilities, all the difficulties of a child who can control their emotions, in a way that grants a real empathy to what is really in so many ways a mess of irrational thought. Gandolfini's work I think more than any other aspect of the film, realizes its specific ideas of truly exploring a kid's logic in a way that dances around absurdities, but also remains very true and almost covertly heartfelt. And while at the time, Gandolfini wouldn't have been the first person you'd expect in this film, he made himself essential to the film, and showed yet another aspect of his considerable talent that we saw all too briefly. 

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2009: Guillermo Francella & Pablo Rago in The Secret in Their Eyes

Guillermo Francella did not receive an Oscar nomination nor did Pablo Rago for portraying Pablo Sandoval & Ricardo Morales respectively in The Secret in Their Eyes.

I've already praised to high heavens this film, and I don't always give the academy credit, but this was one of their best decisions in the then foreign language film category. But now it is time to praise it some more, as it isn't just a film with an engaging protagonist in the judicial officer Benjamin (Ricardo Darin), trying to figure out a murder/rape investigation both in the past and present, it also has a fantastic supporting cast. Guillermo Francella is front in center in this regard as Benjamin's friend at the judiciary office. Francella simply must be described as a delight who is kind of the ideal supporting performer very specifically as the supportive friend to Benjamin we see right away, as they both react to their immediate superior Irene (Soledad Villamil), with whom Benjamin is in love with both hesitates to say anything. I love Francella's openness in his performance as he compliments her with this earnest ease. Only bested by his sly ribbing as he notes that Benjamin struggles to have the same ease around her because he's infatuated with her. Francella brings such a sincere loving manner in this gentle teasing. In just a moment you see Francella bringing this perfect emotional honesty that defines Pablo, but also the immediate sense of the strict sincerity of his friendship even when being sarcastic with his friend. Pablo loves Benjamin whole heartedly and Francella makes it hard not to love Pablo. 

Pablo Rago basically performs at a polar opposite tonally from Francella, and the film's success in bringing both sides of this story to life with such ease is one of the joys of the film. Rago plays the husband of the victim of the central crime, and every visit with him by Benjamin is a remarkable moment in the film. His performance one is that immediately grants us the sense of potent grief that obviously pains the man, whom we see initially as just really a loss for the reality of it all. His face filled with heartbreaking disbelief. We see him next trying his best to help Benjamin with the investigation by just going through possible suspects in his wife's past. And Rago is again effective in showing this sense of grief within this quiet conviction of the man in trying to get justice for his wife. There's a strict sincerity in Rago's performance in every moment of trying to affirm help to Benjamin, and an important sense of kind of this focus is with the man in a way holding his grief back. Unfortunately, the man, Isidoro Gómez (Javier Godino), cannot be located. And we next see Morales as Benjamin finds him at a train station, waiting there every day by the chance he might find the man who is probably his wife's killer. Rago's performance is so moving because of the actual subdued delivery of the explanation. There's a fixation to be sure, but there's also this calm in his voice and importantly this love in his eyes, of a man who is steadfastly committed to his duty to his wife. 

The rest of the investigation is on the end of Pablo and Benjamin, and even though it is a murder investigation we actually get more comedy, as Pablo pushes Benjamin to skirt the law just a bit in their attempts to track down Isidoro. Francella is just wonderful in bringing this physical comedic energy in these scenes of showing the man who very much is almost a fully blown comedic performer, though he never goes too far. He finds just enough in this sort of hapless conviction in his manner that makes him very funny while never being just a joke. And part of the reason for this is the balance of when the two are talking about the severity of the crime and the importance of finding the killer, Francella's work is 100% dialed into the seriousness of that. Francella shows that Pablo is absolutely dogged in his own attempts to find the truth himself, even if his methods aren't always practical and that is where the comedy comes in. A favorite bit of mine in that regard is when the two of them get chewed out for their trespassing and Francell's reactions throughout the scene are pure gold. Because he plays it less as a man in genuine trouble, and more so as a kid who knows he stepped out of line but intends to step out of line again as soon as possible. Only feigning any embarrassment. 

