Alternate Best Actor 2021: Results

10. Peter Dinklage in Cyrano - Dinklage delivers a properly impassioned and witty Cyrano, with the right nuance in his vulnerabilities though there are limitations within the film's presentation of the material.

 

Best Scene: Confrontation with Christian.

9. Nicolas Cage in Pig - Although I wish the film let him dive deeper, Cage gives a consistently captivating and quietly emotional portrayal of a recluse who is more than meets the eye.

 

Best Scene: Restaurant. 

8. Joaquin Phoenix in C'Mon C'Mon - Phoenix gives wonderful show of his range in his quietly human and warm portrayal of an average guy's connection with his nephew.

Best Scene: It's okay.

7. Amir Jadidi in A Hero - Jadidi gives a powerfully layered performance of a man who is endearing yet his smile hides a troubled soul.

 

Best Scene: Asking for the video to be deleted.

6. Caleb Landry Jones in Nitram - Jones gives a powerfully disturbing performance as a man who just does not relate to humanity the way most do.

 

Best Scene: "Hear to Heart" with his mom.

5. Dev Patel in The Green Knight - Patel gives a grounding performance for this fantasy, but also delivers so much more in his emotional and spiritual journey as Gawain.

 

Best Scene: The vision. 

4. Jason Isaacs in Mass - Isaacs gives a deeply powerful portrayal of a man's anger and sadness when coming to terms with his grief

 

Best Scene: Describing the shooting.

3. Simon Rex in Red Rocket - Rex gives an uncompromising yet wholly charismatic portrayal of a man who is intent on getting out of his hole by digging himself deeper into it. 

 

Best Scene: Hiding during the arrest.

2. Hidetoshi Nishijima in Drive My Car - Nishijima gives a deeply powerful and nuanced portrayal of man slowly coming to terms with his complex grief.

 

Best Scene: The shattered house. 

1. Bradley Cooper in Nightmare Alley - Good prediction Luke. Cooper gives an absolutely brilliant performance as the great Stanton, finding such variety in his grifts, such nuance in his self-loathing, and such power in his journey of a descent into a personal hell. I had to give Cooper the win here, he just had the biggest impact on me of any performance emotionally, while also being just so technically accomplished. If I didn't it would only be because I already gave him the win in supporting for the funniest performance of the year in Licorice Pizza. He left the biggest impact on me in both a leading and supporting turn, though in very different ways, but I can't deny that impact in either example. The funny thing is, frankly I probably was less positive on Cooper as an actor than many, though I certainly thought he was good actor. He definitely wasn't someone I looked upon as being "overdue" for me, so this purely based on the performances. And in this year, with these two performances, he has forced a new perspective upon me, as he's achieved greatness both dramatically and comedically.

 

Best Scene: "I was born for it".

Overall Ranking:

1. Bradley Cooper in Nightmare Alley
2. Benedict Cumberbatch in The Power of the Dog
3. Hidetoshi Nishijima in Drive My Car
4. Denzel Washington in The Tragedy of Macbeth
5. Simon Rex in Red Rocket
6. Jason Isaacs in Mass
7. Dev Patel in The Green Knight
   
8. Caleb Landry Jones in Nitram
9. LaKeith Stanfield in Judas and the Black Messiah
10. Cooper Hoffman in Licorice Pizza
11. Reed Birney in Mass
12. Daniel Kaluuya in Judas and the Black Messiah
13. Amir Jadidi in A Hero
14. Bo Burnham in Inside
    
15. Joaquin Phoenix in C'Mon C'Mon - 5
16. Nicolas Cage in Pig
17. Adarsh Gourav in The White Tiger
    
18. Andrew Garfield in Tick Tick...Boom
19. Peter Dinkalge in Cyrano  
20. Tim Blake Nelson in Old Henry
    
21. James Norton in Nowhere Special
    
22. Tahar Rahim in The Mauritanian 
    
23. Stephen Graham in Boiling Point 
24. Mahershala Ali in Swan Song
    
25. Frankie Faison in The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain
26. Udo Kier in Swan Song
    
27. Tom Holland in Spider-Man: No Way Home
28. Michael Greyeyes in Wild Indian
    
29. Timothee Chalamet in Dune 
30. Woody Norman in C'Mon C'Mon 
31. Riz Ahmed in The Encounter 
32. Benedict Cumberbatch in The Electrical Life of Louis Wain - 4.5
33. Vincent Lindon in Titane  
34. Dan Stevens in I'm Your Man
35. Cillian Murphy in A Quiet Place Part 2
36. Yuriy Borisov in Compartment No. 6
    
