Alternate Best Actor 2004: Results

 9. Gael García Bernal in The Motorcycle Diaries - Creates a striking portrait of a man finding his path, convincing as a man but also granting the traits that would create the myth essentially. 

Best Scene: "Political Speech"

8. Irrfan Khan in Maqbool - Gives a captivating take on the oft played character even if the adaptation makes it all in a bit of a rush. 

Best Scene: Making his final decision. 

7. Christian Bale in The Machinist - Bale gives a compelling depiction of the character's mental anguish within his often noted physical transformation. 

Best Scene: Paranoid outburst

6. Shah Rukh Khan in Swades - Khan gives a properly charismatic and moving portrayal of a man finding his path in life. 

Best Scene: Entertaining during a power outage. 

5. Mads Mikkelsen in Pusher II - Mikkelsen gives a moving portrayal of man going from a thug looking for acceptance towards attempting to find a better life through self-improvement. 

Best Scene: Learning about his son.

4. Yuya Yagira in Nobody Knows - Yagira gives a wholly honest portrayal of both the enforced responsibility of an adult and the frustrated boy within. 

Best Scene: Confronting his mom

3. Bill Murray in The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou - Murray on the surface gives a very funny Bill Murray deadpan performance, but at the same time a powerful portrayal of a man coming to terms with his mortality. 

Best Scene: "I wonder if he remembers me".

2. Tony Leung in 2046 - Leung delivers a great follow-up performance because he successfully expands the role but also powerfully never loses the strength of his original work, by presenting a man still ever haunted however has to continue to live on.

Best Scene: Rejecting Bai Ling.

1. Paddy Considine in Dead Man's Shoes - Good predictions Luke, Jonathan, Tony, Perfectionist, Lucas, A, Harris, Brazinterma, Omar, Tahmeed & RatedRStar. Despite being the theoretical "hero" Considine delivers an absolutely terrifying but also deeply emotional portrayal of a man with a single unrelenting focus. 

Best Scene: His "Party".

Updated Overall

Next: Backlog

Alternate Best Actor 2004: Irrfan Khan in Maqbool

Irrfan Khan did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Miyan Maqbool in Maqbool. 

Maqbool is an adaptation of Macbeth set in the modern day Mumbai underworld. 

This is an adaptation of Macbeth, however the more obvious Macbeth parallels take awhile to realize themselves, as the first half of the film is far more about this gangster film where we get to see the nature of the organization where Khan’s Maqbool is one of the high level enforcers for boss Jahangir Khan (Pankaj Kapur). And not entirely unlike director Vishal Bhardwaj’s later film of Hamlet Haider, the Shakespearean protagonist is fairly passive for the first half of the film. As largely we see Maqbool in his role as enforcer and a genuinely loyal one, offering a stoic calm at times but also a brutal force at others. The character finding life is aided greatly by the presence of Khan, who is striking on screen innately, so when in the early scenes Maqbool is just following orders he is quite compelling in his silence. I would however say the film maybe extends this silence a bit longer than it needs to given it takes half of the film to truly get into the Macbeth plot. Something that comes about in this version is even more evidently by the Lady Macbeth of this version Nimmi (Tabu) being a primary motivator for Maqbool even beyond her usual role as such. As in this version she is the mistress of the boss/king this time enticing Maqbool as a reason to seek power beyond simply the power of being boss. 

An element that works effectively thanks to Tabu being so captivating in the role, but also Khan brings this intense focus in these moments in portraying the man being brought into this intrigue. Khan plays Maqbool well by showing him not exactly going with the flow, but in a way giving himself to the ambition of Nimmi in this instance and in a way embracing the idea. Conveying within his work the quiet notions of lust towards her and the power that propels him to take action that leads to him eventually murdering his boss. A sequence that signals a change in Khan’s performance as he goes from his quiet stoic quality with just that nagging lust, to fully embracing himself essentially as the boss onscreen. An idea that Khan portrays with a proper ease as he delivers that innate strength of personality and even more so an ease with his own menace as he now is the man others should fear. Khan brings initially the confidence of the power of the man who now has Nimmi and the control of the underworld, delivering this ease within himself of someone who has everything he thinks he wants, and is as easily able to threaten those he thinks might try to take his power, including even his old friend. 

As much as it took time to get to the Macbeth portion in this adaptation, once we are there the film is in a hurried rush to get through every beat of the plot of Macbeth, including other threats and the madness brought upon both Macbeth and Lady Macbeth via the supernatural hauntings they receive. As quick as all this is, Khan remains captivating in his portrayal of the loss of that initial confidence as the crimes literally come back to haunt him, such as his old friend opening his eyes as a corpse. Khan plays the madness well as the quick piercing fear of seeing his crimes reflected in this haunting, and the man so easy in his threats to others becomes weighed down by his actions. Khan creates swiftly the gripping pathos of Maqbool’s mental state that first turns from a mania which he convincingly portrays then shifts towards more of a malaise in seeing the bad ends, particularly as they drive Nimmi mad as well to the point of suicide. The climax of Macbeth often leads to a more grandiose villain, embracing his evil in a last ditch attempt to hold his power just as all his enemies are mounting their attack. This version doesn’t build towards the grandiose, rather it is kind of a meek end for this Macbeth, where we get a brief scene of Maqbool’s reaction to kind of the potential better life he might’ve had if he hadn’t given into lust and ambition. Khan is moving in the scene of playing that moment of reaction as part of the overall meek way this version of the character essentially allows himself to fade away in his downfall rather than a grand explosion. Khan consistently gives a good performance in terms of accentuating the emotional position of his character in this version of the story. However, this version kind of delivers a bit less than seems possible given the nature of the role, where maybe there was a bit more build up in certain moments for Khan to play with. Regardless he is a compelling Macbeth as Maqbool, even if I think a greater performance was possible with a different adaptation. 

