Ranking the Oscar Nominees: Best Supporting Actress

And the nominees were:

Mary J. Blige – Mudbound 

This is one of Blige's two nominations this year for Mudbound, the other nomination coming in the Best Supporting Actress category, and is also I believe the debutante nomination for a performance in a Netflix Original film. Blige, known best as a popular R&B singer, had starred in four films previous to this, as well as a string of special appearances on television.

Allison Janney – I, Tonya

One of the industry's most beloved character actresses, Janney has mostly been working prominently in the television spectrum over the past few years, but this marks the first time she's made a serious awards campaign for a cinematic release, taking home a great many plaudits for her acclaimed supporting turn opposite Margot Robbie as Tonya Harding's mother, LaVona Golden.

Lesley Manville – Phantom Thread

Something of a surprise nomination, given the love for Phantom Thread for the Academy overall it probably shouldn't have been, but given that she'd missed out on plenty of precursors it seemed like Manville, like back in 2010 for Another Year, might miss out on the Oscar nom once again. Instead she garnered herself her first nom, and stands out as another example of Paul Thomas Anderson overperforming at the Oscars.

Laurie Metcalf – Lady Bird 

Known best as perhaps Sheldon Cooper's mother on The Big Bang Theory, Jackie on Roseanne, Metcalf has been working steadily in both film and television over the past few years, but this has been a breakout year in terms of awards. She started off as the frontrunner, and though Janney has since overtaken her, it's between the two of them for the final gong.

Octavia Spencer – The Shape of Water

Spencer is now a three-time nominee, having won for The Help and been nominated last year for Hidden Figures, solidfying her ascension into becoming one of Hollywood's go-to actresses for the type of character and performance that only she can truly pull off.

Ranking the nominees:

5. Mary J. Blige as Florence Jackson in Mudbound

Honestly, I don't have that much to say about this performance, and not in a bad way. I certainly thought she was a good part of the film, and made something of her role as the quietly resilient and loving mother. I particularly like the wordless, quiet dynamic she strikes up with Rob Morgan as her onscreen husband as they convey the weary but rich history between the two in an effective fashion. I never thought she had a particular standout scene, though, and this is for the most part just a good performance, never thought it was particularly great, but it's not undeserving I'd say, though there are other actors in the film who I found stood out in a more compelling fashion.

4. Allison Janney as LaVona Fay Golden in I, Tonya

I love the film, and I love the ensemble as a whole, but while this is a good performance, I don't think it's quite a 'great' one. It's entertaining to watch Janney sink her teeth into such a foulmouthed, barbed-tongue and utterly horrible person, and her first few scenes are some of the funniest in the film. The character itself is an entertaining creation, and she has some great individual moments like her defence of her terrible parenting to Tonya, or her funny aside at one point that the story is diverging away from her. But on the whole I wouldn't say she made a huge impression on me, especially when compared to some of her co-stars, and in some ways the makeup for her character does most of the work. Her routine as the nasty terrible mother was fun to begin with, but then it doesn't really go anywhere, nor does it really need to since the film wants her to be a one-note of horribly cruelty. She does well with it, but if I'm honest Margot Robbie kind of steals every scene they share together. It's a good performance with great moments, mostly of the comedic nature, but I wouldn't say she was the highlight of the film.

3. Octavia Spencer as Zelda Fuller in The Shape of Water

Spencer has a somewhat straightforward, fairly consistent role that's right in her usual wheelhouse of the sassy lady who won't take any bullshit from the higher-ups. She's good at doing her usual routine throughout in an entertaining fashion, much like her work in Hidden Figures last year, offering the right amount of humorous support to the more complex roles given to Richard Jenkins, Sally Hawkins, and Michael Shannon. What takes her a bit further this time round is the depth she gives to her growing affection to the fishman, alongside Hawkins and Jenkins, and she's effective in showing how the intensity of the situation grapples with her desire for her friends to come out safe. I found her particularly great in the scene where she is confronted by Shannon's Strickland as she brings such a striking blend of fear and defiance in the same scene. Spencer is never quite the focus of the film, but she always adds to it in a positive way.

2. Laurie Metcalf as Marion McPherson in Lady Bird

As great as Saoirse Ronan is in the film, and I'll get onto her in a bit, I'd say what stands out most about Lady Bird that sets it apart from most teenage dramedy films is in the depiction of its mother figure, both as written and as performed. There have been great performances as poorly written mothers (see: Laura Dern's 2014 work), and lacklustre performances of well-written mothers (see: Boyhood), but rare is that fine Melinda Dillon combination where the actress can be both believable and interesting as often times the more 'stable' characters in quirky films. Metcalf is known nowadays for playing Sheldon Cooper's mother, where she's more than decent, but this marks the first time I've seen her in a truly well-rounded and multidimensional role. 

This is the sort of character you could imagine running into, having a conversation with. Metcalf plays her as neither this terrible mother you can't sympathize with or an overly altruistic and perfect mother you have to love, she presents just a realistic character, an everywoman. Doing this is harder than it seems, and though I can see why some would favour Janney's more over-the-top caricature of a mother figure, I vastly preferred this understated portrayal of the day-to-day life of this overworked nurse, overworked mother, and overworked wife. The film opens with an extended sequence between Metcalf and Ronan as her titular daughter, which sets the tone for many of the pair's interactions. It has to be said that the two are brilliant in any scene together. They generate laughs in such a naturalistic fashion, alternating between one snappy retort after another, one frustrated reaction after another, one loving moment followed by a confrontation, followed by another loving moment. Whether it's arguing about Lady Bird's college choices, her choice of a prom dress, her decision to go to her boyfriend's home for Thanksgiving, or when the best first time to have sex is, these casual interactions between the two are all fantastic. She has a few biting one-liners at her daughter's expense, yet importantly they are never too ill-natured and most importantly, they are all in service of helping her daughter become the 'best version of herself'.  

On her own, Metcalf is remarkable in making a not obviously interesting character so interesting. I particularly love the scenes where we see Marion working at her job, with the warmth she shows in one scene dealing with a patient suffering from depression being particularly great. There's small moments like her reaction to one of Lady Bird's boyfriends mentioning that her daughter had told him about living 'on the wrong side of the track', where her sadness at their family's financial situation and being unable to provide Lady Bird with everything she wants being so heartbreaking. What are the most standout moments of course are her 'big' scenes, which are actually still quite understated. Her reaction to her daughter's disappointment and sadness at losing her virginity is fantastic, and her final scene is mesmerizing. This is a performance I find I love the more I talk about it, and come Oscar time, out of the nominees with a feasible shot at the Oscar I really, really hope she wins. 