37. Luke Kirby in No Man of God
    
38. Alex Wolff in Pig
    
39. Stanley Tucci in Supernova
    
40. Colin Firth in Supernova
41. Jim Broadbent in The Duke
    
42. Benedict Cumberbatch in The Courier
43. George MacKay in Wolf 
44. Frank Grillo in Boss Level
    
45. Adam Driver in The Last Duel
    
46. Daniel Craig in No Time to Die
    
47. Adam Driver in Annette 
48. Matt Damon in The Last Duel
    
49. Clint Eastwood in Cry Macho
    
50. Tom Holland in Cherry
51. Adam Driver in House of Gucci
52. Ralph Fiennes in The Dig 
53. Idris Elba in The Suicide Squad
    
54. Will Smith in King Richard 
55. Anthony Ramos in In the Heights 
56. Alessandro Nivola in The Many Saints of Newark
57. Justin Chon in Blue Bayou
    
58. Bob Odenkirk in Nobody 
59. Kanji Tsuda in Onoda: 10,000 Nights in the Jungle
    
60. Filippo Scotti in The Hand of God - 4 
61. Jonathan Majors in The Harder They Fall
62. Frank Grillo in Copshop
    
63. Yahya Abdul-Mateen II in Candyman
64. Gerard Butler in Copshop
65. Tom Hardy in Venom: Let There Be Carnage
    
66. Hugh Jackman in Reminiscence  
67. Tim Roth in Bergman Island
    
68. Dave Bautista in Army of the Dead - 3.5
69. Jason Statham in Wrath of Man
    
70. Benicio Del Toro in No Sudden Move
    
71. Don Cheadle in No Sudden Move
    
72. Jude Hill in Belfast 
73. Hilmir Snær Guðnason in Lamb
    
74. Oscar Isaac in The Card Counter 
    
75. Leonardo DiCaprio in Don't Look Up
76. Will Brill in Test Pattern
77. Matt Damon in Stillwater
    
78. Jack Dylan Grazer in Luca
79. Jacob Tremblay in Luca
    
80. Simu Liu in Shang-chi and the Legend of the 10 Rings
81. Denzel Washington in The Little Things
82. Trevante Rhodes in The United States Vs. Billie Holiday
83. Lucas Hedges in French Exit
    
84. Ansel Elgort in West Side Story
85. Elijah Wood in No Man Of God - 3 
86. Dwayne Johnson in Jungle Cruise
    
87. Eddie Murphy in Coming 2 America  
88. Jake Gyllenhaal in The Guilty 
89. Ed Helms in Together Together
    
90. Aidan Gillen in Those Who Wish Me Dead - 2.5
    
91. Javier Bardem in Being the Ricardos 
92. John David Washington in Malcolm & Marie 
    
93. Jermaine Fowler in Coming 2 America 
94. Keanu Reeves in The Matrix Resurrections 
95. Ryan Reynolds in Free Guy - 2
96. Rami Malek in The Little Things 
97. LeBron James in Space Jam: A New Legacy
    
98. Lewis Tan in Mortal Kombat - 1.5 
99. Daniel Ranieri in The Tender Bar
    
100. Tye Sheridan in The Tender Bar - 1
     
101. Ben Platt in Dear Evan Hansen - Wiseaus
     

Next: 1997 Lead (though I won't be starting until after the Oscars.)

Alternate Best Actor 2021: Dev Patel in The Green Knight

Dev Patel did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Gawain in The Green Knight.

The Green Knight is an entrancing telling of the story of the Arthurian legend about Sir Gawain and The Green Knight. 

