Alternate Best Actor 1998: John Hurt in Love and Death on Long Island

John Hurt did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Giles De'Ath in Love and Death on Long Island.

Love and Death on Long Island follows a prestigious widowed British writer as he becomes obsessed with a d-list grade American actor.

The role of Giles De'Ath is an extremely idiosyncratic character to the point that artifice could've immediately realized itself from the outset, as from the outset we begin with a very specific man as a widower who shirks all technology, and lives a most solitary man of time gone by, including the death of his wife. And perhaps with a lesser actor this might've been obvious as a caricature of such a man, but thankfully John Hurt was cast in this part who has a way about getting into tricky parts. A tricky part this is, and Hurt from the outset makes us convinced of Giles, who I think one might've gone too hard on the sort of stiffness of the character, Hurt though brilliantly creates this convincing sense of history in this shyly withdrawn manner. Not shy of people in the traditional sense, but shy of the world that isn't the world of his literary genius that he obviously has been in for some time. So much of this film then becomes Hurt creating the sense of exploration when just by chance he is left out of his flat in the rain and stumbles upon a cinema, going accidentally to dumb teenager romp. Hurt's performance is beyond key because so much of this could come off as weird posturing or absurdly specific, however Hurt's many that creates a very real sense of confusion and discovery, with just the right tinge of comedic value to each that makes it work. The comedy being something that Hurt finds in the earnest way he presents the fish out of water mentality of the proper literary type suddenly watching the equivalent of a Porky's film, which is being both taken aback and in a kind of disbelief. However, things take a bigger turn when while watching the film he comes across one of its stars, Ronnie Bostock (Jason Priestley) and Giles is changed forever.

Again I think the idea of Giles specific shift where his whole world is changed by one glimpse of Ronnie, is fairly absurd as this isn't just a cinematic crush, this is a fundamental destruction of everything that was the closeted and cloistered Giles. Something that could be ridiculous if Hurt was anything less than perfectly convincing, thankfully he is perfectly convincing. Hurt's performance brings this sort of naivety even that works so well within the idea of the man's fascination, as with every moment of finding out more about Ronnie, who really is a run of the mill nothing actor, Hurt  combines this specific fascination, eagerness but also boy like adventurous manner of someone going on some kind of exposition. It would be easy enough to pinpoint it as just lust, but Hurt makes it more complicated effectively of Giles nearly leaving his own state to engage in this, something that is partly this falling in love, but just as much this man breaking those confines in his becoming something quite different. As it isn't just discovering Ronnie but Giles also discovers the whole world of technology, even if in technical pursuit of Ronnie. Hurt is fantastic in managing to be idiosyncratic with this indeed somewhat comedic manner of the amateur being most taken aback by every new bit of it all, but empathetic within that idiosyncrasy by also being so very nuanced in the moments of the very human way one can be excited to change one's world with the right motivation. Hurt gives such depth to every step of it, that while amusing because of how extreme it might seem, he never loses the sight of the man being so earnestly finding life in this new way, even if it is technically just fanboying over one specific actor, however he balances it beautifully to make something tangible if also out there at the same time.