1. Lesley Manville as Cyril Woodcock in Phantom Thread

'Cyril is right, Cyril is always right'. She certainly is, Reynolds, and also she may well be my favourite character in Phantom Thread, which with a re-watch and even more thought I have to say, may well be my new Best Picture choice. Manville's performance is quite striking in that she doesn't even have all that much dialogue or focus, yet the writing behind the character is far from insubstantial, in fact I'd say that he's crafted perhaps one of his most intriguing and complex characters in what appears to be at first Anderson's take on Judith Anderson's Mrs Danvers from Rebecca (down to the way Manville's hair is tied him and the prim, proper posture she walks with), and soon evolves into something quite different altogether.

It should be said first that her performance is outstanding immediately in terms of the word 'supporting', as he supports the great performances of her co-stars Daniel Day-Lewis and Vicky Krieps beautifully. With Day-Lewis' Reynolds she's the perfect 'my so-and-so' in her calm, methodical, warm yet incisive assurance where everything seems so easily handled in her hands, I have particular affection for her invocation for Reynolds to dismiss his current paramour, her blunt dismissal of some fans of Reynolds, the palatable warmth yet control she exudes when Reynolds is ill. What I love is how she moves from kind to controlling, empathetic to blunt, in any given scene with Reynolds, both the sister looking out for him and presiding over him, as she shows such complete assurance that she can control everything he does in her own unassuming way, but equally to his benefit as it is to hers. One of my favourite moments of hers in this regards is when she chastises Reynolds for childishly complaining about attending to a client, without raising her voice and still speaking somewhat in pleasantries she's rather dynamic in essentially ordering Reynolds to behave, while showing just a touch of humour in her 'oh don't be such a baby' matter-of-fact voice.

Then with Krieps' Alma she's even greater in showing a strange sort of fascination, disdain, affection and jealousy all at once towards her. Her scenes of examining Alma are particularly outstanding, one particular moment which has stuck with me where she glances over this new young lady at the breakfast table before breaking into a somewhat warm, accepting smile, that carries just enough of a tinge of 'I like you but keep to your place', that's quite remarkable. When Alma attempts to come into conflict with either her or Reynolds, she's quite marvellous as with very choice words she can be so intimidating, her gentle chastisement of Alma being too loud at the breakfast table is a great sequence, and another one where she battles with her to essentially have control over Reynolds when he is at his weakest state as she beautifully weaves between a genuine concern for Reynolds and a strict desire to have things done her way. She yet also seems to show something of an affection or fondness for Alma, and at times something of a disregard for Reynolds, exemplified beautifully in another scene where Reynolds comes whining to her as she essentially tells him 'fuck that noise' in the most blunt, polite yet incisive manner possible; and perhaps her best scene, where she brutally cuts down Reynolds when he tries to hold her affection for Alma against her, 'I'll go right through you, and it'll be you who ends up on the floor', and that scene, as well as many others, really have me rooting for a Manville upset at the Oscars.

Ranking the Oscar Nominees: Best Director

The nominees are: 

Christopher Nolan – Dunkirk

This is strangely enough, Nolan's first director nomination. While I maintain that he should've been nominated for Memento, The Prestige, The Dark Knight and Inception and you could make a compelling argument for him to win all four, it's quite fitting that his first nomination comes from the film that arguably hinges the most upon his direction. He was considered to be the frontrunner at the beginning of last year to win the gong, but early release date for the film and the general awards narrative trending away from him have resulted in him collecting only a few citations, though being nominated uniformly across the board.

Jordan Peele – Get Out

Peele, another debutant nominee, struck gold in deciding to direct, produce and write Get Out as he is now already a three-time Oscar nominee in one year. Ask me a year or so ago whether I could imagine that hilarious half of the Key and Peele duo would be nominated for the Oscar in a highly competititve year, for directing a race social commentary, I'd have said, well, get out of here. I should note too, that he probably deserves an award of some sort just for this skit alone but I digress.

Greta Gerwig – Lady Bird

Gerwig, alongside her nomination for her breakout screenplay, has also garnered a nomination for her directing, achieving all of these before getting a nomination for her acting. She'd previously been the in the conversation in previous years for her work with Noah Baumbach and Twentieth Century Women last year. I have to say I'm a huge fan of her in interviews as she gives such astute yet unpretentious advice and anecdotes to aspiring directors, in fact all of these five nominees seem like great personalities as well as talented individuals.

Paul Thomas Anderson – Phantom Thread

A real dark horse nomination, who is incidentally the only one of these individuals who has previously been nominated for a Best Director Oscar. Anderson's reputation needs no further introduction if you know anything about film, alongside the Coen Brothers he's probably The Master of Cinema in more ways than one. The success of Phantom Thread with the Academy may have seemed surprising at first, but given how much they love Anderson (rightly so) in general, perhaps not so much.

Guillermo del Toro – The Shape of Water

Finally, everyone's favourite cuddly director of weird things, Guillermo del Toro rounds up this lineup. I'd assume he'd previously come close to getting a nomination for Pan's Labyrinth, which got a lot of love from the Academy.  Having won both the Golden Globe and the BAFTA now, it seems like he's bound for Oscar glory. Every speech he gives makes del Toro look increasingly like a young imaginative boy getting acclaim for his childhood creatures, and I have to say it's hard to root against him.

Ranking the nominees: 

This is one category which, while I had no problem choosing my top choice, I found it immensely difficult to rank them, given that I think all five directors do impeccable work that suits their respective films perfectly. I should also note that while I would never support awards organizations simply trying to fill a 'diversity quota' with their nominations, I do love the diversity among this group of nominees not just in terms of race and gender, but also style of filmmaking.

5. Greta Gerwig for Lady Bird 

I rank Gerwig 'lowest' not because her work is any less impressive than others. She more than holds her own against the rest of the competition, and if she ends up winning I would be incredibly happy. It's sort of the Spotlight of this year's nominees, as like Tom McCarthy's work on that film, it's solid, unshowy work that gets the job done, though I'd say Gerwig goes a few steps further in making her own little touches to her own material that end up working really well. Her work on directing the comedy scenes is worthy of note as it's palatable what a great environment she gave the actors to work within, with such naturalism to the performances it's hard to imagine Gerwig's background as an actress not playing into it. The editing of the film is an underrated part of it, and bonus points thus for Gerwig clearly designing scenes in a way where both punchlines and emotional beats are delivered in a snappy way that never lags. I entirely bought into the deeply personal yet universal tone of the film she was making, and I really hope she directs something else soon.