Let me tell you a tale of a young thespian, by the name of Dev Patel. A performer who did not find his strength until tempering the overacting of childhood to find success when removing any sense of adolescence. Fitting then to this tale of a knight, or at least a wannabe knight, in Gawain. Gawain who we first glimpse within the film in a house of ill-repute, spending time with the peasant woman Essel (Alicia Vikander). Patel's performance portrays a man with contentment in his wayward state. Patel brings an eager smile on his face as he explores through this place, barely making an excuse to his mother for his state when returning home. Patel suggests the man enjoying the baser pleasures of lust, and doing so with the ease of a younger man without responsibility, or at least sheds the notions of such things. An eager smile that speaks to the love of these vices and shirking what would be seen as the virtues needed for the ideal of a knight. The realization of this state truly comes upon Patel's expression when hearing of entering the audience of the King (Sean Harris), a great man, whose virtues seem obvious as does his respectable state. Where Patel showed Gawain walk through the halls of the low house with an eager smile, his expression is filled with only trepidation as he enters the great holdfast of Camelot. 

In the place of the King, who is most inviting to Gawain and supportive of a man who isn't quite yet a Knight, Patel's performance naturally becomes much more modest and weak. He looks into the hall of the great warriors and true knights with a sense of fear but more so unworthiness. Even the way Patel sits as Gawain is filled with an uncertain weakness and timidness in the corner of the room, unsure of himself and particularly unsure of why he belongs in such a place. When asked to regale a tale of himself, Patel speaks Gawain's words as this burden of failure to act and speaks without the confidence, since he has no great tales to tell. The opportunity for Gawain seems to reveal itself as on this Christmas feast a Green Knight (Ralph Ineson) arrives with a most unorthodox request, a game, a game that requires one warrior strike him with only the requirement that said warrior returns to allow the Knight to give him the same strike that he received the following year. Patel depicts with bated breath an eagerness in Gawain to prove his measure by taking on the Knight's game. The King offers Gawain his own sword, with a magnificent reaction from Patel that reveals the sheer weight this offering means to the young man, the weight of it as he holds it, and looks into the blade with awe. 

After this moment of pause Patel's performance is that of a performance, the performance being Gawain becoming the knight suddenly, at least a knight as Gawain would imagine one in his head. Patel brings a notable bluster, even the way he rushes over to the knight is with all the aggression of a man wishing to prove his measure in every breath. In this aggression, there is a kind of fear in Patel's eyes, the anger in a way the attempt at hiding the fear that creates an unusual weakness even as Gawain is doing everything to project strength at the moment. Patel barks out the orders to the Knight to defend himself with a hurried speech, suggesting confusion at the very nature of the Knight's apparent ease in facing death Patel pushed this bluster and boasting immediately as he grasped his sword with all his might and charged towards the Knight. Patel is not being the hero, but rather making the image that Gawain has of the hero. The way he speaks his orders is with false bravado, he dashes as the image of the Knight and the whole attempt at courage comes off as a false act. Patel emphasizes this in the fear within his eyes when after decapitating the knight, the knight rises, still alive, demanding that Gawain meet in a year's time for the same blow. 

After a year's time, we find Gawain hasn't at all improved, still spending his time in houses of ill-repute. Patel shows the man barely able to keep his head up as the drunken fool ready for a meaningless fight, but not at all prepared to meet the Knight once again. Patel shows a man without growth, a man with a cowardly down turned head when the king pays him a visit and reminds him that he must fulfill his duty by meeting the knight as agreed. And it is here where the quest begins as Gawain goes out to meet the knight and into the world of much danger. Patel having established successfully a striking sense of the man Gawain is. A man who wishes to be a knight, yet leads a life of little meaning and even less responsibility. A coward truly, though with just the hints of some ambition to be more than this. Patel embodying the arrested development of a man. He's now older, but there is no true growth we see in his intention as a person. We see this even as we see his final conversation with his apparent love in Essel where Patel speaks with such uncertainty in this so call pledge of his affections for him. Patel showing a man who is yet to find his confidence or really his strength despite his youth. A man who thought he may have it, even attempted to show it in taking on the green knight, yet stays nothing but a fool who would wish he could live up to the standard the king and the green knight have set upon him. 

