Alternate Best Actor 2016: Results

10. Jean-Pierre Léaud in The Death of Louis XIV - A decent enough performance in a film that just slowly prods along to a somber end. 

Best Scene: Near the end. 

9. Joe Seo in Spa Night - A decent if limited portrayal of sexual repression.

Best Scene: "gay chicken"

8. Paul Dano in Swiss Army Man - Dano offers some honest reality to a completely absurd concept and shares a striking chemistry with his odd co-star. 

Best Scene: "Bus Ride"

7. Nawazuddin Siddiqui in Raman Raghav - Siddiqui gives a impactful and disturbing portrayal of a man with a calm psychopathy. 

Best Scene: Earl Speech

6. Don Cheadle in Miles Ahead - Cheadle gives an effective portrayal of the two extreme sides of Miles Davis, though the film's sloppiness diminishes his efforts just a bit. 

Best Scene: Talking about his music. 

5. Jarkko Lahti in The Happiest Day in the Life of Olli Mäki - Lahti gives an endearing and moving portrayal of the man who is having the most important day of his life though not for the expected reasons. 

Best Scene: Boardwalk conversation. 

4. Adrian Titieni in Graduation - Titieni gives a compelling portrayal of a man who is blinded by a singular conviction. 

Best Scene: Asking for a favor. 

3. Hiroshi Abe in After the Storm - Abe gives a moving portrayal of a man who never quite comes to terms with his own immaturity. 

Best Scene: Getting bad news from his wife. 

2. Shahab Hosseini in The Salesman - Hosseini gives a wholly captivating and powerful portrayal of a man seeking revenge though as a man completely alien to the concept. 

Best Scene: Just one more thing. 

1. Tadanobu Asano in Harmonium - Good predictions Shaggy, Calvin, Brazinterma, Tahmeed and Oliver.  Asano dominates his film with his unpredictable performance that leaves a most haunting impression. 

Best Scene: Revealing his intentions. 

Updated Overall

Next: Review of Woody Harrelson and updated supporting. 

Alternate Best Actor 2016

 And the Nominees Were Not:

Shahab Hosseini in The Salesman

Paul Dano in Swiss Army Man

Tadanobu Asano in Harmonium 

Joe Seo in Spa Night

Nawazuddin Siddiqui in Raman Raghav

Predict These Five, Those Five or Both:

Don Cheadle in Miles Ahead

Adrian Titieni in Graduation

Jean-Pierre Léaud in The Death of Louis XIV

Jarkko Lahti in The Happiest Day In The Life Of Olli Mäki

Hiroshi Abe in After the Storm

Alternate Best Actor 1959: Results

5. Jean-Pierre Léaud in The 400 Blows - Léaud gives an honest depiction of the manner and behavior of a troubled young boy.

Best Scene: Antoine at the psychologist.

4. Alec Guinness in The Scapegoat - Although the film itself under utilizes its own concept Guinness gives a compelling portrayal of two men.

Best Scene: The two's meeting at the end. 

3. Dean Stockwell in Compulsion - Stockwell gives an effective depiction of the various sides of his "superior" killer from the pompous intellectual to the scared psychopath.

Best Scene: The first interrogation.

2. Tatsuya Nakadai in The Human Condition I: No Greater Love - Nakadai gives a great portrayal of one man horrible journey in discovering what it truly means to be human.

Best Scene: The Executions.

1. Cary Grant in North By Northwest - Good Prediction Maciej, Robert MacFarlane, and GM Grant perhaps  the very best wrong man performance through his exceedingly entertaining work in the film.

Best Scene: Thornhill at the auction.

Overall Rank:

1. James Stewart in Anatomy of a Murder
2. Cary Grant in North By Northwest
3. Tatsuya Nakadai in The Human Condition I: No Greater Love
4. Laurence Harvey in Room At the Top
5. Tatsuya Nakadai in The Human Condition II: Road to Eternity
6. Albert Sharpe in Darby O'Gill and the Little People
7. Dean Stockwell in Compulsion
8. Alec Guinness in The Scapegoat
9. Alec Guinness in Our Man in Havana
10. James Mason in Journey To the Center of the Earth
11. Eiji Okada in Hiroshima Mon Amour
12. Anthony Franciosa in Career
13. Bradford Dillman in Compulsion
14. Kirk Douglas in The Devil's Disciple
15. Jean-Pierre Léaud in The 400 Blows
16. John Wayne in Rio Bravo
17. Charlton Heston in Ben-Hur 
18. Burt Lancaster in The Devil's Disciple
19. Rock Hudson in Pillow Talk
20. Cary Grant in Operation Petticoat
21. Richard Widmark in Warlock
22. Peter Cushing in The Hound of the Baskervilles
23. Paul Newman in The Young Philadelphians
24. Jack Lemmon in Some Like It Hot 
25. Henry Fonda in Warlock
26. Tony Curtis in Some Like It Hot
27. Tony Curtis in Operation Petticoat
28. Ian Carmichael in I'm Alright Jack
29. Paul Muni in The Last Angry Man
30. David Wayne in The Last Angry Man
31. Richard Burton in Look Back in Anger 
32. Robert Lansing in 4-D Man
33. Gregory Walcott in Plan 9 From Outer Space 
34. James Congdon in 4-D Man