4. Jordan Peele for Get Out

Given my great love for the film, again it might seem strange to rank their direction of the films relatively low. What I will say is that though their work as directors are great, it is their screenplays which are the highlights of their respective films. Peele's direction on Get Out is exceptional, even without taking into account he's a first-timer. He directs horror like a seasoned veteran, and I have to say that unlike say Andy Muschetti for It, whose film I did like, he never telegraphs any of the 'scares', and rather lets the film's tense, unrelenting atmosphere of tension and discomfort slowly seep over the viewer, and adding in his own unique brand of comedy in short little spurts that creates quite the eclectic, one-of-a-kind blend. And when the weirdness starts escalating Peele's direction ups the ante in a particularly effective fashion. I would say that the screenplay is the main thing that stands out as the film proceeds, nothing against the direction since the screenplay is fantastic, but in the third act where the film turns up the creep and tension factor, Peele's work as a director is sensational as he does so much with the existing horror tropes, particularly in his depiction of Chris' intelligence and fury working together to save his skin, and the brilliant subversion of the expected ending. Again, like Gerwig, I'd say their brilliant screenplays stand out more than the direction, but the direction is great nevertheless.

3. Guillermo del Toro for The Shape of Water

I'm not sure whether I prefer his work on Pan's Labrinyth work his work here, but this is easily del Toro's best English language film yet. Del Toro is working with a particularly cutesy and ridiculous script and story, and embraces it wholly as you'd expect a director of his calibre. There is something quite special about the renowned director man-child (I mean that in a very good way, not a David O. Russell way) playing around with a creature from his childhood memories and directing it in a way that only he would ever dare to, and while I would say there's a few scenes I could have done without - some of Giles' backstory could have been cut out (though that's more of the screenplay), a little more nuance at the beginning with Michael Shannon's character could have enhanced the impact of his villainy - I absolutely loved everything else he brought to the table. He begins and ends the film with an impeccable setting up and release of tone, and draws you into this fantasy world you really feel you're sharing with him. There's such a pulsating affection for not just the fishman, but all the characters, good or bad, all the settings ugly or beautiful, in del Toro's hands, and perhaps Tim Burton could take a few pointers from Mr del Toro nowadays as he shows how to balance weirdness and wackiness with genuine passion and feeling in a way that shows its influences, and crafts its own unique little beast. Also, kudos to him for managing to direct this on a budget of 19 million USD - that's surely worthy of commendation.

2. Christopher Nolan for Dunkirk

Where del Toro was working from a very simplistic script, Nolan was by all accounts working from no script at all. This could have resulted in a complete mess of a film, especially with the three separate storylines taking place in different time frames that cross over, and the epic scope of the Dunkirk evacuation. Nolan's work here is impeccable as he creates a minimalist, often silent war film where characters only speak when it is really necessary, as is the nature of war, and the relentless intensity of warfare never relents even in the quieter moments, as is the nature of war. I've discussed how the cinematography, sound and score - and editing, which I'll soon discuss - of Dunkirk is absolutely essential to its success. It's Nolan who combines all these elements together, and orchestrates them into the mesmerizing symphony that is perhaps the highest form of his modus operandi: efficient and to-the-point filmmaking that creates complexity, atmosphere, and emotion not through over-complication of plot or characters, but just through his impeccable technique. His precise and indelible attention to detail and nuances help make up the grand picture. It's arguably his best work as a director.

1. Paul Thomas Anderson for Phantom Thread

As much as I loved the work of the four other nominees, this was a pretty easy choice for me. I need a bit more time to ruminate, but Anderson's work on Phantom Thread might be his career-best. I've seen the film twice now and not once did it lose me throughout its run-time. I think the best thing about his work on Phantom Thread is that you never feel his hand in anything guide you along, he simply balances all the technical, thematic brilliances of the film and allows you, the viewer, to bask in them. Again, I have to wait until I have time to do a more detailed review/analysis of the film to give my input into the various brilliant things Anderson does with his direction, but like one of Reynolds Woodcock's dresses, its immaculate, beautiful, cruel, exact, alluring and controlled work that combines everything you love about films into one stunning package.

Ranking the Oscar Nominees: Best Original Screenplay

The nominees are:

The Big Sick – Emily V. Gordon and Kumail Nanjiani

Probably the most interesting narrative behind it out of all the nominees, as Gordon and Nanjiani, a real-life couple, based it (loosely) upon the own challenges they experienced in the early stages of their interracial relationship, with the main character even sharing the exact same name, and played by Nanjiani himself. Out of the nominees this was perhaps the least 'locked' into getting a nomination, and it's the only one it garnered, with its only other possible opportunity having been Supporting Actress for Holly Hunter.

Get Out – Jordan Peele

Peele, one of my favourite sketch comedians working today (alongside his partner in crime Keegan Michael-Key), originally envisaged the screenplay as a subversion of the 'high school reunion' story where an African-American male feels like an outsider among a group of liberal white school-friends of his girlfriend. He subsequently re-drafted it into a horror movie subversion of Guess Who's Coming to Dinner, and integrated timely issues of racial tension, exclusion, and the objectification of the African-American experience into the script. This is one of Peele's three nominations this year.

Lady Bird – Greta Gerwig

This is I believe Gerwig's, best known for her work as an actress particularly her collaborations with Noah Baumbach, first proper screenplay to get made into a film, and also her first nomination, and one of her two nominations this year. She has described the screenplay as being not based directly on anything that happened in her teenage years, but rather took inspiration from her memories and feelings as a teenager growing up in her small hometown, and capturing that sort of atmosphere and tone. She's spent years working on the screenplay, originally entitled Mothers and Daughters.

The Shape of Water – Guillermo del Toro and Vanessa Taylor

The idea for the conception of this screenplay was very interesting, as it came about from a discussion by del Toro with novelist Daniel Kraus, who has since published a novel jointly released with the film. Inspired by his memories of watching Creature from the Black Lagoon and rooting for the titular creature to have a happy ending to his romance, him and Vanessa Taylor set about creating a story which, set in this heightened reality of 60s Baltimore, involves the earnest, loving treatment of this concept.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – Martin McDonagh

The inspiration for the screenplay was apparently, McDonagh driving past billboards specifying the details of some unsolved crime around the Georgia, Florida, Alabama area, which he created a narrative around and wrote characters specifically with his two principal actors, Frances McDormand and Sam Rockwell, in mind. This is McDonagh's second nomination, after his flawless work in 2008 got one and lost to Milk.