The quest begins and here we have what is a dramatic shift in terms of the challenge behind Patel's performance, though he wholly effectively established where it was that Gawain begins before his quest. The challenge is I feel of any film that one might categorize as a "director's film" which is not to be swallowed up by the visuals and really the journey itself, to stand as a part of it, while still captivating within in. To be forgotten within the narrative here seems possible as the film becomes Gawain coming across various unusual sights (giants, talking foxes, ghostly maidens, elvish thieves), each fascinating in their own strange ways and in the ways they offer some help, challenge or hindrance to Gawain. Patel delivers a fantastic performance here by not getting lost within the captivating imagery but being essential in not only grounding them but making them part of the  journey for Gawain. Patel's reactions are tremendous throughout in he is able to portray the sense of discovery, astonishment, confusion or fear, with such conviction. He brings you into every fantastical experience with his portrayal of Gawain seeing it as all essential truths. What Patel expresses in every sight is fundamentally real in his performance and crafts a real sense of the journey through his performance that is as captivating as the sights, by making the sights ever so tangible. 

Within Patel grounding the fantastical he also portrays the changes and consistencies of Gawain. The intensity of his fear when seeing a vision of his dead corpse before finding the strength to escape his binding after being left by thieves. His curious fear when asked to find Winifred's head, by Winifred herself, and the sympathetic calm that Patel portrays when finding her missing member. When this perhaps is most alive when he comes across the house of a lord (Joel Edgerton) and his enigmatic lady (Vikander again). Two individuals who seem to know far more than any are fully letting on as they seem to wish to seduce Gawain and torment him in equal measure. Often both speaking with much wisdom towards his quest, and Patel being a perfect straight man throughout this sequence. His work suggesting the sense of confusion and intrigue in equal measure. The lust of moments, but also the fear as well. Showing the state of in-between and uncertainty they still leave him in, even as he has come so far. Patel though shows the man perhaps not quite ready for his final challenge, which is to meet the Green Knight once again. Before he goes, a talking fox warns him of the deadly nature of the meeting, as foxes so often do, and Patel's grounded reaction is great in showing just the pent frustrations and in the moment of the man moving forward not through courage rather just a near mania of being done with all he's been through. 

 

I fear this performance was not meant for greatness, actually I lie I already think this is a great performance regardless as a "in the moment of a journey" style turn, but I couldn't resist the line. However where the greatest achievement is found in the final minutes of the film comes when Gawain decides to not allow the Knight to return the strike and returns home as the coward. This is a silent sequence built upon visuals and Patel's performance. He is outstanding in every step showing the life of the coward. As we see him giving into lust in his return taking satisfaction and a child from Essel but leaving her alone as a coward would. Patel portraying with conviction the lack of conviction in Gawain as he is knighted and even becomes king himself. Continuing as a man passing through the moments of life with this underlying burden of failure and weakness of a man unfulfilled. We see him take another wife, and lose his first son in battle. Patel in just a moment establishing the palatable sense of relationship with his son in a matter of seconds and the failure of the father to protect his son, in his painful reaction of seeing his son dying and the father defeated in his ability to do nothing to save his son. It is incredible as Patel brings such genuine gravity in this death despite the fact that we've experienced this entire episode in what is a moment. We see him become an unpopular ruler where he seems weighed down by his very crown in Patel's performance, a man burdened by any responsibility and just the craven fool looking over his people with dejection as they look upon him with scorn. Patel expressing the inability of a man to ever be a man as he stares off waiting in his keep to be taken by an enemy no doubt to his death. It isn't with fear in Patel's final expression but rather this depressing acceptance of a life misused and defined by hollow cowardice. We snap back though to see this was Gawain experiencing a vision of his life if he chose the way of the coward eternally. We now see him facing the Green Knight and willingly giving himself up to whatever his fate would be. Patel doesn't show the fear is gone, rather he powerfully portrays the moment of thinking through the act, finding the courage and willfully speaking that he is ready, with Patel finally showing a man willing to be brave and truly become a knight. And so ends this chapter in our tale of one Dev Patel. A thespian who proved his measure through his nuanced and emotional portrait of a knight finding his strength not through escaping death but rather by facing it. 

Alternate Best Actor 2021

And the Nominees Were Not:

Bradley Cooper in Nightmare Alley

 

Nicolas Cage in Pig

 

Joaquin Phoenix in C'Mon C'Mon 

 

Amir Jadidi in A Hero

 

Dev Patel in The Green Knight 

Predict those five, these fives, or both: 

Hidetoshi Nishijima in Drive My Car

Jason Isaacs in Mass

Simon Rex in Red Rocket

Peter Dinklage in Cyrano

Caleb Landry Jones in Nitram

Alternate Best Actor 2020: Results

5. Dev Patel in The Personal History of David Copperfield - Patel meets the challenge of making an often bland protagonist engaging, and delivers an absolutely winning turn.

