Best of 2018 - Best Supporting Actor
In honor of the Oscars this past weekend, let's jump into one of the acting categories. While I'm completely happy with the winners for Best Actress and Supporting Actress, I have to say I found the Academy's picks for actors this year pretty weak. So here is a category where we only have one choice in common.
Harry Melling - The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
You may (barely) recognize this actor from his Harry Potter days - I was floored when I realized this is Dudley Dursley! I haven't seen him in anything since then so this really took me by surprise. This is an incredibly sad, beautiful performance - he plays a limbless man who is at the mercy of his handler, who transports him to nightly recitations of poetry and Shakespeare that earn their meager living in the segment "Meal Ticket." Melling does not speak except for these stage performances. The rest is left entirely to his face, and what a haunting face it is. This is a very strange, very dark little story, but undoubtedly powerful, and a masterclass in conveying emotion with as few tools as possible.
Brian Tyree Henry - If Beale Street Could Talk/Widows
It seems like Brian Tyree Henry was everywhere last year, and we were better for it. I also want to give a shout out to his excellent voice performance in Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse as Miles Morales' father. His appearance in Beale Street is fairly brief, but one of the most impactful in the film. As a friend of Fonny's who has just returned from prison, his bleak recounting of his experience is captivating and devastating. The way his expression shifts from despair to joy when Tish presents him with another beer and a home cooked meal speaks as much about his character as his words do. He's a man who has passed through hell and come out the other side battered, but he still has a smile and a hug for an old friend, and appreciation for the small pleasures. In Widows, his scheming, ambitious antagonist is both menacing and fairly empathetic - his motives shine through clearly, even come across as noble, while he reveals a dark side of himself that is willing to do anything to achieve his goals. Both of these roles are nuanced and layered, making the most out of his limited screen time, and making him one of the biggest presences onscreen this year.
Adam Driver - BlacKkKlansman
I am a huge Adam Driver fan. He has both leading man charisma and character actor quirk, making him consistently one of the most interesting young actors working today. He gets a role worthy of his talents in Flip Zimmerman, the undercover cop playing the white face of black Ron Stallworth's voice. Infiltrating the KKK requires Flip to betray all his values for the character he plays, which he tries to keep at arm's length at first, until the professional becomes personal and he's forced to look at the qualities that separate him from mainstream white America. He brings depth and complexity to this character who is forced to truly grapple with his religious and ethnic identity for the first time in his life, and confront the idea that it might be worth putting his life on the line to accept himself and fight against racism. He also has excellent chemistry with John David Washington as Ron, and brings his dry sense of humor to the role in abundance.
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Josh Hamilton - Eighth Grade
This is the kind of role that awards shows will never recognize. Completely honest and understated, with no showy turns, truly there to support the main character - in this case, his oscreen daughter, Kayla, played by Elsie Fisher. As a single father completely at a loss for how to connect to his daughter now that she is a teenager, his performance is totally authentic, and they have an easy chemistry despite the awkward dynamic that has developed between them as he worries about her social development. It's painful and hilarious to watch him try to do what's best for her and show her he cares, and Hamilton keeps the character grounded. A scene late in the film where he is finally able to tell her just how much he loves her, and she is finally able to hear him, is a beautiful acting showcase for both of them, and deeply affecting.
Michael B. Jordan - Black Panther
Marvel films have long suffered from a lack of compelling antagonists. Black Panther breaks the mold for the studio in multiple ways, one of them being the villain, who actually threatens to usurp the hero not just in the narrative, but in charisma and screen presence as well. Michael B. Jordan brings not only toughness and menace to his Killmonger, but also a sense of humanity. Killmonger is not motivated to end the world or even necessarily rule it, like so many blockbuster villains. He is passionate and direct in his goals - the betterment of his people across the globe. Jordan is so magnetic that even his character's evil deeds start to seem reasonable if it helps him bring about his ideas of justice and empowerment. His swaggering physicality conceals a core of pain and vulnerability that truly elevates this film out of the comic book mold and into something special.