Of course the film doesn't stop with such fascinations as Giles decides to use his literary clout to pursue Ronnie at his home, in Long Island itself, a move that honestly could be portrayed as stalker horror in many films, at the very least very unhealthy obsession in others, however here it is treated as almost charming eccentricity, something that again might not have worked if it had not been for John Hurt. Hurt manages to be both comedic and earnest, comedic by being earnest, by being so properly English and literary even while essentially fanboying his way into Long Island. Hurt has all that dignity in his performance, though showing a real fascination, but doing so again in this very proper way that makes it funny even if it is very serious when it comes to Giles's own feelings as presented by Hurt. Giles goes so far as to purposefully run into Ronnie's girlfriend, a scene that again would be too much in many ways if not Hurt's performance, who manages to even sell the pseudo physical humor of ramming his cart, because he manages to be oh so very sincere as he apologizes to her, despite lying through his teeth, as he will continue to do so in either lies or half-truths as he tries to get closer to Ronnie. Hurt when finally meeting Ronnie, manages to modulate his performance ideally within the subtle glances and moments of reservations of a man holding much in, but finding ways to explore when making suggestions and overtures of his career. Hurt putting in this reasonable delivery of every word of support, as much as it is just glowing fanboying, in stating his love for the young man, while keeping that very specific reserve on the surface that slowly wilts away as spends more time with Ronnie. And here is unfortunately where I think the film doesn't know exactly what to do, so it just kind of does a sudden speed run to an ending where Ronnie's girlfriend wants him to spend less time with Giles, so Giles has to speak one more time to Ronnie. A great scene for Hurt however in the way we see within the scene of Giles's finally letting that veneer go as the conversation goes. As he begins with that reserve, that artificial regalness and intelligence, that segues to such natural desperation in Hurt as he makes more of a plea, and then just genuine vulnerability in Hurt's eyes as he speaks as honestly as possible about his love for the man that he has felt all this time. Unfortunately then the film wraps it up a little too quickly for its own good, leaving a bit on the table. Regardless, Hurt delivers a captivating turn that consistently elevates and really sells the material that could've gone wrong in the hands of a lesser actor. 

Alternate Best Actor 1998: Christopher Lee in Jinnah

Christopher Lee did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Mohammad Ali Jinnah in Jinnah. 

Jinnah depicts the life of the founder of Pakistan. 

Jinnah is two things as a film, one being an attempt to fit a puzzle piece in or perhaps offer a different perspective of the film Gandhi, that depicted Jinnah not exactly as a full-on villain, however a cold patrician man who sews the seeds of dissent to create the partition of India, and where that film fairly quickly leaped to the results of the partition, rather than specifying more details within the reasons and the essential figure within it, this film attempts to rectify that. The other thing it is though is the rectification not as a straight biopic but rather in a Heaven Can Wait, 1943 Heaven Can Wait that is, where a man needs to explain himself to a representative of the afterlife in order to determine whether his actions were righteous or not. I would say as trying to fill in what Gandhi left out, it doesn't entirely work and often seems like "Gandhi at home", particularly due to  "not Ben Kingsley" in that role, than a fully successful film, in part because that framing device feels more like a gimmick rather than something it could've fully explored, since the moments that do play with the idea have potential, albeit never fully explored. Christopher Lee in a way plays two sorts of roles therefore as Jinnah, who much of the film is also played by a younger actor depicting him in his early years, as both Jinnah of the man of history and the man in the afterlife attempting to explain himself to the court of eternity. 

Lee on the former half of the performance unquestionably delivers his usual striking presence particular via his always powerful voice in order to reinforce the command of Jinnah as we see him trying to fight for the Muslim in the next phase of India, for what he believes is the best way, via the creation of Pakistan. Lee is a force to be reckoned with and is captivating to watch every moment we see Jinnah go about addressing a crowd of people, whether Hindu or Muslim, both groups that often question Jinnah's intention the former for his obvious support of the Muslim population of India and his refusal to treat Gandhi as more than a man, and the latter for his non-extremist views on the doctrines of Islam, particularly that of the roles of women. Lee is terrific in just having that quiet passion that does exude in every moment of specifying where there is a real natural controlled intensity, where Lee manages to basically paint the perspective of Jinnah of Gandhi and the perspective of the film. A great moment to illustrate this is when we see an early scene where his sense of humor is question, where before that cold and incisive stare seems to speak of a cold man, but then Lee's casual way of dismissing such charges by being humorous himself is a wonderful bit of bringing more humanity to the role than we saw in Gandhi. Lee is able to articulate a perceived image of Jinnah that some might've obscured and the image of a man of a more gracious charismatic ruler at the same time. 