Ranking the nominees:

5. The Shape of Water

A bit of a weak link in this lineup, I'd say, the film is rather delightful overall as a product of Guillermo del Toro's vision, but the screenplay itself, while never problematic or bad, is not on the same level as the other nominees, and indeed many of the other screenplays snubbed, and I'd say that out of the 13 nominations the film received this is the only one I have real issue with being nominated. It takes the usual generic tropes of the 60's and takes them up to 11, with extremely evil, extremely good characters, and indeed Michael Stuhlbarg's character is possibly the only character with any real nuance or ambiguity to his characterisation. The dialogue flits between being rather lovely and sweet in its earnest, if unsubtle intentions, and over-the-top in its thematic intentions, particularly in the scenes where it addresses issues like homophobia and racism. I might be sounding very negative about it, but there are good things, the opening and closing lines have such a beauty to them, the discussions of love are often quite heartfelt, and it's actually surprisingly funny at points, but as a whole the screenplay isn't a great, though the film itself is.

4. The Big Sick

The rest of the nominees here are all pretty outstanding, and I hate to rank them. Nanjiani and Gordon's screenplay is great as it strikes the fine line between being a realistic examination of relationships, and a more crowd-pleasing dramedy. Its weakest parts are when it strays too far from the central story of the character out of sync with his own family, his girlfriend, and girlfriend's parents, for example the bits with his standup comedy friends could have een entirely excised, as well as I'd say one or two of the scenes with his other prospective girlfriends which do steer the film too closely to a typical Hollywood comedy. Otherwise, it's a fantastic screenplay. It manages to create a rather affecting central romance with understandably limited time, creates the unique family dynamic of the Pakistani American family well, and most notably the interactions between Kumail and Emily's parents is particularly great, as the writers hit the emotional beats just as well as the comic ones, often times within the same scene. Whether it's the mom calling out the racist frat boy, a quiet discussion about infidelity, and the very well developed arc where the girlfriend's parents find such a strange sort of kinship with the you man, it makes the film stand out as one of the more refreshing entries into the rom-com genre in recent years. 

3. Lady Bird

I hate to rank this in third place. I really, really do, and I should note that my personal top 5 for Best Original Screenplay this year are in a league of their own (I'll discuss the other two in my top 5 soon).  I could probably switch this with Three Billboards at any point given that I do think it is the more 'flawless' screenplay. Though it is perhaps not the most 'original' screenplay ever in terms of its conception, being very much a straightforward coming-of-age story in its general conceit, I thought it was beautifully executed in terms of execution of it. The mother-daughter relationship is of course, the highlight of the film and writing, and I loved how Gerwig never picks sides between the two in their conflicts, clearly defining both sides of the arguments and making their interactions flow in such a naturalistic fashion, I thought the scene where they're in a store buying Lady Bird a dress for Thanksgiving was particularly evocative of a real-life parent and child interaction you'd hear just about anywhere. These interactions are funny without mocking the characters, and makes the happiness, frustrations, love and anger between the two flow in a truly exceptional fashion, and builds up to some of the most tearjerking moments of film this past year.

That is of course, the highlight of the film and the main area it excels, but on other fronts it is very written too. The grieving pastor, the sidelined best friend, the adopted quirky brother, the depressed dad, the pretentious artsy-fartsy boyfriend and the closeted gay young man are all depicted with sensitivity and without judgement, and Gerwig plays them off Lady Bird in a way that feels like you get to know all of them so well. I found the film entirely believable throughout, okay maybe the high school football coach becoming a drama teacher veers a bit into caricature territory but I still found it hilarious, so that's okay, and more importantly finds genuine feeling in its simple, straightforward but thoroughly engaging story. It's a wonderful screenplay, and like the other top two on the list I would love for it to win the Oscar.  

2. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri 

McDonagh is a fantastic screenwriter, and I've been reading some of his plays recently which aren't too shabby either. This is a great screenplay. Perhaps even more so than his previous films, the depiction of the all-consuming nature of guilt is sketched beautifully through Mildred Hayes, and even though there are one or two scenes which might stick out as a bit 'stagey' for the character to 'show off' like the rant against the Catholic church, or the conversation with the doe, I feel McDonagh integrates it naturally into the scheme of the film. The drastic arc undergone by the character of Officer Dixon is absolutely superb, flawless writing. The means by which McDonagh presents obstacles and challenges to the characters might not be perfect at times - there's an unnecessary scene where Mildred comes face to face with the supposed 'villain' which felt a bit out of place - but the end result is undeniably powerful.

What is perhaps even more admirable is the amount of detail McDonagh gives to his side characters. The way Chief Willoughby is integrated into the plot is done in a surprising way that ends up being one of my favourite parts of the film, and though I know some take issue with the letters he leaves behind they're actually one of my favourite bits of writing in the film, and another one being McDonagh's meta-aware subversion of his 'victim meets the assailant' trope and the 'darkly comedic encounter in the hospital' trope he'd established in his previous films to devastating effect, and his unique take on the 'dinner date' and 'bottle of wine' scene which goes in a rather unexpected direction. One could perhaps denote these as overly self-aware touches that take one out of the film, but for me it only amplified it. Beyond all that it's just a really entertaining screenplay that's hilarious when it needs to be, heartbreaking when required, and just a bit of both at times, building to a uniquely McDonagh-ian conclusion that only he could pull off that's both unresolved and deeply satisfying.

1. Get Out

This was a tough choice to make, but I'll have to go with Jordan Peele's script for Get Out for the time-being. It's just a brilliantly crafted screenplay which only gets better with every re-watch of the film, with throwaway lines like 'we couldn't let them go' about Georgina and Walter, the history behind Walter's late night running, Logan's line about having not had enough time to appreciate the African American experience fully, literally every line that comes out of Georgina and Walter's mouth, the set-up for the family's actions in the third act. 

All of these weird little mysterious enigmas, and more, the mysteries peppered throughout the film find their own set of revelations and resolutions in a way which is subtly hinted at throughout without giving the game away. The final act in particular is satisfying just as much due to the writing as it is due to Kaluuya's performance, and Peele's direction. The inclusion of the sunken place creates equal parts horror and emotional impact for the story, and the revelation of Chris' past is given just the right amount of focus to bring the needed impact without hindering the overall pacing of the story. Then there's the humour, in the form of the horror movie best friend and the satirical take on the objectification of the African-American experience by society, which only helps to amplify the film, making certain moments stand out as hilarious, or troubling in its relevance to modern-day society. It's a meticulously crafted piece of work that is one of, if not the, highlight of the film, and is a perfect example of making the most out of the potential of a concept in an equally entertaining, and thematically satisfying, fashion. 