And what is kind of fascinating is as much as Francella is the comic relief, he quite frequently shows that Pablo has perhaps the best sense of detecting the truth in terms of actually tracking down the killer. And we see this as Pablo suggests a plan when the trail goes cold, where Pablo runs down his plan to Benjamin in a bar. This is just a highlight and frankly amazing scene for Francella. Francella begins the scene relatively low-key in his encouraging delivery where there is just this spark in his eyes of a man with some keen ingenuity at the moment, and it is hard not to go with him as he keeps speaking his mind. This even recognizes his hobby of being drunk, despite having more or less a happy life, which Francella performs with this certain pride of a man who knows exactly who he is. Francella continues the scene like a circus ringmaster as he basically runs the whole bar to make his point, such as having another patron detail his obsession through his own knowledge of sports, to make the point that they could catch, Isidoro, also a sports fanatic as a game. A simple point theoretically, made so beautifully complicated by Francella's performance that brings such passion as he shows this realization a point of pure jubilation. 

Following the realization we have the two track down Isidoro at a stadium, looking for the man, and what is amazing is as much as Francella doesn't exude the leading man or the action hero type, he kind of becomes it in this scene. And the frenetic energy he brings is perfection as we see Pablo move around doing his absolute best to track down the killer and refusing to back down. Francella brings this unlikely yet wholly convincing conviction that makes Pablo an unexpected hero in the best of ways. And spoilers for the rest of this review, because this again a great film, and anyone who hasn't watched it should. But while they manage to catch Isidoro, he is quickly set free by the corrupt government who hires him as a killer. And we find Pablo now raging as a drunk at the system, and Francella is fantastic in creating the sense of the loss of that passion now. Showing instead someone defeated by the circumstance, even if the glint of the happy-go-lucky personality is still in there. Unfortunately, that is nearly the last we see him, when left alone Benjamin comes home to find him murdered by government thugs. And it is just alone an absolutely devastating moment because Francella has made him such a likable character up until this point. 

Meanwhile, we get two immediately contrasting scenes with Rago as Morales, one where we silently see Benjamin inform him of the good news, as just his reaction shows this quiet weight being lifted off his shoulders. Unfortunately, this is followed almost immediately by the bad news, where again Rago's performance is penetrating through the sort of unexpected way that he approaches the scene. The grief and the love are just givens within his performance, you sense them, but he plays them internalized as the man stays as this calm, even when knowing the killer is out there. Rago's performance though is oddly the one that is more reassuring than Darin's in the conversation, with Rago presenting this clarity in every delivery as Morales so calmly states that killing Isidoro would be too easy and quick for the man. Again he doesn't state with vicious revenge, but rather this separated sense of again a man speaking the truth. And that is the last we see of him before we catch up with the running later timeline where Benjamin is still fixated on the case after many years, and he goes to visit Morales now living very isolated in the country. 

And the two men meet up, each in a weird way having this certain state of being arrested in the past though very different ways. Rago again has almost this monk-like manner in the way he speaks of the past though with this assurance and calm. It is only when Benjamin presses him about Isidoro, we see a change where suddenly Rago becomes more present and it is so powerful because suddenly snaps at him wanting him to forget it. It is such a striking moment because it is so different and reveals the truth, though not the one we'd expect. But before that, Benjamin reveals his own memories of thinking about Pablo's death, and we get one more scene with Francella as a flashback to Benjamin's presumed memory of his friend's execution. This scene manages to make an already devastating death even more heartbreaking because Benjamin believes Pablo in his last act protected Benjamin by making the killers think he was him, by hiding all photos of the two and acting as their target. And Francella is amazing in the scene because he doesn't show fear, though the gravity of the situation is immediate in his reaction, there instead this extremely moving determination in his eyes as he goes about defending his friend in his last act. And if that was not haunting enough to contemplate, we have the finale of the mystery. First where Morales tries to set the record straight by telling Benjamin that he killed Isidoro years ago, having tracked him down because he knew he was looking for Benjamin. Rago's delivery has this vicious specificity of it as he explains his method but still this exact clarity. It is almost as if we've known Morales, but not entirely. And it is this whole brilliantly performed bit that earns Benjamin thinking back to all of Morales's words to check back to Morales once again to find that Isidoro is dead, but has in fact been imprisoned by Morales for years. Rago doesn't have a long moment in this scene but is absolutely haunting and we see the truth of the man entirely again. As we don't see vicious revenge, but this calm determination of duty as he dutifully completes the man's sentence for the death of the wife he adored so deeply. Both performances represent the strengths of the film, with Rago giving such specific yet soulful depiction of a revenge defined by love rather than hate, and Francella in a way being able to embody the very different successful tones of the film, being the loveable "sidekick" but also the heartbreaking hero. 