Best Scene: Any imitation.

4. Kingsley Ben-Adir in One Night In Miami - Ben-Adir gives a remarkable portrayal of Malcolm X that delivers the specific power of the man, but also wonderfully humanizing him. 

Best Scene: Reaction to "Change Gonna Come".

3. Mark Rylance in Waiting For the Barbarians - Rylance brings his unique abilities as a performer once again, making such a striking impression of quiet and earnest humanity in a world of cruelty.

Best Scene: Final confrontation with the Colonel and his dog.

2. Mads Mikkelsen in Another Round - Mikkelsen gives a brilliant performance this in so powerful in showing the unlikely progression of a man to finding his joy of life again, through drink, but eventually through self-discovery and moderation.

Best Scene: The Dance.

1. Delroy Lindo in Da 5 Bloods - Good prediction Michael McCarthy. As much as I adore Mikkelsen and greatly prefer his film, I can't deny the achievement of Delroy Lindo here. His work simply is stunning from the first minute in creating such a complex and powerful portrayal of a man struggling to face his demons after so many years. Although even more notable is the fact that he isn't even my win, which speaks to the strength of this year (any year is amazing when Steven Yeun in Minari can't make it into a top five), and the strength of my winner, who I think gives one of the greatest performances ever given (a line delivering the same opinion was removed from my original Hopkins review for the sake of suspense).

Best Scene: Mad in the jungle.

Overall Ranking:

1. Anthony Hopkins in The Father
2. Delroy Lindo in Da 5 Bloods
3. Mads Mikkelsen in Another Round
4. Riz Ahmed in Sound of Metal
5. Chadwick Boseman in Ma Rainey's Black Bottom
6. Steven Yeun in Minari
7. Hugh Jackman in Bad Education
8. Mark Rylance in Waiting for the Barbarians
9. Gary Oldman in Mank - 5
   
10. Byung-hun Lee in The Man Standing Next 
11. Kingsley Ben-Adir in One Night in Miami
12. Dev Patel in The Personal History of David Copperfield 
13. Sope Dirisu in His House
    
14. George MacKay in True History of the Kelly Gang
    
15. Jesse Plemons in I'm Thinking of Ending Things 
16. Cosmo Jarvis in Calm With Horses
17. Leslie Odom Jr. in One Night in Miami
    
18. John Boyega in Red, White and Blue 
19. Shaun Parkes in Mangrove - 4.5
20. Adam Brody in The Kid Detective
    
21. Ibrahima Gueye in The Life Ahead
22. Jamie Foxx in Soul
23. Andy Samberg in Palm Springs
    
24. Charles Dance in Fanny Lye Deliver'd 
25. Orion Lee in First Cow
    
26. John Magaro in First Cow
    
27. Sacha Baron Cohen in Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
28. Rob Morgan in Bull
    
29. Lance Henriksen in Falling
30. Franz Rogowski in Undine
    
31. Tom Holland in The Devil All the Time
    
32. Clarke Peters in Da 5 Bloods 
33. Jude Law in The Nest 
34. Kevin Costner in Let Him Go
    
35. Bill Murray in On The Rocks 
36. Tom Hanks in News of the World
37. Dylan O'Brien in Love and Monsters
38. Nicolas Cage in Color Out of Space
    
39. Ben Affleck in The Way Back 
40. Christopher Abbott in Possessor
    
41. Sheyi Cole in Alex Wheatle
42. Alan Kim in Minari - 4
    
43. Alex Winter in Bill and Ted Face the Music
44. Keanu Reeves in Bill and Ted Face the Music
45. Welket Bungue in Berlin Alexanderplatz
    
46. Michael Angelo Covino in The Climb
    
47. John David Washington in Tenet
48. Toby Wallace in Babyteeth 
49. George Clooney in Midnight Sky 
50. Jesse Eisenberg in Resistance
    