Ranking the Oscar Nominees: Best Costume Design

Beauty and the Beast and Darkest Hour - Jacqueline Durran

Like Sandy Powell two years previously for Cinderella and Carol, Durran has the unique distinction of being double nominated in the category (which raises the question why actors or directors can't be double nominated in the same category, but I digress), and for one 1940s/1950s period piece and one Disney live-action adaptation. Outside of her work this year, she's done work which has been consistently great over years, and are often some of the highlights of the films. Particularly worthy of note would be her other collaborations with Joe Wright, most prominently her dazzling work in Anna Karenina which she won the Oscar for, the distinct take on royalty in Macbeth, and the more low-key but no less stunning work on the likes of Mr Turner and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy.

Phantom Thread - Mark Bridges

Bridges has worked with PTA multiple times, with the costumes for The Master and Inherent Vice particularly impressive, and won the Oscar for The Artist. The work here on Phantom Thread though, is on a whole other level. He's also done work on Fur, The Fighter, and uh, Fifty Shades of Grey and what clothing there was in that film.

The Shape of Water - Luis Sequeira

This is Sequeira's first nomination for yet another period piece here, of 1960s Baltimore, and he's previously worked with del Toro on the television series The Strain, and Andy Muschietti's (It) Mama.

Victoria & Abdul - Consolata Boyle

Boyle's career has been largely defined by her work in British prestige dramas, previously having been nominated for Florence Foster Jenkins and The Queen, as well as her television work on Into the Storm and the television adaptation of The Lion in  Winter starring Glen Close and Patrick Stewart.

Now in terms of ranking the nominees, it's quite easy to pick out my favourite of the lot, Phantom Thread, a film which is literally about dressmaking, and which is every bit as grand and majestic in its beauty as you'd imagine from the hands of Reynolds Woodcock and the lengths to which he takes his 'genius' to make them. I like all the other nominees though, The Shape of Water in particular for its nicely realized period costumes, and the Asset itself which though made up of visual effects and makeup, also required an immaculately made costume for Doug Jones. Victoria & Abdul has lovely Victorian era garms, Darkest Hour has accurate and fitting war period detail clothing for its characters, Beauty and the Beast recreates its animated counterparts well enough. I'll not write too much about it, instead I'll just give you all a visual taste of them., but my quickfire ranking would be:

1. Phantom Thread

2. The Shape of Water

3. Victoria & Abdul

4. Darkest Hour

5. Beauty and the Beast 

Ranking the Oscar Nominees: Best Makeup and Hairstyling

And the nominees were:

Darkest Hour - Kazuhiro Tsuji, David Malinowski and Lucy Sibbick

Malinoski, Tsuji, Sibbick

Japanese makeup artist Tsuji was brought out of retirement by Gary Oldman to work on the film. He had previously been nominated, of all things, one of the better recent Adam Sandler films (Click) and one of the worst Eddie Murphy ones (Norbit). His work on both was admittedly very good, though I'd say the highlights of his career have been elsewhere, from his work on the extreme prosthetics for the Hellboy films and How the Grinch Stole Christmas, to his work in turning Joseph Gordon-Levitt into a young Bruce Willis in Looper. Malinowski, the make-up supervisor (whose body of work can be found here, http://www.theprostheticsevent.co.uk/portfolio-item/david-malinowski/) and Sibbick, too, have a strong body of work, from Malinowski's work on Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them and the upcoming sequel, and Sibbick's work on makeup and hairstyling-heavy films like Hercules, World War Z and Zoolander 2.


Victoria & Abdul - Daniel Phillips and Lou Sheppard

Sheppard, Phillips

Sheppard was part of the team which did the tremendous hairstyling work on John Adams, as well as other outstanding examples of work in Made in Dagenham, Guardians of the Galaxy, and last year alone Fantastic Beasts, Florence Foster Jenkins and Allied of which at least one should have garnered her a nomination. Phillips stellar filmography thus far has largely been centered around British prestige films like the television version of Bleak House, The Queen and of course Florence Foster Jenkins which he collaborated with Sheppard upon.

Wonder - Arjen Tuiten

Tuiten on the set of Maleficent

This is Tuiten's first nomination. Impressively, his first credit goes all the way back to 1995 when he was merely 15 years old, and from the early 2000s has already worked ob all manner of productions, from the immaculate makeup work on Big Fish and Pan's Labrinyth, to prosthetics designer on Unbroken.

My ranking of the nominees -

3. Victoria & Abdul 

All three of these are at the very least decent choices. I don't think there was anything particularly great here that needed to be awarded, the hairstyling all seems fine and fitting to the period, as is the makeup, but never stood out beyond that point. I suppose a film of this calibre though doesn't really deserve innovation on its technical fronts, and having said that this is easily one of the better partso f the film.

2. Wonder

Tough choice between these two, and I will say that perhaps Wonder's makeup does look more 'realistic', so to speak, in a general sense. It's pretty impressive work, evoking something like Mask albeit on a smaller scale, and most importantly it always felt like a real-life condition, speaking of which though the film isn't flawless on the whole, I really liked its presentations of a realistic struggle through disabilities.

1. Darkest Hour

I've heard reservations about the makeup being too over-the-top and distracting in certain scenes. Now I'll grant that there's perhaps a moment or too where Churchill's fake chin looks ever so slightly fake, but for the most part I thought it looked amazing and entirely natural to the character of ol' Winston, and like Tremblay I never felt it hindered the nature of the performance, as it seemed to almost accentuate the best moments of Oldman's performance by the sheer visual impact of this unique specimen of man fighting along in the darkest hour.

Ranking the Oscar Nominees: Best Original Score

And the nominees are:

Dunkirk – Hans Zimmer

This is Zimmer's 10th nomination, and his third consecutive one for a Christopher Nolan film. He's at this point in his career as much of a household name as many of the acting nominees, even, having spun out iconic soundtrack after iconic soundtrack for films as varied as Gladiator, The Lion King, Rain Man, The Last Samurai and his last war epic, The Thin Red Line.

Phantom Thread – Jonny Greenwood

Radiohead's lead guitarist and keyboardist has gotten his first Oscar nomination, finally writing a wrong which Mark Kermode explores in detail in the video above. He really should have been nominated for There Will Be Blood a decade ago, but he's done some other sterling work in his other collaborations with Paul Thomas Anderson, We Need to Talk About Kevin, and I hear the soundtrack to Norwegian Wood is great too.

