Ranking the Oscar Nominees: Best Actor 2017

5. Ryan Gosling, La La Land

They came close in 2013, but this is the first time in the 21st Century that the Academy have gotten it completely spot-on (though 2002 was another great year in terms of nominees) for the Best Actor category. This is great for the Academy, great for these five very good/excellent/amazing films, not so great for me having to rank these five excellent performances. With fifth place, I hate to go with Gosling, since he gives one of his best performances - my 3rd favourite of his behind Lars and the Real Girl and Drive (he was also fantastic in The Nice Guys this year). I absolutely adored Gosling's portrayal of Sebastian, the jazz musician who wants to make it big and have his own jazz club, even when I found him to be a bit of a pretentious ass at the outset, Gosling just won me over with his charm and heart even though I found his character's actions to be a bit annoying. Even in these early stages, he's effortlessly endearing and rather hilarious in showing his character's aspirations to be taken 'seriously' as a musician. 

Then when Emma Stone and him properly come together in the film, his performances becomes pretty brilliant - in fact, their first re-encounter after the initial brief encounter at a house party, where she requests/forces him to play 'I Ran' (great song, by the way), is made all the more hilarious by his indignant anger at having to stoop so low (hey, now Sebastian). Between himself and Stone, Gosling probably the has less 'material' to work with in terms of dramatic focus and of course, an 'Audition' scene, but he has great little moments where he develops his character incredibly well. Like the scene where he contemplates selling himself out and his craft to provide for Mia, or his subtle reactions during a dinnertime confrontation, and his last few glances towards Mia at the end of the film, are all rather wonderful. As he showed in Drive, Gosling is pretty much the king of conveying a thousand words through a glance. He turns in an effortlessly charismatic, heartfelt and hilarious performance that's delightful to watch, and if he wins the Oscar as some have predicted as a potential upset, I certainly wouldn't mind. 

1990s La La Land directed by Rob Reiner

Sebastian: Robert Downey Jr.

Mia: Nicole Kidman 

4. Viggo Mortensen, Captain Fantastic

Captain Fantastic is one of the most underrated films of 2016, and I'm so glad it managed to gain awards traction through one man. Mortensen's character, Ben Cross, is a very atypical sort of Oscar role, in that it's a rather modestly drawn and subtle bit of work that's very easygoing in many ways. Ben is technically an overbearing father figure, but not in an abusive way, just merely a man who feels he has his children's best interests at heart by integrating them into a survivalist lifestyle in the wilderness. A man with his sort of self-reliant philosophy could have gotten old really, really fast, but Mortensen's charisma and unique approach to a mentor and father is actually quite endearing. When tragedy strikes the family, Mortensen is incredibly powerful in showing how it hits him, and how his subsequent actions, though somewhat eccentric and erratic, all really stem for a love for his beloved kids. These heartbreaking scenes fit in perfectly with his deadpan approach to the many people he encounters who question his parenting methods and way of life. Mortensen importantly never makes Ben's self-assurance to be something arrogant and entirely off-putting, but rather as a very strong belief in his actions being for the benefit of his children.

Mortensen's portrayal of a father who is far from perfect, but always has his children's best interests at heart, is a beautifully subdued piece of work that never tries to sugercoat his shortcomings, but makes it clear that this is above all a loving man who needs to learn to compromise. In scenes where he realizes he may have gone too far on his high horse with his children, especially his oldest son Bo (a terrific George MacKay), we see a man's life being held into question, but unlike another Oscar-nominated father figure from this year, Mortensen's reactions are of genuine, heartfelt regret. On that note, the performance is a fascinating counterpoint to his other Oscar-nominated contemporary as another father figure, as the eloquence he brings to understanding such a unique man with straightforward wishes for his children. It is a nuanced, intriguing and emotionally poignant, as well as subtly humorous, performance.

1970s Captain Fantastic directed by Michael Cimino

Ben Cash: Harry Dean Stanton

Bo: Jeff Bridges

Jack: Peter Ustinov

3. Andrew Garfield, Hacksaw Ridge

I'm going to wait just a tad bit longer to discuss this performance in detail, in a future article alongside his other great 2016 performance. This is earnest, winning, adorable, and just plain terrific work in establishing the joyous faith and devotion of Doss, transitioning it into a powerful depiction of the horrors of war and bravery in its hellish face. He nails everything from the needed joyous disposition of a man who sees the bright side to everything in life and has such pleasure in his faith, the reactionary horrors of the battlefield that haunt and wear him down, his love for his family and his wife, and above all an incredible conviction in his faith and bravery against all odds. He fits the bill perfectly for this performance, making the downright amazing and masterful film around him even better through his highly passionate, powerful approach. 

