Janelle Monáe really delivers in her two supporting debut roles this year. Which did I prefer?
Honourable Mentions:
The 20th Century Women (Greta Gerwig, Elle Fanning)
Fanning and Gerwig are both very good and absolutely infectious as Julie and Abbie, the two friends of Jamie (Lucas Jade Zumann) his mother (Annette Bening) recruits to help mentor him through 1970s America and his tumultuous teenage years. Fanning does a fresh take on the 'more experienced best friend' character and deftly steps between being unbearable and sympathetic, and has some great deadpan comedic scenes. Gerwig is heartbreaking in showing Abbie's hidden demons, but incredibly heartwarming in showing her passion in teaching Jamie about a vast array of topics she thinks will prove useful to him becoming a better person.
Kate McKinnon, Ghostbusters
I'll admit the film, in retrospect, is a bad film, poorly directed, poorly written, and the less said about the villain, the use of special effects and the cameos, the better. It's funny that the film was torn apart by people saying the casting of women would be the film's downfall, since half of the central quartet essentially save it from being a complete disaster. I found Kirsten Wiig a bit bland and Melissa McCarthy a bit forgettable, but Leslie Jones is quite funny in a poorly written part, and McKinnon, as Jillian the bizzare engineer, gets the most spontaneous comedic bits (no doubt largely improvised by herself) and is easily the highlight of the film. I wish a better film had been constructed around her.
Alison Sudol, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Like McKinnon, Sudol's a real scene-stealer in Fantastic Beasts. although she's also in a much better film, and has Dan Fogler's, the endearing, bumbling Muggle (sorry, I refuse to use 'No-Maj') baker to play off and complement her delightful work. Sudol's Queenie Goldstein is essentially a combination of witch and 1920s flapper, it's an inspired combination and she reminded me a bit of a 1990s Miranda Richardson with her cheery grin, adorable innocence, a sweet sort of stupidity that never feels in poor taste, and makes her sweet litle romance with Jacob quite affecting by the film's end.
Zoey Deutch, Everybody Wants Some
My memory of the film has somewhat diminished, so I'm in need of a re-watch, but Deutch gives a pretty delightful performance as Beverly. It's a simple role really, but Deutch handles Richard Linklater's dialogue better than anyone besides Glen Powell, has sparkling chemistry with Blake Jenner, and makes her little segment in the film quite memorable.
Rachel House, Hunt for the Wilderpeople
House gives one of the downright funniest performances of 2016 as the overzealous child welfare officer Paula. Everything she does is so over-the-top and ridiculous and House makes it work so well, adding another hilarious element to the film. Her abrasive showoff with Ricky about the Terminator, her absolutely brutal verbal takedown of the police officers on Ricky's case, her hilarious appearance on a television talk show comparing Ricky to being a 'spanner in the works', her repeated invocation of 'no child left behind', even when she's just silently teaching people how to break necks swiftly, makes this an incredibly comedic performance I could bump up even higher in the future.
The Neon Demon girls (Abbey Lee, Jena Malone, Bella Heathcote)
This trio of vacuousness is one I hope work with Refn in the future since they all have such a wonderful grasp of his style. Malone, as probably the most 'human' of the lot, is a devilishly saucy delight as Ruby, the makeup artist with a thing for Jesse (Elle Fanning), and makes some of the more unpalatable elements of the film still work in her favour. Her breakdown to her character's final actions is particularly good. Lee gives probably the most stylized performance in the film, the supermodel who feels threatened by Jesse's entrance into the modelling world. She's actually quite heartbreaking in the scene where she shows an utter loss of faith in herself after losing out on a job to Jesse, and she also manages to make her transition into a bloodthirsty cannibal work particularly well, as she showed in Mad Max: Fury Road last year, she's definitely got presence. Heathcote has the least to do out of the three, but she gives such a memorably hollow, incisive performance, with everything she says feeling so false, and helps make the divisive ending of the film work somewhat.