The Shape of Water – Alexandre Desplat

Desplat is someone whose earlier work was in films I either haven't seen or didn't care much for, with a few exceptions like The Painted Veil, although his body of work was consistently good. Since 2010 he's been consistently putting in great work in excellent films, from prestige dramas to Hollywood blockbusters, and a personal favourite of mine being the score to The Grand Budapest Hotel which very deservedly won the Oscar for that year. In 2017 he also scored Valerian and Suburbicon, and this upcomnig year will be scoring two of my most anticipated films, Isle of Dogs and Kursk.

Star Wars: The Last Jedi – John Williams

When there's a Star Wars film scored by John Williams coming out that's not a prequel, a nomination is but a certainty - although if I'm honest, regardless of what you think about the prequels the music in them is at parts quite phenomenal - and this is Williams' record-breaking 50th nomination. He's been producing high-calibre blockbuster music for more than 40 years now, and his consistent recognition by the Academy is testament to his talents.

Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri – Carter Burwell

It's absolutely outstanding that Burwell's been getting more love over these past few years from the awards scene. His collaborations with the Coen brothers, most notably Miller's Crossing and Fargo, have been underrated for far too long, with Fargo particularly badly snubbed since they actually had two categories/ten nominees for that year, and his first nomination came just two years ago for his excellent work on Carol. Three Billboards marks his second collaboration with Martin McDonagh.

My ranking of the nominees:

5. Star Wars: The Last Jedi - John Williams

Solid work as usual is the very bare minimum for Williams, and he certainly delivers here on all fronts. I wouldn't say the new themes stand out in particular, they certainly never detracted from the film but nothing overly memorable. Themes like 'Chrome Dome' and 'The Battle of Crait' are all suitably rousing, 'Canto Bight' suitably vibrant, 'Who Are You'?' is atmospheric enough, but what stands out the most is the remixing and revitalising of old existing tunes, and I will admit a particular affection for the variations on 'The Force' theme throughout, particularly in 'A New Alliance' and 'Peace and Purpose' where though the highlight of the scenes are elsewhere, help to amplify them.

4. Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri - Carter Burwell

Somewhat derivative score, and refined as Burwell's excellent Philip Glass impersonation with Carol, but I'm glad it was nominated, as it is a very good part of a great film. It creates this vibrant yet deeply sombre mood for the scenes on the film where McDonagh's dialogue isn't filling in the spaces, and I have a particular fondness for how it adds to the poignancy of the crucial moments in 'Sorry Welby' and 'My Dear Anne'. The recurring motif is fairly repetitive, but in a way that I think works really well for the film, and when I think about my favourite moments in the film the music usually comes in accordance with it, though I will admit the most memorable musical sequences don't involve Burwell directly through 'The Last Rose of Summer' and 'His Master's Voice'.

3. The Shape of Water - Alexandre Desplat

Excellent fairytale work that fits the water-like tone and flow of the film in the right sort of way. It's not quite as haunting as say, the Pan's Labyrinth score, but it does not need to be as this is such different sort of film where idealism and heightened reality seeps through its veins. The tunes reminded me of Danny Elfman's work on Edward Scissorhands in the best possible way, with the main theme's use of whistling, used to represent Elisa, and the strings, in a way which Desplat himself described as 'playing arpeggios like waves'. This particular refrain is used brilliantly throughout the film, bookending it beautifully, but there's other beautiful little touches throughout like Elisa's theme which is so sprightly and enjoyable to listen to, or the beautiful sense of love and water washing over you when you listen to 'Overflow of Love'.

2. Dunkirk - Hans Zimmer

Zimmer's latest soundtrack is quite the masterpiece, which despite its bombastic nature never distracts from the film, and instead feels like such a natural part of it. It's easy to miss the craftsmanship to his work here if you're not paying attention because of how seamlessly it is integrated into the sound design of the film, where the ticking clock motif for the soundtrack being a particular stroke of genius in how it creates such a pulse-pulsating urgency throughout. The frentic pace is brought to life beautifully by Zimmer, most notably in 'Supermarine' where the use of the propellers and meshing of that fast-paced percussion sound makes us feel so in the moment of the battlefield, balancing the sounds of what characters can hear and the score's evocation of how they feel, the build up from the intense to the inspirational in 'Home', to the brooding, intense atmosphere in 'The Oil'. Benjamin Wallfisch's work with Zimmer must also not be ignored as their work on 'Variation 15' which brings the film to such a stunning closure is rather remarkable in arranging Elgar’s Nimrod. Another example of their great work in re-arranging the sountracks can be found in Blade Runner 2049 but I'll get onto that some other time.

1. Phantom Thread - Jonny Greenwood

This was actually pretty close between the top 2, and I hate to have to choose between these two scores as they are the works of such great, and such distinctly talented musicians. In the end, I'll go with Greenwood whose work here is exceptional, and tops even his sensational work on There Will Be Blood. I've heard a criticism of the film's score that it telegraphs emotions too much, but I disagree, in fact I think it's actually cleverly used to create a stark emotional contrast in certain scenes. More intense themes like 'The Hem' and lighter themes like 'Never Cursed' and 'Boletus Felleus' certainly overpower scenes in their own different ways, but I never felt they directed the audience how to feel, they set the tone but also feel so naturally part of the scene, that it's as if the character's movements are in accordance with the songs, unknowingly, like 'The Hem' where the unstable energies of the strings create such a nuanced sense of urgency. Then there's absolutely stunning, sumptuous scores like 'For the Hungry Boy', and 'House of Woodcock' where the simple use of piano creates the perfect rhythm of a courtship and a day in Reynolds Woodcock's ordered life, which Greenwood subsequently chooses to deconstruct along the way with themes like 'I'll Follow Tomorrow' where he creates the sense of an artist's discontent with such beautiful rhythms, or the darkly comical touches to 'Barbara Rose' and 'Endless Superstition'. My absolute favourite, though, has to be the titular theme which is utilized in such a wide variety of contexts, my absolute favourite being how it is used to cap off the film's brilliant finale.

Ranking the Oscar Nominees: Best Actor

Washington; Oldman
Kaluuya
Chalamet; Day-Lewis

And the nominees were:

Timothée Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name

With his first Oscar nomination, Chalamet has become the third-youngest Oscar nominee in the Best Actor category since Jackie Cooper and Mickey Rooney in the 1930s. Throughout awards season, despite getting nominated and even occasionally winning across the board, the nomination for the Academy Awards still seemed in question due to his youth and relative inexperience, and the fact he was acting opposite a veteran character actor, Michael Stuhlbarg, who was expected to steal some of the awards buzz, and Armie Hammer who is actually top-billed over Chalamet (though he's most certainly supporting).