1950s Hacksaw Ridge directed by Billy Wilder

Desmond Doss: Anthony Perkins

Sergeant Howell: Robert Strauss

Captain Glover: Richard Erdman

Smitty Riker: Peter Graves (I know I'm just rattling off Stalag 17 names now)

Tom Doss: Lee J. Cobb 

Dorothy: Janet Leigh

2. Denzel Washington, Fences

Washington's performance in Fences, and really Fences as a whole, is truly a labour of love. As well as having starred in the role on stage for many years, knowing the ins and outs of the source material play thoroughly and having such passion for it, Washington also directs this straightforward but very effective adaptation of August Wilson's play about a working class African-American family and its internal conflicts. Washington's work as a director is decent, workmanlike for the most part but it suits the requirements of the film, which is a small cast in a limited environment. Because it's such a small cast, every cast member needs to be on point, lest the film falters. And everyone is at the least very good. Russell Hornsby, given the smallest and most thankless role of the lot as Lyons Maxson, is nevertheless rather good as the supposedly deadbeat son who might make something of himself as a musician. Stephen Henderson is a jovial and rather heartwarming presence as the kindly Bono, Jovan Adepo finds new ground with the discontent jock son character Cory, Mykelti Williamson is a compelling presence as the mentally impaired war veteran Gabriel, and Viola Davis...I'll get onto her soon enough.

But anyway, what about the man who dominates the film till its epilogue. Washington takes centre stage in this film, and I mean that in a literal sense as well as all other connotations of the phrase. In that, besides being the central figure of the story, Troy Maxson is also a larger-than-life figure, a BIG presence in his own little world who in his everyday conversations with friends and family, is a bit of a showman himself. Now this could've easily led to some bad overacting or worse, a performance feeling like it just came off the stage with no awareness of the film camera. Washington's performance however, immaculately captures the nuances of the cinematic form while retaining what presumably made his stage performance as Troy so acclaimed. In that he's boistreously entertaining and often rather hilarious in showing the ridiculous, over-the-top storyteller and jokester Troy is when telling tall tales and messing around with his friend Bono and wife Rose (Davis). Wilson's dialogue is tricky dialogue, comparable to someone like David Mamet in that it has to be delivered in a very specific sort of way, with a specific sort of rhythm, otherwise it falls flat. None of the actors fall into this trap, certainly not Washington whose fast-paced, chatterbox approach to this most talkative man is rather extreme, but so gloriously fitting to his personality.

The speeches delivered by Washington all feel very natural to Troy's background as a man who never had much luck in life, and who uses stories and exaggerations, as well as supposedly profound philosophies on life he offers to his wife and sons, to present a man who thinks himself as both preacher and God - a god of baseball most certainly, and a curious element to his performance that really knocks it out of the ballpark (no pun intended) is how he bigs up his skills as a player back in the day, while giving a sense of a huge chip on his shoulder and insecurity about how he never made it into the major leagues. There's a raw bitterness that we rarely see in Washington, which my friend pointed out when we briefly discussed the film, that's rather tough to watch, and only comes out more beautifully on re-watches. This bitterness only worsens over the film as his son Cory, a promising football players, presents to him a reminder of his own failures. Washington makes the growing disdain of the man not for his son, but the potential glory he represents which he himself can never obtain, excruciating in the best possible way. These memorable scenes, like that 'like you' scene, or his final beatdown of his son when he threatens him with a baseball bat, are intense scenes through the performances of the actors. Adepo is very good, and Washington is sublime as a man who truly comes unhinged when reminded about how he could have been, but never was, a contender.

