Anyone But Casey

As your average kind-of-educated but not-that-sophisticated art-appreciating American human, I like movies.  I like the stories they can tell us about subjects we may not know or care about. My most favorite films are the ones that make statements about life and why we're supposed to keep living it, day in and day out.  Sometimes those statements are poignant and profound and sometimes they're satirical and joke-filled, but in both cases they're valuable for interpreting and understanding the world we're a part of.  So it's from that biased point of view, combined with the fact that I've seen 4 of the 9 best picture nominees (and hey less than half was enough to get our current president elected!), that I'm writing this opinionated review on who I think should win and why.

Actress in a Supporting Role

Nominees:
Viola Davis, Fences
Naomie Harris, Moonlight
Nicole Kidman, Lion
Octavia Spencer, Hidden Figures
Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea

My Pick: Two-way tie between Naomie Harris and Viola Davis
If you watch Moonlight with no backstory you have to be literally imbecilic to not appreciate what a strong actor Naomie Harris is to embody all the emotionally-wrought and diverse scenes as Chiron's drug-addicted and volatile mother.  If you hear the backstory that I heard on NPR, you'll learn she filmed all of that superb acting in THREE days.  Maybe that's not as crazy as it sounds to people who know acting better than I, but to me that sounds crazy and completely deserving of the gold man statue.  Viola Davis comes in with the tie because I got to see her speak at a conference a couple weeks ago, and I've been a fan since Doubt, and from the clips I've seen, Fences looks like a powerful movie anchored by her more powerful performance.

Actor in a Supporting Role

Nominees:
Mahershala Ali, Moonlight
Jeff Bridges, Hell or High Water
Lucas Hedges, Manchester by the Sea
Dev Patel, Lion
Michael Shannon, Nocturnal Animals

My Pick: Unwavering, 100% the Oscar should go to Mahershala
I've watched Mr. Ali a tiny bit in House of Cards, and saw him in Hidden Figures too.  While I don't know him that well, I do follow him on Instagram, so with pretty good confidence I can say that those other roles couldn't hold a candle to what he did in Moonlight.  That movie is moving and poetic and can be described by many other literary devices I can't think of right now, or will never be able to think of, and so much of it was because of his performance early in the movie.  He embodies a character who is perpetually battling that internal divide of making living at the expense of others' well being. He presents a rare window into the complex and compassionate mind of a character we've seen portrayed differently so many times in other flicks.

Actress in a Leading Role

Nominees:
Isabelle Huppert, Elle
Ruth Negga, Loving
Natalie Portman, Jackie
Emma Stone, La La Land
Meryl Streep, Florence Foster Jenkins

My Pick: Natalie
I'll be real here.  I have the least opinion on this one.  I saw LaLa Land and liked it for what it was.  Emma will probably win, I like her, I'm cool with that, but I like to see those who have to dig a little deeper go home with the trophy.  I vote for Natalie Portman.  I haven't seen Jackie, I missed it when it came to the Castro theater and was totally bummed about it but something (like the trailers) tell me that Natalie P's acting, even more so than her physical resemblance, does an excellent job of portraying Jackie O.

Actor in a Leading Role

Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea
Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge
Ryan Gosling, La La Land
Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic
Denzel Washington, Fences

My Pick: ANYONE BUT CASEY
I usually see eye-to-eye with most film critics.  In the case of Manchester by the Sea, I've never been on such a different continuum.  Where they said moving and deep, I said meandering and melodramatic, where they saw excellent acting, I saw a stunted and dismal performance.  No doubt grief is a crippling and overpowering human emotion; But Casey Affleck didn't convince me of that.  This random blog post sums it up best: "Only in a country that elected Donald Trump as president could Affleck’s irritating, obnoxiously inauthentic, cry-face performance be a shoe-in for a Best Actor win at the Academy Awards" (Thanks to here).

Best Picture

Nominees:
Arrival
Fences
Hacksaw Ridge
Hell or High Water
Hidden Figures
La La Land
Lion
Manchester by the Sea
Moonlight

My Pick: Moonlight
After seeing Moonlight over Thanksgiving, my initial reaction was sort of the equivalent of a shrug; a body language sign of "pretty good, kind of slow"!  Well my first reaction was the result of ignorance, distractedness and not having the time to go "there" with my thoughts and interpretation of the film.  Once I sat with it a little more, and talked to some people about it, I realized how important of a story that movie was telling.  It's important because you begin to understand the specific storyline of Chiron, the main character, and what he went through as growing up as a black gay man in Miami poverty.  But you also, if you open yourself up to it, understand so many greater themes beyond just growing up.  You see into poverty culture and the struggles of addiction.  You see racism and then see that it really hasn't gone away.  You see the power mentors can have, whether formally defined or not.  You see compassion and longing and friendship and deep, deep emotional ties that exist in so many lives but are never mentioned.  In Moonlight, you don't hear that many words, but you see beautiful imagery and repeating thematic elements that say more in one picture than other movies do in entire conversations.  You see societal statements and you understand your role in it, and you feel guilt and shame and sadness because of it.  All Best Pictures should stick with you, if for different reasons.  Moonlight does.