Daniel Day-Lewis, Phantom Thread

His sixth nomination for his first film in 5 years, and apparently his 'final' performance. And it's Daniel Day-Lewis. What else is there to say? This nomination was in the bag as soon as the project was announced, but what about the performance itself? I'll get to that in a bit - though I will say that out of these nominees, funnily enough, he probably has the lowest probability of winning, given that the relatively young Kaluuya and Chalamet have a lot of goodwill behind their campaigns, Oldman is seriously overdue, and Washington missed out last year for a career-best performance, while DDL already has three of them for Christy Brown, Abe Lincoln and the oilman.

Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out

Kaluuya's performance is particularly noteworthy, not just because at the age of 28 he's a relatively young nominee like Chalamet, but also he's starring in a horror film which while not unheard of in the acting categories, is certainly a rarity. Kaluuya's won his fair share of awards this season, but mostly of the critics awards sort. Despite being nominated at the Globes, BAFTA, SAG and many other important precursors, there was always a chance he'd miss out in favour of either a bigger name star or a more 'awards-friendly' role, since Chris Washington is essentially the straight man in a film filmed with other more overt, showy performances.

Gary Oldman, Darkest Hour

 

In case you were wondering, this is Gary Oldman's second - yes, only his second - Oscar nomination. Ridiculous, isn't it? Oh yeah, and he's winning. For sure - he's won the Globes (with his very first nomination EVER), SAG, and is almost 100% going to win BAFTA. It's easily the most typically Oscar-baity role of the lot - big transformative portrayal of a historical figure - and as to whether that's a good thing or not...will get onto that in a bit.

Denzel Washington, Roman J. Israel, Esq. 

The 'surprise' nominee of the lot, though with the precursors he had with the Golden Globe and SAG he's not THAT surprising, and given the recent James Franco controversies this was the most likely way things were going to pan out. This is Washington's impressive eighth nomination, and sixth in the Lead Actor category. Maintaining such a consistent slew of nominations over a 30 year period is no mean feat, and Washington should be applauded for that alone.

Ranking the nominees: 

5. Gary Oldman as Winston Churchill in Darkest Hour

The film may be a bit problematic in just how over-the-top it is in its patriotism and on-the-nose 'crowd-pleasing biopic' qualities, but I still thoroughly enjoyed it, and Oldman is the most essential reason why. This might not be the most 'accurate' portrayal of Churchill ever - Lithgow on The Crown and Gleeson in Into the Storm are probably closer to the real deal - but heck, it's easily the most entertaining, bombastic portrayal of him, some might take issue, I didn't. His tics and mannerisms, his voice and accent, his gestures, they might not be pitch-perfect Churchill but I found them consisntely entertaining and engaging. His big speeches, at the Commons, or barking right in Stephen Dillane's face, are all brilliantly performed, they are perhaps the very definition of 'Oscar-bait' but they are uniformlystrong moments from a performance perspective. I particularly liked how Oldman didn't go full volume or over the top in every moment, showing some of Churchill's cunning and wit at using his voice, shouting only when necessary and tactfully pulling back when the situation requires, and showing far more of the cunning side of the man than a lesser actor would have allowed. He handles the comic bits fine - a few feel a bit like uninspired 'har de har wacky eccentric Churchill' moments.  My particular favourites being his little affectionate asides to his wife Clementine (Kirsten Scott Thomas) as he lovingly mocks the both of them for their age, the scenes where he playfully toys around (respectfully) with Ben Mendelsohn's King George. Even the more awkward comic moments like his reaction to having done the 'V-sign' in a vulgar fashion, or his faux French, are handled well. He struggles with some of the schmaltzier bits, like  the entire Underground sequence, but that's more on the film than him. Though the film is very far from perfect, I found it to be a consistently entertaining and engaging experience thanks to Oldman's solid portrayal of the WWII Prime Minister.

4. Denzel Washington as the titular character in Roman J. Israel, Esq. 

Now this is a critically panned film I'll admit I didn't mind much, but there are a great deal of problems with it, notably in the third act where it completely drops the ball with downright terrible pacing and plot structure. Having said that Washington is consistently great in his creation of the offbeat and somewhat endearing central character, a far cry from Lou Bloom in director Dan Gilroy's last film Nightcrawler in terms of writing, but less so in terms of the quality of performance. I always appreciate when a character on the autistic spectrum is portrayed in a convincing and respectful and Washington certainly does that here, as he never uses it as a crutch for doing eccentricities for eccentricities' sake. Many of the best moments in this performance are the silent ones where he shows just how out of depth this astute, intelligent but tragically un-street smart man with good intentions, who takes one bad turn after another into a hole he can't dig himself out of.

Washington, despite the somewhat overly brisk nature of the film, has some standout scenes, like his hapless negotiation of a plea bargain for his client and his silent, powerful reaction to when it causes tragedy, his darkly hilarious failure at a pep talk, his largely silent descent into amorality and growing paranoia, the rather tense scene where he comes face-to-face with a manifestation of his misdeeds, and the scenes where he really shows the struggle to do the right thing. Even after the hour mark or so when the film begins to lose steam and focus, he's good at playing the sudden change in his character's mentality while still cohering it as part of the same character, and has some rather impressive moments in showing the growing ego and self-serving nature of Roman J. Israel clashing with his morals and principles. It's a performance in a flawed film but the performance itself never is, and Washington, while never quite reaching his Fences heights, gives a consistently stellar, against-type performance, and I certainly wouldn't mind a few more performances in lieu of this atypical one.

3. Timothée Chalamet as Elio Perlman in Call Me By Your Name

Chalamet plays young Elio Perlman who spends his summers lounging around in Italy with his family and blossoming into his first romance. Call Me By Your Name is one of those interesting cases of a film where there's not one particular element that stood out to me as particularly great or outstanding, but on the whole I just liked the film a great deal. It's visually compelling though not to the extent of some of the best of 2017, it's well written and decently directed, its moving but not extraordinarily powerful, it's quite beautiful but never quite stunning. The part of the film which comes closest to greatness is Chalamet's performance, and I should say that though my relative lack of love in contrast to the throngs of fans (and there are many of them) may seem like I'm indifferent to the film, it really isn't.