Harry Melling - The Ballad of Buster Scruggs
You may (barely) recognize this actor from his Harry Potter days - I was floored when I realized this is Dudley Dursley! I haven't seen him in anything since then so this really took me by surprise. This is an incredibly sad, beautiful performance - he plays a limbless man who is at the mercy of his handler, who transports him to nightly recitations of poetry and Shakespeare that earn their meager living in the segment "Meal Ticket." Melling does not speak except for these stage performances. The rest is left entirely to his face, and what a haunting face it is. This is a very strange, very dark little story, but undoubtedly powerful, and a masterclass in conveying emotion with as few tools as possible.
Brian Tyree Henry - If Beale Street Could Talk/Widows
It seems like Brian Tyree Henry was everywhere last year, and we were better for it. I also want to give a shout out to his excellent voice performance in Spider-man: Into the Spider-verse as Miles Morales' father. His appearance in Beale Street is fairly brief, but one of the most impactful in the film. As a friend of Fonny's who has just returned from prison, his bleak recounting of his experience is captivating and devastating. The way his expression shifts from despair to joy when Tish presents him with another beer and a home cooked meal speaks as much about his character as his words do. He's a man who has passed through hell and come out the other side battered, but he still has a smile and a hug for an old friend, and appreciation for the small pleasures. In Widows, his scheming, ambitious antagonist is both menacing and fairly empathetic - his motives shine through clearly, even come across as noble, while he reveals a dark side of himself that is willing to do anything to achieve his goals. Both of these roles are nuanced and layered, making the most out of his limited screen time, and making him one of the biggest presences onscreen this year.
Adam Driver - BlacKkKlansman
I am a huge Adam Driver fan. He has both leading man charisma and character actor quirk, making him consistently one of the most interesting young actors working today. He gets a role worthy of his talents in Flip Zimmerman, the undercover cop playing the white face of black Ron Stallworth's voice. Infiltrating the KKK requires Flip to betray all his values for the character he plays, which he tries to keep at arm's length at first, until the professional becomes personal and he's forced to look at the qualities that separate him from mainstream white America. He brings depth and complexity to this character who is forced to truly grapple with his religious and ethnic identity for the first time in his life, and confront the idea that it might be worth putting his life on the line to accept himself and fight against racism. He also has excellent chemistry with John David Washington as Ron, and brings his dry sense of humor to the role in abundance.
Josh Hamilton - Eighth Grade
This is the kind of role that awards shows will never recognize. Completely honest and understated, with no showy turns, truly there to support the main character - in this case, his oscreen daughter, Kayla, played by Elsie Fisher. As a single father completely at a loss for how to connect to his daughter now that she is a teenager, his performance is totally authentic, and they have an easy chemistry despite the awkward dynamic that has developed between them as he worries about her social development. It's painful and hilarious to watch him try to do what's best for her and show her he cares, and Hamilton keeps the character grounded. A scene late in the film where he is finally able to tell her just how much he loves her, and she is finally able to hear him, is a beautiful acting showcase for both of them, and deeply affecting.
Michael B. Jordan - Black Panther
Marvel films have long suffered from a lack of compelling antagonists. Black Panther breaks the mold for the studio in multiple ways, one of them being the villain, who actually threatens to usurp the hero not just in the narrative, but in charisma and screen presence as well. Michael B. Jordan brings not only toughness and menace to his Killmonger, but also a sense of humanity. Killmonger is not motivated to end the world or even necessarily rule it, like so many blockbuster villains. He is passionate and direct in his goals - the betterment of his people across the globe. Jordan is so magnetic that even his character's evil deeds start to seem reasonable if it helps him bring about his ideas of justice and empowerment. His swaggering physicality conceals a core of pain and vulnerability that truly elevates this film out of the comic book mold and into something special.
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