Angourie Rice, The Nice Guys
Another film I barely remember anything about, she's nevertheless a fine and endearing presence as the wannabe detective daughter of Ryan Gosling's Holland March, making her sometimes convoluted and long-winded lines work, even though the highlight of the film is easily the two leading men.
Janelle Monáe, Moonlight
She really is panning out to be quite the great actress, and I can't wait to see more of her work in general. This is her smaller of her two roles this year, but Monáe still makes a very big impression in a watertight ensemble as Juan's (Mahershala Ali) girlfriend Teresa. Her onscreen presence is just something very special in itself, she's a warm and supportive, and low-key funny presence in Chiron's life, and she's also part of the best acted scene in the film (the breakfast scene), helping to amplify Ali's incredible work in that scene with her honest reactions.
Lucy Boynton, Sing Street
A very interesting performance that takes on the usual 'aloof grungy girl' vibe before peeling it away to reveal the insecurities underneath. Boyton's Raphina is a very well-written character so far as these sorts of characters go, and I found her performance effective in exploring the facade of her 'cold' exterior and her growing affection for Conor (Ferdia Walsh-Peelo). Imogen Poots, Green Room
Hate to leave her off my nominees. Out of my early first-half-of-2016 picks for the acting categories, Poots stuck in for the longest till I watched Hidden Figures last week. Anyway, Poots gives a rather marvellous performance as a grungy witness to the central murder that kicks things off. I love how she plays Amber as essentially someone being forced to give a fuck (pardon my french) for something, alluding to the rough life of her character brilliantly and how she's become accustomed to it alongside her fear of the terrifying situation she's in. She completely dominates her scenes when required as she gradually asserts a mad, energetic approach to her survival and develops a great chemistry with Anton Yelchin's Pat.
Monáe is terrific here as the scene-stealer of the film, Mary Jackson, a computer at the segregated West Area Computing division who becomes NASA's first female engineer. Monáe stands out in the film beyond just having a great set of costumes and her spunky attitude, which is really unique and one of a kind. In that her sassiness and delivery of lines like 'I have the right to see the fine in every colour', her witty retorts to the bigoted police officer, and her energetic encouragement of her best friends in their various pursuits, are all so entertaining to watch. Then in her quieter scenes where she's dealing with her dream to become an engineer against all odds, and the disappointments along the way, I found her incredibly moving, particularly in her 'Oscar' scene where she asks the judge to grant her permission to attend classes at a white high school. I found she made a huge impression even in the somewhat limited narrative capacity we are given for her character. It's a truly entertaining performance but also moving and very nuanced in its own way.
4. Naomie Harris, Moonlight
3. Felicity Jones, A Monster Calls
It's funny that she's sandwiched between Harris and Kidman on my list, because where Harris presents the worst possible type of mother and Kidman the absolute best type of mother, Jones' portrayal of Lizzie, the ailing mother of Conor (Lewis MacDougall), is somewhere in between but also beyond the limits of those maternal figures. A Monster Calls is in many ways the film I think I wanted The BFG to be, in its depiction of a troubled child who finds a strange sort of mentor in a giant talking figure, Liam Neeson's titular monster tree. Jones depicts an absent mother figure, but not in the way you'd expect, in that she's absent against her own will, her terminal illness getting the better of her physically, and Jones is remarkable in depicting her physical breakdown in such a heartbreaking fashion. Alongside the deterioration of her health though, Jones finds something very special in the character's inner strength that never dissipates even in her final moments. She's very good in establishing her character's history with her ex-husband (Toby Kebbell) and her mother (Sigourney Weaver), suggesting a sort of distant love for both of them, and brings something truly special to her moments with MacDougall, as she dispenses maternal warmth and wisdom but in such a unique fashion. Her speech to Conor about 'breaking things' is absolutely devestating, and her final scene and reaction in the film hit me extremely hard. A great performance, and one I wish had gotten some awards traction alongside the underrated and financially under-performing film.