51. Chris Pratt in Onward
52. Tom Holland in Onward 
53. Kenyah Sandy in Education
    
54. Lucas Jaye in Driveways 
55. Ethan Hawke in Tesla 
56. Claes Bang in The Burnt Orange Heresy
    
57. Tom Hanks in Greyhound 
58. Shia LaBeouf in Pieces of a Woman 
59. Ivan Trojan in Charlatan - 3.5
60. Kyle Marvin in The Climb
61. Nicholas Hoult in The Banker
62. Anthony Mackie in The Banker
63. Samuel L. Jackson in The Banker
    
64. Juan Daniel Garcia Treviño in I'm No Longer Here
    
65. Rouhollah Zamani in Sun Children
    
66. Nnamdi Asomugha in Sylvie's Love
    
67. Bakary Koné in Night of the Kings
    
68. Pete Davidson in The King of Staten Island 
69. Sam Rockwell in The One and Only Ivan 
70. Daniel Radcliffe in Escape From Pretoria
    
71. Chris Hemsworth in Extraction
72. Viggo Mortensen in Falling 
73. Will Smith in Bad Boys For Life - 3
74. Daniel Webber in Escape from Pretoria
75. Vin Diesel in Bloodshot
    
76. Freddie Fox in Fanny Lye Deliver'd
    
77. Paul Bettany in Uncle Frank
78. Matthew McConaughey in The Gentlemen
79. Steve Carell in Irresistible 
80. Jim Parsons in The Boys in the Band
81. Henry Golding in Monsoon 
82. Sebastian Stan in The Last Full Measure
83. Jahzir Kadeem Bruno in The Witches
    
84. Ben Schwartz in Sonic The Hedgehog - 2.5
85. James Marsden in Sonic The Hedgehog  
86. Chris Rock in The Witches
87. Bryan Cranston in The One and Only Ivan
    
88. Tom Hardy in Capone 
    
89. Martin Lawrence in Bad Boys For Life - 2
90. Armie Hammer in Rebecca - 1.5 
91. James Corden in The Prom
    
92. Gabriel Basso in Hillbilly Elegy 
    
93. Owen Asztalos in Hillbilly Elegy - 1
    

Next Year: 2020 alternate supporting

Alternate Best Actor 2020: Dev Patel in The Personal History of David Copperfield

Dev Patel did not receive an Oscar nomination, despite being nominated for a Golden Globe, for portraying the titular character of The Personal History of David Copperfield. 

The Personal History of David Copperfield is a wonderful Dickens adaptation of one of his landmark novels, naturally about the coming of age of a young Englishman.

I must say I always appreciate when an actor turns a corner. Dev Patel has become one such actor. I will say I wasn't particularly impressed for the early portion of his career, where I thought he was an over accentuating actor, to say the least, but it seems with perhaps slightly aging up, and finding a bit more measure in his performances, he's maybe turned that corner. I will say actually that Dev Patel is tasked with a tough challenge in itself which is playing the non-Ebenezer Scrooge, Dickens protagonist who are typically the least interesting characters filled with works of various vibrant characters. Patel here really is surprising, because this isn't even entirely unlike earlier Patel characters, that as the very enthusiastic protagonist, however, here he moderates his work beautifully. This as he has a genuine charisma here that he balances well this in creating the downtrodden but positively inclined David Copperfield, aka the typical Dickens protagonist. Patel is able to capture the essential balance for this kind of role to be everything the role needs to be while also being interesting himself. This as we see early on we get this combination within Patel's work, which is between honest strife but also equally earnest enthusiasm. This in a scene of the adult David lashing out at his cold stepfather, Patel manages to just bluntly and effectively hit the cathartic moment of being fed up with his cruelty, while modulating it just enough that he doesn't come off as too much either. 