Of course, Washington isn't just an intense, domineering figure the whole time, that would defeat the point of Troy Maxson as a character. He has quieter moments with his disabled brother Gabriel, and his wife, these are small, tender moments that show that beneath the big and loud man, there's a more sensitive one lurking underneath. When he ruminates about his painful past, his love for Rose, and perhaps one of his best scenes when he confesses to Rose about an extramarital affair, you see a man trying to cover up his inner demons with his showy exterior, as his world crumbles around. There's so much subtlety in the performance that's so much more than the hypocritical 'wise' exterior Troy presents, as he loses that facade and reveals himself as the nasty piece of work and weak, fallible man he really is. It's one of the trickiest roles of 2016 as a problematic father figure, very different to Mortensen's I may add,  and perhaps the least directly sympathetic character of the 2016 Best Actor nominees (though I guess that's not hard when you have Casey Affleck and his onslaught of tragedy after tragedy, Ryan Gosling, Viggo's loving if slightly out of touch dad, and Andrew Garfield who essentially plays a real-life embodiment of Jesus Christ). You still feel drawn to the character through Washington's grand, incredible performance, easily a career-best for an always consistent and dependable screen presence. In short - a mesmerizing, domineering but all too raw, human and fallible portrayal of a very flawed father figure whose whole life hinges on tall stories and a chip on his shoulder.

1980s Fences: I believe James Earl Jones would've been the shoe-in for Troy. 

1. Casey Affleck, Manchester by the Sea

I'm not of the crowd who believes there's a 'next Marlon Brando', or who necessarily thinks the idea of a 'next Marlon Brando' is a great idea in the first place. Emory Cohen was a pretty good Brando-esque love interest in Brooklyn but as The Place Beyond the Pines showed, a little bit of something can go a long way and a lot of it can go oh so awry. Actors like Matthias Schoenaerts and Tom Hardy are magnificent physical beasts and dynamic actors with that Brando-esque primal energy to their work, but I'd say they're altogether different beasts overall in terms of technique and the sort of characters they take on. Besides, as great as Brando was when he was on form, he could be pretty lacklustre when he wasn't invested in the role. Enough of this Much ABrando about Nothing, what point am I trying to get at? I've read about Casey Affleck being compared to Brando before. I can see the basis for some of these comparisons, they both like a bit of mumbling here and there, and they like to internalize their performances, and they have a very quiet, spontaneous intensity to their best work. Affleck, though, is nowhere near the star Brando was back in the day, though he's arguably the more consistent actor, and both him and and Brando have similar heights in their career (On the Waterfront and The Assasination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford). 

Anyway, onto the actual performance itself here, I mention Brando because Affleck's performance here does bear resemblance to Brando's Terry Malloy in some ways. Very different characters, very different films too - On the Waterfront being the greater film, undoubtedly, but Manchester by the Sea packing a bit more of an emotional punch for me personally. Besides both films being set 'by the sea', so to speak, both are intimate character studies of a troubled individual haunted by regrets, troubled relationships with close ones, ostrcization, and an inadvertent, unwitting mistake they made which caused tragedy. On the Waterfront takes place almost wholly in the aftermath of this mistake, however, and gradually fills in the background of a man who coulda been and will be a contender through his interactions with the terrific ensemble cast, some marvellous direction, and of course Brando. Manchester by the Sea on the other hand portrays both the man who has become haunted by his past, the man in the past, and the man in the immediate aftermath of his past. The film works its way around a rather unconventionally non-chronological character study that flits through these varied time periods, and Affleck's biggest challenge at the outset is to distinguish between the loudmouth but happy Massachusetts family man, the horrified, shocked and grieving man in the aftermath of a terrible tragedy, and many years on the haunted and hollow shell of a man who feels very little and says very little. 

Well Affleck's first on my ranking of the Oscar nominees, in the strongest Best Actor set of nominees in Academy history, what do you think? Of course he succeeds with aplomb. This is a tricky performance because it flits back and forth between past and present, with less frequency in the second half once certain things have been revealed, and Affleck is effective in revealing, to begin with, Lee Chandler, average joe who loves his wife (Michelle Williams), loves his daughters, loves his older brother (Kyle Chandler) and nephew (eventually played by Lucas Hedges), but is far from a standout guy in terms of self-disciplince. He drinks a bit too much, is rather obnoxious whenever he has friends around his place, and Affleck presents a realistically flawed normal man who makes a big mistake, when drunkenly leaving home to get more booze, leaves the fireplace neglected, resulting in the whole house burning down, killing his three children. Affleck's reactions to this tragedy is harrowing, and even when the camera is at a certain distance, with the soundtrack obscuring his spoken words, you get a full insight into the tortured state of the man, as so many things hit him at once. At the police station, when being questioned about the accident, Affleck is absolutely devestating in showing the slow acceptance of a man who realizes he's done wrong and must pay for it. This is only rendered more powerful by his reaction when the police tell him he's free to go. Affleck's subtle shock and anguish at not being justly punished, as he feels he should, is a great scene, and within a few seconds he encapsulates the truly disordered state of mind of a man who feels nothing with nothing in his life.