(Rago)

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2009: Adel Bencherif & Niels Arestrup in A Prophet

Adel Bencherif nor did Niels Arestrup receive Oscar nominations, despite the latter winning LAFCA, for portraying Ryad and César Luciani respectively in A Prophet. 

Ryad and Cesar are two very different fellow prisoners that our lead character Malik (Tahar Rahim) encounters in prison. Cesar is the first, very unpleasant, force to greet him, as he and his gang of Corsicans almost immediately force Malik to perform a hit for them. Niels Arestrup, who won LA for this in I'm guessing a wish to be different as if they really wanted to recognize the prophet does it lead but I severely digress, is a very specific presence. Similar to his thuggish father from his previous collaboration with Jacques Audiard, The Beat That My Heart Skipped, he is rather unpleasant, to say the least. And I'll say Arestrup is effective in being unpleasant, as just his very innate expression has this kind of toxic quality about the man, he seems on the edge of hate always, and that is where he exists. He is only occasionally a bit more pleasant. This is in stark contrast to Ryad, where Bencherif immediately makes Ryad an approachable man. Even as a prisoner, Bencherif's performance exudes this easy warmth about him and you sense in his first interactions with Malik that this is a man who would rather find friendship with Malik, than an ally, if not a servant, to be used as is the case with Cesar. 

As the film progresses we quickly have change with both Ryad and Cesar with their relationship with Malik that defines both Arestrup and Bencherif's performance. The former we see as the hostile old man where Arestrep is penetrating with just how vile and convincing he is in his moments of physical abuse. There's this ease of the violence he portrays that is particularly off-putting. Though in this I do ponder if perhaps Arestrep limits Cesar in a way, because bluntly, you hate Cesar completely without reservation, even when he becomes lonely when the other Corsicans leave, I didn't care. And along with his previous work, I do kind of wonder if he's too vile in both roles, only because you hate him, and that's about it. It should be reaffirmed that he's quite good at making you hate him again through his delivery and manner that is always hectoring, always has this slimy ease about him, but I do kind of wonder if there had been some sort of false misguided sense of fatherly manner there could've been even more with his character. And again it is very specifically a fundamental choice in Arestrup's performance that Cesar's humanity is rarely a sight except for pathetic self-pity and much of the time it is just him being a hideous man. So it isn't a case of him being ever less than good, I can't help but ponder if there was an even greater character possible however. I mean in the ending when he has lost all power, it is satisfying because he's been so despicable, but I can't help but wonder if it could've been even more complex by the end. 

With Bencherif, he is just wonderful in the role of portraying the consistent humanity of Ryad in the early moments of friendship with Malik. He and Rahim have great really just genuinely assured chemistry between each other. There is no sense of anything but the truth in how they speak to one another, which is what makes their interactions so special. And we see this only advance when Ryad gets released early because he has terminal cancer. The actors are so good there doesn't need to be a big thing about it because you just immediately accept this friendship as something pure and true within this brutal world. And the two are great together in their interactions because there is such strict understanding between the two, even as Ryad becomes sort of the reluctant partner as Malik becomes the more ambitious criminal of the two. Bencherif's performance is great as really this shadow of Rahim's, where he personifies every moment of hesitation or reservation. His work reinforces humanity again and again, with every delivery and reaction of his, whether it is fear of some of their criminal tasks or the joys of their successes, Bencherif is the amplification of that. Not by big swings as a performer, but rather this sincere consistency within his work. Bencherif's approach is just to bring this reaffirming life that makes him particularly tragic when we see the eventual wear of his cancer upon him. This is even in the most humane moments such as when Malik has dinner with Ryad's family. The two just are incredible together because it is just a simple friendship, and the two are as men in this criminal underworld as they would be in a happy life. And that is when Bencherif physically shows the sense of his impending demise, there is such a quiet yet heartbreaking reaction on his end, that grows throughout his performance this sense of what is coming for him. His final scene is one of the most moving in the film because Bencherif has just made you come to care for this man, and seeing his final wasting away moments is heartbreaking. And his whole performance is remarkable as he provides a fundamental contrast within the overall world, of a man in the darkness, but still having this innate light that defines him. 

(Arestrup)

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2009

 And the nominees Were Not:

Fred Melamed in A Serious Man

Guillermo Francella in The Secret in Their Eyes

Adel Bencherif in A Prophet

Boman Irani in 3 Idiots

Paul Schneider in Bright Star