ADVERTISEMENT

CONTENDERS
VARIETY.COM/CONTENDERS
IT’S A WINNER Ben Mendelsohn, center, is memorable in drama “Mississippi Grind.”
Kristopher Tapley
In Contention
Actors and
Movies
Flying
Under the
Radar
This week, Variety kicks
off its coverage of the
2015 Oscar season in
style, with our annual
Awards Launch issue.
But as we dive headlong
into a fray that is
bound , as ever, to recycle familiar talking
points and contenders , we would be
remiss not to pause and shine a light on
worthy players who may well end up getting
buried in the campaign avalanche .
Yann Demange’s “’71,” part of a
triptych of films that introduced the
world to actor Jack O’Connell, premiered
at the 2014 Berlin Film Festival,
but remains one of the best films of
2015. (It was finally released in February.)
A nail-biting cross between “Judgment
Night” and “Bloody Sunday,” and set along
Belfast’s tumultuous Falls Road during
the height of 1971’s Catholic/Protestant
strife, it’s a unique playground for O’Connell,
compared with his breakout work in
“Starred Up,” and his stab at gravitas in
“Unbroken.” It’s worth catching up with
this film for the stirring photography,
razor-sharp editing and Demange’s perfectly
tuned helming.
Ditto Sundance bow “Mississippi
Grind,” released Sept. 25. Writer-directors
Anna Boden and Ryan Fleck hit a
speed bump with 2010’s “It’s Kind of a
Funny Story,” but with penetrating dramas
like “Half Nelson” and “Sugar,” they
had already brought a unique vitality to
the indie scene. In “Mississippi Grind,”
a character study of a man with a gambling
addiction, Ben Mendelsohn delivers
a wonderfully layered performance that’s
so palpable you can almost feel the tremors
in your stomach. Still, it’s hard to see
Mendelsohn competing with other thoroughly
marketed big guns, even with
savvy distributor A24 steering the ship
— though the scrappy New York outfit
is clearly coming into its own with films
like “Ex Machina,” “The End of the Tour”
and “Room.”
Another young indie distributor serving
the art house well is Broad Green Pictures,
with offbeat films like Ramin Bahrani’s
“99 Homes” and James Napier
Robertson’s “The Dark Horse.” “Homes”
has stirred deserved talk for Andrew Garfield
and Michael Shannon, though Laura
Dern is easy to take for granted in a lesscarved-out
role. Most notable, though,
might be Bahrani’s efforts on the page,
creating the kind of character-focused,
genre-flirtatious work that scored points
for “Nightcrawler” last year.
“The Dark Horse,” meanwhile, proved
to be a great opportunity for character
actor Cliff Curtis, who tapped into method
acting for the first time in his career
to portray real-life speed-chess player
and teacher Genesis Potini. As with Mendelsohn,
his work is less about outward
affectation and more about internal drive .
Elsewhere, while Blythe Danner and
Lily Tomlin have rightly drawn awards
chatter for their performances in “I’ll
See You In My Dreams” and “Grandma,”
respectively, Sam Elliott delivers breathtaking
supporting performances in both
films — enigmatic and slick in “Dreams,”
spurned and quite complex in “Grandma”
— and makes both turns look effortless .
Finally, while “Love & Mercy” certainly
looks to remain on the radar , staying
fresh in voters’ minds thanks to intimate,
once-in-a-lifetime Brian Wilson concert
events — and John Cusack and
Paul Dano are sure to draw continued
enthusiasm for their dual depictions of
the fragile artist — here’s hoping Elizabeth
Banks’ beautiful, empathetic performance
(the heart of the movie, really) can
stay in the conversation .
There’s also Bel Powley’s complex portrait
in “The Diary of a Teenage Girl,”
the intriguing metaphor of David Robert
Mitchell’s “It Follows,” and Jason Segel’s
spin on David Foster Wallace in “The End
of the Tour” to consider .
And these are all just the tip of the
iceberg. Hopefully, voters can find time
to sample the work of these worthy contenders
as more robust Oscar campaigns
rev their engines throughout the rest of
the season.
Tapley’s
Predictions
A weekly
snapshot of the
state of the race
BEST PICTURE
› Black Mass
› Bridge of Spies
› Brooklyn (1)
› The Hateful
Eight
› Inside Out
› The Martian
› The Revenant
› Room
› Spotlight
› Steve Jobs
BEST DIRECTOR
› Steven
Spielberg
“Bridge
of Spies”
› Alejandro G.
Inarritu
“The Revenant”
› Lenny
Abrahamson
“Room”
› Thomas
McCarthy
“Spotlight”
› Danny Boyle (2)
“Steve Jobs”
BEST ACTOR
› Leonardo
DiCaprio
“The Revenant”
› Johnny
Depp (3)
“Black Mass”
› Michael
Fassbender
“Steve Jobs”
› Tom Hanks
“Bridge
of Spies”
› Eddie
Redmayne
“The Danish Girl”
BEST ACTRESS
› Cate Blanchett
“Carol”
› Blythe Danner
“I’ll See You In
My Dreams”
› Brie Larson (4)
“Room”
› Jennifer
Lawrence
“Joy”
› Saoirse Ronan
“Brooklyn”
1
2
3
4
16 Top Billing