A flaw in the film though is where Gandhi even struggled to a degree to tell the tale of India's fight for independence in over three hours, this film obviously was never going to do it in less than two hours, even when allowed to just hone in a bit more on Jinnah, but there is so much to tell, one thinks perhaps just telling the partition progression probably would've made the most sense. Instead the film has very brief moments that don't add up to too much where it covers Jinnah's personal relationships with his wife who died young, his willful sister, and even his daughter, who wants to marry out of Islam against his wishes despite essentially doing that himself. In the present phases, Lee's effective in presenting a certain degree of deficiency in the scenes of trying to admonish his daughter or his sister, and presenting a less passionate man as he speaks the specific dogma that leads to these conflicts. In each Lee presents the hardness of this belief, though in these instances creating a greater sense of conflict by speaking the words with a degree of hesitation and weakness that is far from the nature of the man we see the rest of the time. As quick as these moments are, Lee does what he can to bring a bit more depth, as we also see the man as he deals with the very difficult question of partition and the unexpected results of it. One great moment is when Jinnah is offered evidence of an affair between India's expected first prime minister Nehru and the wife of the final viceroy of India. Lee's great in creating the sense of old loyalties and friendship, and this sickening refusal to sink to basic politics with a sense of blunt disgust as he refuses to use the blackmail for his gains. Lee is equally powerful in the final moments of the film where we see Jinnah react to the violence of the partition, where Lee brings in his reactions such a striking sense of the horror and heartbreak in the man as he sees the results of India's independence bluntly in front of him. Lee's very moving in showing the weight of decision on the man as this existential crisis regardless of his beliefs. 

Speaking of existentialism, that crisis is the forefront of the judgment on Jinnah as he attempts to defend his actions to a representative of an afterlife. An idea that fluctuates between a silly gimmick you might find in a bad history channel special and to something far more striking and potent. The gimmick moments are of the direct conversations with his guide that feel too simplistic at times and too straightforward as though Jinnah is explaining his performance review. Regardless, Lee gives as much gravity as he can to these scenes by presenting a man still steadfast in his belief he did the right thing, and elevates the concepts as much as he can, bringing that understated passion to every word of his defense. Equally effective is even his wistful commentary on the relationship with his wife, where Lee brings that haunted sense of reflection to a man who managed to live on past the relationship but never emotionally removed himself from it. The most striking moments though are those of interaction with the past, such as when older Jinnah speaks to his younger self to promote the concept of non-violence, where Lee is moving in being more supernatural himself in showing the convictions of a man who can now look at the past rather than life in it as the present. We also have an all too brief scene where Jinnah becomes a prosecutor himself of the British viceroy on his failure to stop the partition violence, which seems like perhaps where the film should've started as it seems like a lot of potential if it had been set up as a trial where Jinnah both defends himself and lays blame on others, however this is swiftly rushed through. Although to Lee's credit he does deliver on the sheer power of his performance and brings the force of a man seemingly fighting with more than just his own experience but the whole of history. That is however essentially the entirety of Lee's performance, which is elevating what he has but can only do so much due to the limits of the film.

Alternate Best Actor 1998: Han Suk-kyu in Christmas in August

Han Suk-kyu did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Jung-won in Christmas in August.
 

Christmas in August depicts, in part, the potential romance between a parking agent and the man who runs a photo shop near her route.

Han Suk-kyu plays the man who runs the photo shop and part of this film is working within his state as his job. A performance that reminded more than a little bit of Timothy Spall in Secrets & Lies, who also portrayed a photographer who is good at his job and exudes a pleasant professional demeanor. Han's performance is this presence in part as he makes his Jung-woo likable though certainly very specific in his manner. Han finds the right balance in terms of creating this state of the man while also in a way being a facade of sorts, as obviously someone who is working their job isn't being entirely themselves, if successful, as they must please their customers. However what Han though brings in this performance is the frequent contentment in his manner in his shop that creates an innate affability. Han's performance finds the right balance to express both the state of Jung-won as he is an appealing presence, that is both the man being the best photographer he can be, while also just in part being a strong aspect of himself. An expression where Han brings this innate sort of quiet passion to the character as he prepares any photograph or takes a potential order. There's this calm about him but also this sense of intelligence in the man as he speaks his additional questions to customers to get the best result possible for them.
 