2. Nicole Kidman, Lion
1. Viola Davis, Fences
Viola Davis, Fences
Nicole Kidman, Lion
Felicity Jones, A Monster Calls
Naomie Harris, Moonlight
Janelle Monáe, Hidden Figures
Imogen Poots, Green Room
Abbey Lee, The Neon Demon
Greta Gerwig, 20th Century Women
Jena Malone, The Neon Demon
Rachel House, Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Elle Fanning, 20th Century Women
Alison Sudol, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Bella Heathcote, The Neon Demon
Lucy Boynton, Sing Street
Octavia Spencer,Hidden Figures
Kate McKinnon, Ghostbusters
Michelle Williams, Manchester by the Sea
Janelle Monáe, Moonlight
Angourie Rice, The Nice Guys
Zoey Deutch, Everybody Wants Some!!
Kirsten Dunst, Midnight Special
Golshifteh Farahani, Paterson
Kim Su-an, Train to Busan
Tilda Swinton, Doctor Strange
Haley Lu Richardson, The Edge of Seventeen
Tioreore Ngatai-Melbourne, Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Scarlett Johansson, Captain America: Civil War
Tilda Swinton, Hail, Caesar!
Teresa Palmer, Hacksaw Ridge
Rachel House, Moana
Elizabeth Olsen, Captain America: Civil War
Anna Faris, Keanu
Viola Davis, Suicide Squad
Kyra Sedgwick, The Edge of Seventeen
Sigourney Weaver, A Monster Calls
Leslie Jones, Ghostbusters
Kate Dickie, The VVitch
Gal Gadot, Batman v.s. Superman
Riley Keough, American Honey
Jung Yu-Mi, Train to Busan
Chloë Sevigny, Love & Friendship
Alia Shawkat, Green Room
Phoebe Fox, Eye in the Sky
Diane Kruger, Disorder
Shree Crooks, Captain Fantastic
Rima Te Wiata, Hunt for the Wilderpeople
Gina Rodriguez, Deepwater Horizon
Nana Komatsu, Silence
Emma Thompson, Bridget Jones's Baby
Samantha Isler, Captain Fantastic
Vespyr Cash, Captain Fantastic
Brianna Hildebrand, Deadpool
Yaya DaCosta, The Nice Guys
Kathryn Hahn, Captain Fantastic
Anne Consigny, Elle
Naomie Harris, Our Kind of Traitor
Leslie Uggams, Deadpool
Sofia Boutella, Star Trek Beyond
Emma Greenwell, Love & Friendship
Sarah Solemani, Bridget Jones's Baby
Rooney Mara, Lion
Sophie Turner, X-Men: Apocalypse
Kirsten Dusnt, Hidden Figures
Rachel Griffiths, Hacksaw Ridge
Rachel McAdams, Doctor Strange
Lois Smith, The Nice Guys
Greta Gerwig, Jackie
Scarlett Johansson, Hail, Caesar!
Ahn So-hee, Train to Busan
Morfydd Clark, Love & Friendship
Chasten Harmon, Paterson
Gabourey Sidibe, Grimsby
Judith Magre, Elle
Margot Robbie, The Legend of Tarzan
Gemma Jones, Bridget Jones's Baby
Morena Baccarin, Deadpool
Iris Berben, Eddie the Eagle
Zoe Salanda, Star Trek Beyond
Rebel Wilson, Grimsby
Isla Fisher, Grimsby
Tiffany Haddish, Keanu
Lupita Nyong'o, The Jungle Book
Emayatzy Corinealdi, Miles Ahead
Angela Bassett, London Has Fallen
Han Ji-min, The Age of Shadows
Charlotte Le Bon, Bastille Day
Jenn Murray, Love & Friendship
Samantha Morton, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Another film I barely remember anything about, she's nevertheless a fine and endearing presence as the wannabe detective daughter of Ryan Gosling's Holland March, making her sometimes convoluted and long-winded lines work, even though the highlight of the film is easily the two leading men.
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