Alternate Best Actor 2004

 And the Nominees Were Not:

Al Pacino in The Merchant of Venice

Christian Bale in The Machinist

Gael García Bernal in The Motorcycle Diaries

Mads Mikkelsen in Pusher II

Paddy Considine in Dead Man's Shoes

nor

Irrfan Khan in Maqbool

Tony Leung Chiu Wai in 2046

Yuya Yagira in Nobody Knows

Shah Rukh Khan in Swades

Bill Murray in The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou

Predict either set or both.

And an out of competition review of Daniel Brühl in The Edukators.

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2014: Results

10. John Cusack in Map to the Stars - Cusack might actually play his part too low key as he isn't able to overcome the weaknesses of his film.

Best Scene: Reaction to the fire.

9. Sam Claflin in Riot Club - Claflin is properly despicable but not much more than that.

Best Scene: Club at its worst.

8. Chris Pine Stretch in Pine is a whole lot of something, not quite sure what, but it is definitely something worth seeing.

Best Scene: Ending.

7. Irrfan Khan in Haider - Khan brings the right haunting quality and delivers the right impact in his brief screentime.

Best Scene: What happened.

6. Ricardo Darin in Wild Tales - Darin depicts an appropriate mental descent from dealing with the insanity of bureaucracy.

Best Scene: Losing it.

5. Taika Waititi in What We Do in the Shadows - Waititi gives an amusing performance by always being just so genteel as his vampire.

Best Scene: Wearing the pendant.

4. Michael Parks in Tusk - Parks is a far greater than his terrible film in his properly deranged turn as a walrus aficionado. 

Best Scene: Doesn't need a wheelchair.

3. Damián Alcázar in The Perfect Dictatorship - He manages to be both hilarious and menacing as a politician who in no way hides the shame of his corruption.

Best Scene: Threatening "suicide".

2. Matthias Schoenaerts in The Drop - Schoenaerts gives a terrific portrayal of a wannabe threat in more ways than one.

Best Scene: "I killed Richie Wheeling"

1. Shia LaBeouf in Fury - Good predictions Anonymous, Robert, Tim, Maciej, and Emi Grant.  LaBeouf delivers a performance worthy of a great war film. He's in Fury, but nonetheless LaBeouf gives it his all as a man scarred by war.

Best Scene: "Send me"

Updated Overall

Next: 1966 lead.

Alternate Best Supporting 2014: Irrfan Khan in Haider

Irrfan Khan did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Roohdaar in Haider.

This version of Hamlet takes many creative choices of the material, some of them quite inspired, but perhaps none more inspired than in the character of the ghost. The ghost typically being Hamlet's father's apparition that details his death at the hands of his brother to his son. This version removes the supernatural by instead giving this news to an additional character. This as a man essentially appearing to set off the second act of the film, this man Roohdaar played by the gone far too soon, Irrfan Khan. Khan's initial appearance that can only be described as cool, and quite striking. This as he appears indeed, though obviously a man, but as an apparition in the way he glides through crowd with a manner of seemingly divine purpose. This only amplified by his costuming, in his his thick sunglasses and white robe, that seems to suggest a man on alternate plain. Although this man is indeed real but Khan's performance is one built upon the idea of haunting the proceedings in his few minutes of screentime. There is something so remarkable of that presence of his, as is typically the case from the few films I've seen him in, that he uses to offer the sense of a man on a mission. The mission though technically just being to inform Haider (Hamlet)'s family of his story, which involved being the same prison camp as Haider's father. Khan's performance carries this inherent weight within it, what is so notable about it is how with so much ease that Khan is able to evoke this. He speaks with a clarity that actually makes all the more haunting. This in his eyes reflect his experience yet his manner with the words is with this calm of a man with real purpose in his story. His story, which involves revealing that Haider's uncle had Haider's father killed in an execution that almost killed Roohdaar as well, is presented by Khan with careful emotion. This as it is with a sense of directing Haider to the truth, but with a glint, just a glint, of warmth within it. This with a sense quite but very powerful conviction in his delivery of the message as Roohdaar as someone who less is self-pitying or even revenge seeking, rather wants to ensure the truth is known. Khan doesn't have a lot of screentime however he is absolutely captivating in that time. His work delivering the needed switch within the film by offering the essential impact of this very different kind of "ghost".

Alternate Best Supporting Actor 2014

And The Nominees Were Not:

Chris Pine in Stretch

Matthias Schoenaerts in The Drop

Irrfan Khan in Haider

Taika Waititi in What We Do in the Shadows

Ricardo Darin in Wild Tales 

Predict those five, these five or both:

Sam Claflin in The Riot Club

Shia LaBeouf in Fury

Michael Parks in Tusk (Do not Watch)

John Cusack in Maps to the Stars

Damian Alcazar in The Perfect Dictatorship