The theoretical shake up in the film comes from the woman who shakes up his world in Da-rim, who takes time away from giving parking tickets to relax within his shop. This is the first challenge to his specific environment, though initially we Jung-won reacts to her as any customer does. Han is very good in bringing this quiet sense of the attraction to her as not something of an overplay but just a marginal increase in brightness to the already affable way Jung-won presents himself. Her challenge to him though is far more complicated than just being a potential switch up from his specific life already as she asks him questions about his age and his marital status, both which Han initially lies about. A key moment in a way because Han's delivery isn't exactly as the dodge you might think it is, rather he makes it the continuation of the proper customer servicer who rather than care about his own potential concerns of the relationship, gives the answers that are the simplest ways to discourage future questions from being asked that would disrupt this world. When Da-rim very easily breaks them down as obvious lies, though in her own affable way even if quite blunt in her way, Han's wonderful in not showing any defensiveness rather this easy acceptance of her insight, with an easy smile as though the man is accepting she does see him more clearly beyond sort of the presentation.
 

Han's performance is very much defined by the differences we see in the man depending on where we interact with him as we see the man away from the shop, he is a different person, not completely but fundamentally. Han still has that shy affable demeanor as his core as we see him with his father and sister, we still the man we see in the shop, however there's a greater sense of this innate sadness within the man's shy demeanor. He's a bit more open, if still reserved, and Han rather nicely balances this aspect to show a man who still hides his loneliness though hides it less. Things take a turn for the worse, and the melodramatic when Jung-won also discovers he has a terminal illness to go along with his lonely state. And while we once again see the man try to hide it within himself though in this instance it is a bit harder, as we see when he is with his one friend he shares this information with. Han is quite powerful in the man's change in manner, because Han earns the sudden burst of a kind of rage in the typically so affable man. As Han presents it with this painful sense of the desperation fitting to the man who now sees his life will be far shorter than he expected, and is quite moving in portraying that brief loss of the man's usual calm. Something that he returns to after this point, however Han is terrific by showing the man going back to close to be the affable shy man, but not being only that as the sense of that impending fate is within his eyes, even if it isn't overt. 

Theoretically this is where the film is within the very specific melodrama of the romance being thwarted by a terminal disease, although the real trick to all of it is how well done it is, not the fact that it is as such. And in this sense the film works within it, which is of Han separating himself slowly, while still embracing what he can, including briefly more overtly taking part in the romance. Where the chemistry works is not in some intense way, but rather just the pleasant, normalcy of it on their date that you see the future of it in the moment, even as Jung-wong can never be part of the future. And Han's performance works in creating this simple affable embrace of the life he has left, though it is this way of basically preparing others for his death more often than not. Han delivers this convincing calm to the character that is very moving in the way Han always observes in any scene with really two ideas. One being this appreciation of the moments he does have, but subtly within his work is this powerful somberness of the brief time he will have with this experience. The climactic moment of this, being a direct reference to Ikiru, and quite a potent reference as such, as we see Han prepare to take his own photograph. Han's work is incredible in the scene because you see how much the man is going through as he makes the preparations the tragedy flowing through him, not in big weeps but actually in the quietly sad though confident manner he goes about, before the picture, being essentially one last simple smile to please others as the characters as Jung-won always had done. 

Alternate Best Actor 1998: Shah Rukh Khan in Dil Se...

Shah Rukh Khan did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Amarkant "Amar" Varma in Dil Se...
 

Dil Se... was a bit surprising about a radio journalist becoming infatuated with a woman who just might be a terrorist.
 