These scenes are followed by several scenes of Lee Chandler adapting to his grief as he leaves Manchester by the Sea for a new life. Affleck is poignant in showing the despair in the man somewhat quelled but always present as he bids farewell to his older brother and nephew. It's pretty heartbreaking, especially when you view these scenes in context of the first scenes we see Affleck in the film, as he's presented as a janitor in Boston, making do with some pretty outrageous clients and nasty demands, completely ignores advances of women, and gets into fights with random guys in bars. Affleck, though still very much alive, is something of a corpse in these scenes, whose eyes, dead and devoid of emotion, makes him little more than a man going through the most minimal of motions and social interactions. His beatdown of the men at the bar is shown not to be out of cruelty or arrogance, but by an inability to handle a situation any way else. This all leads to him gettting a call back to Manchester by the Sea when his brother passes away. Affleck's subtle, nuanced reaction to his brother's death is quite incredible, as we see the emotionless man briefly allow a wave of emotion to overcome him, before settling back into his cold and emotionless state once more. 

The rest of the film, chronologically speaking, deals with how Lee handles the fallout from his brother's death, and a town who has long since considered him to be a stain on their past. Affleck is brilliant in showing how every interaction with the townspeople is performed with a touch of suspicion and uncertainty, a man who's aware that many have talked about him behind his back over the years. He's properly cold and enigmatic, which isn't all gloom and doom, there's a funny sequence where his nephew Patrick tries to get him to flirt with his second girlfriend's mom. Affleck manages to be deadpan hilarious in his complete lack of regard for any sort of small talk. Another even funnier scene is when Patrick, asking if his girlfriend can stay over, implicitly mentions his uncle to cover for them sleeping in the same bed. Affleck is rather funny in showing how Lee can't comprehend why Patrick would have to ask him about something like that, but is also quite moving when Patrick hugs him gently. Affleck shows a man who's lacked any sort of warmth and affection for so long, he's at loss how to deal with it.

The strongest part of the film's writing, direction (outside of two poorly placed cameos), and acting is the relationship between Lee and Patrick. It's often very funny, in a naturalistic fashion, but also very sad as we watch two men confronting grief in their different ways. Patrick's breakdown scene by the fridge is a great scene for Hedges, but Affleck amplifies his work in the right sort of way through his honestly baffled reactions to his nephew's grief. Kenneth Lonergan's screenplay presents a man who has put away all emotions for so long that when they're released in front of him, he can only very ineptly provide feeble comfort. This inability to emhpasize with Patrick comes into play also in the scenes where he tells Patrick they may have to move away from Manchester by the Sea. Affleck is always rather quiet and reserved in dealing with Patrick's anger at this 'selfishness' on behalf of his uncle, and as someone who's too used to the big 'Oscar' scenes in these sort of performances, it was tremendous to see how much nuance and subtletly Affleck gives these moments. You never feel like Affleck's acting, but rather reActing to everything thrown at his character.

The gradual development of the relationship from a certain awkwardness to a certain warmth is extremely well handled by film and screeenplay, and Affleck and Hedges never have to vocalize this. Affleck, in particular, shows slowly how his character opens up to Patrick, not about himself, but as a more compassionate figure. That's not all there is to Affleck's character development, though. There's a climactic scene with his ex-wife Randi that's not quite the saddest scene in the film, but it's quite sad. As I've mentioned, Williams is good at showing an honest breakdown in her character, but I found Affleck even more compelling in showing how his character tries valiantly to remain emotionless, but can't help but feel such a mess of emotions at the brutally honest confessions of his wife. The most remarkable scene in terms of emotional power, though, was the 'I can't beat it' scene. Affleck and Hedges bond so softly and gently over their mutually shared grief, but Affleck's quiet acceptance that he can't overcome the past is utterly devastating. This is a truly amazing performance that, come Oscar time, will be a very deserving winner, although so would Washington, and anyone else from this lineup, even Gosling who just about scrapes into my top 10 for the year would be very worthy of a win.  

1960s Manchester by the Sea directed by Guy Green

Lee Chandler: Stuart Whitman

Patrick: Martin Sheen

Randi: Piper Laurie