There's a real energy here, that again wasn't always my favorite Patel thing before, yet here he uses it so well in making David an entertaining and engaging protagonist. It has to be said Patel just wields it so well and is able to emphasize the good nature of the character that simply feels just right, never too much. I love the moments of as we see him meet up with his extended family including his Aunt (Tilda Swinton) and her cousin Mr. Dick (Hugh Laurie). The enthusiasm Patel brings is truly catching as his smiles just show a young man with only the best intentions as he tries to fend off donkeys or tries to alleviate Mr. Dick's very unusual habit of having his head filled with the thoughts of the late King Charles. Patel is wholly endearing in presenting this really heroic manner in a way that never feels forced or contrived. It rather creates so much of the fun in so many of these moments by making the nature of the man feel so honest. Patel adding to that by how energetic he is once again, and just never really leaves any scene to be ruined. I think the important part here, and why I like Patel so much more here than his earlier eager turns, is he knows when to act out and to be quiet honestly. In his reactions he nicely tempers himself, and brings the right kind of sense of consideration to David carefully taking in the thoughts of others, just as he also takes his personal actions now and again. He makes the Dickens hero work properly as his own man as this kind of facilitator and friend to the eccentrics. 

I think that in itself could only go so far perhaps but Patel nicely reacts within the film and never is truly overshadowed as the usual Dickens protagonist is. This is where it is really quite splendid to see the sense of fun Patel brings to the role as David tries to find his place. The little moments he brings of David imitating the other characters, which Patel excels with every time and grants a bit of a riff to the role that makes him a bit more active in a rather special way. It allows for another kind of angle within his performance that keeps David consistently interesting, and a bit less of a wallflower type so to speak. With this though we also have his journey where he's good in showing the way David is pulled in some wrong directions within the peer pressure of snobs. Patel is good in managing within his reactions to show the frustrations in this. The moments of allowing himself to fall into error, even if he creates still the right shades of sympathy still. This in very much earning lashing out towards the particularly miserable snobs, particularly the obnoxious James Steerforth (perhaps one of the punchable characters of all time) or just the miserable Uriah Heep (Ben Whishaw). Patel's work carries the film very much being part of every scenario. This with that enthusiasm but as much that sort of very specific anger. I especially love the exact delivery of Patel as he quietly yet intensely threatens the creepy Heep after the latter makes some abhorrent suggestions. 

Patel makes the most out of each and every challenge that is of David, which is to go through a lot, with an utmost consistency. Naturally the Dickens protagonist needs to go through a few things. The naturally dueling romantic possibilities. The first in the flighty Dora Spenlow, where Patel brings a genuine warmth though with a specific kind of awkwardness as the two get along yet just don't quite seem to fit. This against his moments with Agnes Wickfield, where is he is the proper comedic fool of creating a natural chemistry while also a proper foolish lack of awareness. This sweetly building their eventual romance, albeit delayed, in their interactions that are wonderfully almost, yet not quite there. The Dickens protagonist must equally go through a combination of advancement while also being a bit downtrodden still. Patel as this active narrating protagonist is just always an endearing one to follow through his journeys. This in that ever infectious energy that he manages to keep consistent throughout the film. And of course you have the Dickens "action" hero which usually consists of running to get someone from somewhere, and confront a corrupt man with some kind of truth. Patel earning these climaxes in showing the boy coming to his own confidence and building to the man now actualized. It seems that Patel has turned a leaf here, as he's just on here, for a lack of a better description. He enlivens every moment of the film all the more, and makes his Copperfield one worth rooting for.

Alternate Best Actor 2020

And the Nominees Were Not:

Mads Mikkelsen in Another Round

 

Kingsley Ben-Adir in One Night in Miami

 

Mark Rylance in Waiting for the Barbarians

 

Dev Patel in The Personal History of David Copperfield

 

Delroy Lindo in Da Five Bloods

Best Supporting Actor 2016: Results

5. Michael Shannon in Nocturnal Animals - Shannon is the best part of a bad film. He offers some entertainment, with just a bit of pathos, in his portrayal of an uninspired character. 

Best Scene: His reintroduction.

4. Lucas Hedges in Manchester By The Sea - Michael Shannon's work is more consistent but Lucas Hedges's has higher heights in his depiction of a teenager going through grief. Hedges is best when he gives a more internalized performance, but I do find he falters in his attempt to depict a more overt sadness.

Best Scene: Patrick sees his father.

3. Dev Patel in Lion - Patel gives a surprisingly strong performance. He gives a moving and authentic portrayal of his fairly straight forward yet still compelling character.

Best Scene: The reunion.

2. Mahershala Ali in Moonlight - Ali gives a great performance that manages to give truth and a real poignancy to his character who is both a good natured man and drug dealer. Despite appearing in only the first third of the film he makes a lasting impact.