I rather dug his portrayal of a pretentious youth who's at first slightly indifferent, then quite enamoured by the charismatic Oliver (a solid Armie Hammer), his physical acting which depicts this burgeoning attraction and confusion within him quite well, and all the other little relationships with his family and on-and-off girlfriend are well handled too. The film often takes a certian emotional distance from the character, and within these constraints he does manage to depict his emotional journey very convincingly. It's a quiet, subdued performance that really grows on you throughout, conveying every step of his arc rather well, and has one brilliant scene at the very end where he silently, powerfully shows the complete devastation of young Elio by his first (hopefully not last) love against the brilliant song 'Visions of Gideon', which certainly amplifies the power of the moment too. An excellent performance and I'm interested to see what else he has on his plate in the future.

2. Daniel Kaluuya as Chris Washington in Get Out

The perfect leading performance to the best horror film of this decade so far. Granted, I absolutely love Get Out, and thus my thoughts on this performance may be a lot more enthusiastic than some, but I've found this to be such an interesting performance to examine even though on the surface, it may seem simple and easy as just your typical horror movie. The least showy performance of this set of nominees, Kaluuya to start things off is just a very engaging everyman, at the outset, who just loves his girlfriend Rose Armitage (Allison Williams) and is slightly concerned about being introduced to her family (but don't worry, they would have voted for Obama for a third time). Kaluuya portrays the growing unease as the family's excessive pandering to him, from the liberal father to the deadbeat martial arts-obsessed son, on account of his race, though not wholly troublesome yet, begins to make him feel even more out of place than he already was. He's quite the endearing straight man to the awkward dark humour of these scenes as he internalizes this discomfort within an exterior of polite amiability to his hosts.

As the film gradually builds up into a horror movie, Kaluuya is fascinating in just how brilliantly he navigates through all the different roles Chris finds himself in. As the befuddled guest subject to scrutiny by the good ol' rich white folks in the area with some rather peculiar interests in him, his body and his fashionable 'black'-ness, he strikes the perfect balance between being caught off guard, irritation, and yet comforting himself and his incredulous best friend over the phone that everything's okay, they're just not used to black people. His interactions with the other African American individuals on the estate are particularly great too, as he brings so much in his 'wtf' reactions to their strange behaviours and mannerisms, and I have particular affection for his hilarious 'this bitch is crazy' after interacting with Georgina (the brilliant Betty Gabriel). As things escalate though, the darker side to Chris is revealed as we learn about his tragic past through a hynopsis scene with his girlfriend's mother, which is undeniably the highlight of Kaluuya's performance as the painful memories of the past are teased slowly out of him, and he gradually sinks mentally and physically into a catatonic state of the 'sunken place' which is downright amazing physical acting, some of the best I've seen in a long time. After that point as the twists and turns of the film are revealed, Kaluuya delivers in every moment as the sole source of sanity in the crazy, demented situation he finds himself in. I particuarly love his crushing reaction to realizing that he will have to live out the rest of his 'life' in the 'sunken place', and the way he shows how the horror of the situation wears him down to the point of almost no return. Kaluuya's performance is a brilliant performance in what is a somewhat unshowy role, one which encounters so many hurdels which he navigates perfectly, and gives a tremendous portrayal of the reactionary figure to the madness of the film and its heartbreaking emotional core.

1. Daniel Day-Lewis as Reynolds Woodcock in Phantom Thread 

As much as I enjoyed Chalamet and Washington, and loved Oldman and especially Kaluuya, my predictable first choice has to go to the supposed 'final performance' of the acting titan to best all acting titans. It would be awesome if Day-Lewis could garner his fourth win here, no chance of that, but still a man can dream. I'm still a bit in a daze about the film, it's an unquestionable masterpiece, remarkable for a Paul Thomas Anderson film since they usually need a while to settle down for me. This one requires some time to properly examine as well. What I will say is that it is not a Daniel Day-Lewis performance in the way you might expect. This may well be the least appealing character he's ever played at the outset, Bill the Butcher from Gangs of New York had a code of morality and honour and Daniel Plainview did have some regrets about his past, even the dickhead from Gandhi shut his trap quite easily, yes these characters are probably 'worse' people than Reynolds Woodcock, but Reynolds Woodcock is potentially the biggest arsehole he's ever played, and I mean that in the best possible way. An artist of high pretensions, with a set of obnoxious rules and guidelines in his household to help him cultivate his artistic ballast. You may very well think you know where the film is going with this performance, well let me tell you, if you haven't seen it, don't try and second guess anything, just allow yourself to be swept in by the film.

On one hand this individual is kind of like a less nice Newland Archer from The Age of Innocence, refined and restrained with even a similar sort of timbre to his voice, albeit with an accent that resembles something like RP mixed with Transylvanian tongue, but there's moments where he breaks this mould and starts cussing out at fucking Margaret, the fucking doctor, fucking 'chic' which may have elicited the most unexpected laugh all year. He is a fashion designer through and through, every body movement of his as he interacts with his new lover Alma (a terrific Vicky Krieps) as he ruminates over her lack of breasts and promises he shall make them so as if he's Patrick Stewart on Extras, only he's very serious, oh so serious, Woodcock does not joke around and if you question his taste, prepare to feel his unassuming wrath. In the scenes where Reynolds loses his patience it's remarkable as he shows in such a quiet yet troubling fashion how this 'brilliant' man reacts to even a slight questioning of what he's doing is right, carrying on this unease to when his fashion shows are taking place and people make even the slightest little error as if it is a direct attack on his life and his life's work. Even when enthusiastic fans come up to him wishing to be buried in the dress or when an ailing woman falls asleep in her dress, this 'admiration' of his art in such vulgar forms causes him much distress which he conveys in such a peculiar, brilliant fashion.

I'm not going to talk too much about his relationships with the two women in his life, Alma and Cyril (extraordinary Lesley Manville) who's 'always right', but is she really? Or is he just abiding with her in a passive aggressive fashion to keep the memory of their mother happy? As the film moves between him arguing with Alma, seducing Alma, examining Alma from a professional perspective, examining her from a personal perspective, what exactly goes through his mind? Reynolds is deliberately cold and distant, yet somehow also deeply weak and childlike. Just watching him silently go about his work you can immediately tell what he thinks of the clientele of his dresses. He makes chewing on his omelette one of the most pivotal moments of change and exploration in his performance, which is rather extraordinary. I don't think I'm quite ready to write about this performance yet, I'll be re-watching it next week, and I think I'll need s full article on the film to discuss the central trio's performances in detail. It is an equal parts hilarious and haunting in his depiction of an utterly self-absorbed but not at all shallow artist, that's even more fascinating if you examine it alongside Day-Lewis' onscreen persona, and off-screen enigma.