Returning to Shah Rukh Khan, one of the most well known stars of current day Bollywood, in yet another romantic leading man turn though considerably different from his work in 94. As per usual, especially with requests, I tend to go in blind to a film, so it is safe to say I really was in for more than a few twists with this film. As the opening was one that seemed like it was going to be one thing, as we see Khan with an overeager, though effectively portrayed as such, demeanor as he happens upon a beautiful woman we will come to know as Moina (Manisha Koirala), who seems fearful yet is blunt in her rejection of him, which Khan presents as his Amar as mostly taking in stride but most certainly more than a little impacted by the seeming intensity of the interaction. Khan manages to set up his hopeless romantic with enough of a charm if also the sense the man perhaps goes a bit too head first into such notions. Khan I find just hits the right balance between the sides of the character to find a likeability within the character while still indeed being slightly overbearing but not going too far to become too overbearing for us to empathize with as we get started with this very atypical romance. 

The atypical romance that has its first wrinkle as we follow Amar later on as he is working as the radio host, where Khan has a strong presence as the man with the passion to attempt to find his goal, which ends up being a combination between the romantic and surprisingly the political as he goes about interviewing an extremist militant group and runs into Moina again, who once again does her best to push him away despite his persistence. And while one can argue he's maybe a little much in his continued pursuit, it speaks to the charisma of Khan that he brings you along with this regardless, because there is this certain manner of honesty within his performance that helps ease it away a bit. It perhaps helps even more that he quickly is beaten for his interest by two random men who claim relation to Moina but rather suggest that she and the men may be tied to the terrorist group. The real challenge of Khan's performance begins to reveal itself within this kind of whiplash of elements between an unlikely love story and a very dramatic story of one falling into extremists. Particularly tricky because the shifts aren't in acts really, but rather in the first half the film rather quickly shifts between romantic overtures and some very serious ideas regarding Moina's extremists views and what fueled them. 

Khan to his credit is able to maneuver this effectively within his performance that manages to create cohesion by always presenting Amar with the defining trait of his passionate demeanor no matter what the situation may be in a given circumstance. With Khan managing to find some kind of connection in showing the nature of the man taking kind of the love above else approach that manages to go from overbearing to overwhelming in a way that does work. Where Khan manages to show the way his intense passion carries him through and where his performance consistently emphasizes the sincere concern he has for Moina as much as he is intrigued by her. The swing then, as quick as it is, too quick I'd say, Moina admits her own affection for him openly though she is constantly burdened by her state of existence, though doesn't feel phony by the way Khan just so much exudes the intense interest in every aspect of her and does feel so sincere as the man unquestionably in love. And I think what works in contrast to this is Khan's chemistry with sort of the simpler alternative love interest of another young woman, Preeti (Preity Zinta), where the two do also have chemistry. The chemistry though is of an easy warmth between the two, that is low key but affectionate, however distinctly different from the fraught and intense chemistry we see between Khan and Koirala. 

And to think I knew where the film was going would be wrong, as Moina doesn't escape her extremists beliefs and instead ingratiates herself within Amar's world as an agent in her group. Something Amar works on trying to break her from, which from Khan is a great scene where he has her listen to her spoken dreams of a life together, where Khan's performance is wonderful by the amount of direct empathy you see in his eyes in trying to purge her from her hate. When though she counters with her very real trauma at the hands of the government soldiers years ago. Khan is also great because he manages to show the sense of understanding the man has for her very real pain, but with this calm yet potent insistence that no matter the past her violent past is not what will help the world. But again to turn again as the film goes even more towards full thriller, where when Moina is going to go forward as a suicide bomber and Amar ends up needing to face both the terrorists and the police to face her. Khan is terrific though in not becoming the action hero suddenly, even if he does action hero things, as he goes through the emotional and physical wringer in his quest though with the sense of his passionate love behind it all. Khan is moving in showing the physical degradation of it all though in his eyes still the ever potent determination that the man refuses to give up and allow Moina to become the killer. Leading to a climax I definitely didn't see coming, but regardless made powerful by Khan's performance where he shows the man who is at the end of his rope in some ways in the level of emotional desperation he brings, the physical  exhaustion behind it all, but still this purity of the man heart that defines him....there's all song and dance scenes that are purposefully her completely separate of a piece though related as fantasies though given the subject matter are particularly extreme in their contrast. So Khan's performance in these scenes is very different, but hey certainly brings a very different energy effectively, if it isn't exactly as a singular piece with the right of the film.