Best Scene: The Beach.

1. Jeff Bridges in Hell Or High Water - Good predictions Robert MacFarlane, Psifonian, and RatedRStar. Although Ali gives a great performance, and it is easily the best actually supporting performance in this lineup, Bridges is easily my favorite overall. Bridges delivers such a vivid and powerful depiction of the old lawman type that surpasses any notion of merely being the trope. It is such incredible work particularly his unforgettable final scenes.

Best Scene: The shootout.

Best Supporting Actor 2016: Dev Patel in Lion

Dev Patel receive his first Oscar nomination for portraying Saroo Brierley in Lion.

Lion is a more than decent heart string tugger about the true story of an Indian boy who loses his family, though is adopted by an Australian family, but attempts to rediscover them many years later.

Dev Patel in the past has not been a favorite actor of mine, finding he has the tendency to be both over the top yet somehow bland at the same time. I will say though in 2016 I found his first halfway decent performance in The Man Who Knew Infinity, so I guess this is now the upswing in his acting. Dev Patel here once again plays the lead role of an Indian without a home, after doing the same in his breakout role in Slumdog Millionaire, luckily his performance here is much better. This is a lead performance, even more so than his turn in that earlier similair film, as we see the younger Saroo, played by Sunny Pawar for one half of the film, and then we shift to Patel for the rest of the film, he's not supporting anyone. With that out of the way though let's actually look at the performance itself. Dev Patel picks up with Saroo 20 years after his adoption by the Australians Sue (Nicole Kidman) and John (David Wenham) Brierley, and is essentially living his life rather well having become quite comfortable with his new found home and parents. 

I suppose it should be said that from now on Patel should only do Australian accent, wear his hair long, and keep his facial hair growing because of all it suits him very very well. I don't know if it had anything to do with any of that, but this easily his best performance. Now in his early scenes the film is pretty low key in just showing how Saroo's life is at this point. Patel has some very sweet and authentic chemistry with Wenham and especially Kidman. You really feel the love they share which is in no way compromised, and just have the genuine rapport of a real family. There is a complication though with his troubled adopted brother, Mantosh. Although on the whole I felt that character seemed like an underdeveloped aspect of the film, Patel though deserves credit for realizing the troubled past in Saroo's interactions Mantosh. Patel brings kind of this underlying understanding, suggesting their time together, yet still effectively brings the right current of frustrations in disapproving glances, and sharpened words towards him.

Saroo's life though is shown to be a relatively easy one as we continue to follow him including a romance with an American Lisa (Rooney Mara). The two have more than decent chemistry as well, to Patel's credit he has a low key charm in him, although I will say Rooney Mara never seems quite right in the role of a normal love interest. Saroo begins to run into more people from India though which reminds him of the family he lost, this sets him on a path to try to locate he where he was lost from. This creates a certain conflict as he begins to focus on the past which makes him forget about his future to an extent. This conflict is what defines Saroo during the later portion of the film, and Patel does a good job of realizing this in a natural way. Patel manages to internalize much of the pain of these thoughts in an intensity that grows within Saroo, which causes him to ignore and lash out at his loved ones to a degree. Patel makes these scenes feel honest by showing the way the unknown of his past is a burden he just cannot bear any longer. This is even satiated partially by his adoptive parents being fully supportive of his quest once they hear about it. Saroo though finally leaves to personally find them, after having located the approximate area on Google Earth. Saroo reaches there and is reunited with his mother. I have to say the scene got me, I'll admit it. Patel's work contributes greatly to the emotional resonance of the scene as he captures the joy upon seeing his mother, but also the heartbreak of it all particularly when he learns that his brother died long ago. It's a poignant heartfelt moment and Patel is there for every second of it. Patel is there for the whole half of his film though. This is a good leading turn by him in a fairly understated way. Patel though succeeds in never mistaking that for blandness, nor does he try, through unneeded quirks, to "liven things up". Patel does so well by simply giving an authentic and moving portrayal of a normal man recovering what was lost to him.

Best Supporting Actor 2016

And the Nominees Are:

Jeff Bridges in Hell or High Water

Michael Shannon in Nocturnal Animals

Mahershala Ali in Moonlight

Lucas Hedges in Manchester By The Sea

Dev Patel in Lion