Next Year: 1959 Supporting

Alternate Best Actor 1959: Jean-Pierre Léaud in The 400 Blows

Jean-Pierre Léaud did not receive an Oscar nomination for portraying Antoine Doinel in The 400 Blows.

The 400 Blows is an interesting film depicting the life of a troubled young boy.

Jean-Pierre Léaud plays that young boy who leads the film and it is essential that Léaud passes the child actor test for a realistic film which is to be believable as a kid actually. Well Léaud certainly meets this requirement for Antoine. Although he leads the film though this is not a precocious or endearing young child that we are going to follow. In fact Léaud gives a fairly uncharismatic performance, but don't take that as a criticism. Léaud does not make Antoine an endearing little boy who we're going to enjoy having adventures with. Although really some of the stuff he does is often construed as such in other more lighthearted films that is not the case here. Léaud instead portrays him as the rather unpleasant child that he is. Léaud captures that almost perpetual pout of such a child who always seems slightly at unease even though there is nothing specifically causing him pain. After all he has a family who technically provide for him, he goes to a nice enough school, he even has friends, but nevertheless Léaud portrays the boy as never really being happy.

Léaud's work exudes that sort of indifference of Antoine's behavior in his life. When he behaves poorly in school there is nothing particularly funny about anything he does. He's not doing it for enjoyment he's just doing it. The same goes for the lies that Antoine constantly tells. Léaud never depicts any shrewdness in this, there is not a hint of mischief in it either. Instead he portrays it as a bit of blank action of sorts that again is something that Antoine just does. Even when he lies to his teacher by saying his mother has died in order to explain his absence there is something quite lifeless about the way Léaud delivers in these scenes. That's even the case when he steals, there's Again I am not criticizing his performance at all when I say this, this works instead to accurately show the behavior as really meaningless behavior. Well meaningless in what he's trying to get out of it in the short term, but not meaningless altogether. Léaud does well to allude to the need in Antoine for attention driving this though in a subconscious fashion.

This seems to have developed from Antoine's relationship with his mother, who was unwed when he was born, and did not raise him for many years of his childhood. The problems are compounded through her most recent behavior to him which is quite random as she will become quite cruel one minute than excessively encouraging the next in order to comfort him. Léaud is good in these scenes between Antoine and his mother as he expresses the awkwardness of their interactions. They never quite seem to get along, and even in their moments of warmth there is still something problematic about it. Léaud never depicts a full contentment with Antoine towards his mother as though he's unable to fully understand her own problematic behavior as well as can't quite reconcile her past abandonment of him. They is always that barrier that also extends to his step-father, unfortunately because he is his step father, because Léaud suggests a little more comfort with him as there are not those lingering feelings of betrayal when the two speak with one another.

Although his behavior often is pointless and in general there is a cold demeanor about Antoine, Léaud never makes him emotionless. Importantly because of suggesting where this coldness comes from, but also he shows a bit of difference in himself when he is with his peers. In these moments there is more of an investment he shows, and when he is directly embarrassed in front of them Léaud shows a greater vulnerability in the boy. The friendship he has with another boy clearly matters to him, and there is a very affecting scene for Léaud late in the film when he is pained to see that his friend is not allowed to see him. There is another more open sequence, that might be where the majority of his lines in the film comes from, where he goes to see a psychologist who asks him various things about his life. Léaud uses the scene well to present more overtly though troubled feelings that compel his behavior, but also that even behind his stare that he's just a boy through his shyness when asked if he's ever slept with woman. This is a good performance by Léaud as he simply accurately depicts this sort of child, not as a psychopath, or an elvish scamp, but just as a deeply troubled boy.

Alternate Best Actor 1959

And the Nominees Were Not:

Tatsuya Nakadai in The Human Condition I: No Greater Love

Jean-Pierre Léaud in The 400 Blows

Cary Grant in North By Northwest

Alec Guinness in The Scapegoat

Dean Stockwell in Compulsion

And for Some Reason:

Anthony Franciosa in Career