In the editorial office we have already made our predictions for the 2023 Oscars but above all we have clear ideas on what our ideal victories are. We share them with you, starting from the actor categories.
Colin Farrell – Best Actor Nominee for The spirits of the island and Cate Blanchett – Best Actress Nominee for Tar
For those who have mistreated Colin Farrell over the years considering him a “minor” actor, here is proof of an all-round acting ability. I’ve always known he’s good, he reminded me of that with his portrayal of Oswald “Oz” Cobblepot (the Penguin) in the recent The Batman but confirmed it with the role of Pádraicin The Banshees of Inisherin (The Spirits of the Island).
Symbol of the immutability of a place with the tendency to remain the same, Pádraic represents the island itself, its gentle habits and the need to ask for nothing more. When the world he knew cracks and events begin to overturn the balance of all time, the man doesn’t know how to respond and takes refuge in the friendship of his little donkey, who, like him, prefers a few gestures to the din of change, and takes refuge in what he knows, because he is unable to handle the rest. Colin Farrell tells us all this, without overdoing it, with the emblematic irony of an ancient Irish tale.
*** *** ***
Cate Blanchett she is the Goddess destined to wear the golden crown (or statuette in this case) of the 2023 Academy Awards. Protagonist in the controversial role of conductor Lydia Tar within one of the best feature films of the season, yet again it disrupts the circumscribed rules of acting to overwhelm us with an intensity that is difficult to convey in words. In the great power he wields, his Tar he builds a realm of nonsense and anger, which he relieves with the magic of music, towards which he nourishes an immeasurable feeling that surpasses any other emotion present. The emotional earthquake that moves her from her innermost core is unleashed through an incredible management of the body: that flame that burns inside her is sometimes held back by fragile walls of skin and muscles, but at other times we see it burning by burning anything that suggests it to calm down .
We don’t know which side to take, we don’t know whether to love her or hate her, like her we get rid of everything else to believe only in musicand this thanks to an actress who fearlessly immerses herself in the darkness of that character.
Read the review here The spirits of the island And Tar.
Chosen by Silvia Pezzopane.
Brian Tyree Henry – Best Supporting Actor nominee for Causeways
A few days before the ceremony, it is reasonable to think that Ke Huy Quan will hold the statuette for Best Supporting Actor in his hands (Everything Everywhere All at Once), but the heart goes elsewhere. On the night of March 12th it would be wonderful to finally see the great talent of Brian Tyree Henry (the Paper Boi of AtlantaPhastos in Eternals and lemon in Bullet train). His measured performance in Causewaysalongside Jennifer Lawrence, is in fact able to communicate the enormous weight of an unresolved trauma that forces him into a spiral of loneliness, without ever falling into pathetic.
He plays James Aucoin, a mechanic who by chance becomes the only friend and foothold in the life of the protagonist Lynsey, a soldier wounded in Afghanistan. A glance or an imperceptible movement of the lips is enough for him to make emotions and words visible, even those he chooses not to say. His presence in the film, already brief in itself, is limited but it is as if he were always present, so strong and decisive is his role in the overall economy of the story.
Read the review here Causeways.
Chosen by Valeria Verbaro.
Colin Farrell – Best Actor Nominee for The Spirits of the Island
2022 has officially denied the detractors of Colin Farrell, an actor who is sometimes penalized by the wrong roles and often underestimated. If the cynical and disfigured Penguin of The Batman remembered its versatility, The spirits of the island confirmed him as a protagonist capable of restoring the emotional and conceptual tensions of one of the major films of the season.
The face of his Pádraic is that of a marginalized and alienated humanity, oppressed and angry, inadequate and alone. Now dumbfounded in the face of the unreadable upheavals of existence, now swollen with wishful thinking and aggressive frustration. Fragile and funny, tender and desolate mask of a theater-society marked by death, by large and small violence, and by the obstinacy of not being able to understand.
After the Volpi Cup and the Golden Globe, the Academy statuette would be the crowning glory of a memorable rematch.
Read the review here The spirits of the island.
Chosen by Emanuele Bucci.
Michelle Williams – Nominated for Best Actress for The Fabelmans
If there is an actress who this year deserves to hold the statuette for best actress at the Oscars in her hands, it is undoubtedly Michelle Williams. A masterful interpretation of him in Steven Spielberg’s most personal film, The Fabelmansin which she plays Mitzi, the mother of Sammy (director’s alter ego).
The actress seems to pour into a total state of grace which is authentically returned to the camera, mesmerizing the general public. An intense, magnetic acting test that allowed her to stage the poignant feminine fragility hidden under a maternal mantle of audacity. Mitzi Fabelman is given to us by Michelle Williams in full respect of the embodied role and in one of his best performances, caressing the most sensitive sides of the soul.
Read the review here The Fabelmans.
Choice from Annamaria Martinisi.
Angela Bassett – Best Supporting Actress nominee for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever
The return of Black Panther to the cinema was hanging by a thread, but it was able – despite everything – to displace the critics from different points of view. What everyone agreed on, however, was one interpretation in particular. I’m talking about Angela Bassett who returns after 5 years to play the role of Queen RamondaQueen of Wakanda and mother of T’Challa and Shuri.
Angela Bassett exceeds expectations and gives one of the truest and most sincere performances of her career. An extremely difficult role that she lives with an equally difficult story, where reality and fiction coexist. Already this year’s Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award winner, Angela Bassett is also the first actress to be nominated for such a prestigious award for a Marvel role.
Read the review here Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.
Choice from Rebecca Fulgosi.
Cate Blanchett – Nominated for Best Actress for Tar and Brendan Gleeson – Best Supporting Actor nominee for The Spirits of the Island
A woman who believes she is steadfast in her artistic greatness, but will fall because of her too neglected human side. She moves here Cate Blanchett, in the conflict between artist and person, between past vestiges of others and new own buildings. This mirror character of this society and its inhabitants lives on his gestures and his words.
Why the actress puts a piqued ferocity in asserting her power, an overwhelming emotional force in his passions and loves. She marries an acting made of tense nerves and poisonous jokes to a treacherous and selfish character. But a character who won’t give up on anything, who won’t put down her director’s baton. Never. It is the portrait of a person who, despite his meanness, embodies a passion that wants to give him a voice even in the lowest places, even after too many defeats.
*** *** ***
Candidate for The Spirits of the Islandthe Irish actor Brendan Gleeson brought to the screen a granite and realistic acting. His Colm is characterized by grim expressions and gruff acts. Statuary. But it is such a lifelike statue that he has created that we see all the ravages of time upon it. And we touch his awareness of this with our own hands. All the irony he is capable of doesn’t mask that internal pain that he doesn’t know how to accept.
There is a cry of despair carried by the wind on Inisherin. It is that of the violinist played by Gleeson, too aristocratic even to give him a mouth. Yet he managed to get it to us, and we can only reward him for that.
Read the review here Tar.
Chosen by Francis Gianfelici.
Kerry Condon – Nominated for Best Supporting Actress for The Spirits of the Island
And who knew Stacey Ehrmantraut was Irish? After seeing her as Mike’s daughter-in-law in Better Call Saulwe find her catapulted to the Oscars, for the extraordinary role which, together with the performance of Barry Keoghanembellishes The spirits of the islanda film that already shines with interpretations that bring to life a grotesque script with a strong theatrical tone, which has a lot to do with the tradition of the absurd of Beckett, Ionesco and others.
Siobhán’s character embodies a toughness and a sweetness that speak volumes of the love she feels for her brother and the harshness to which life on Inisherin has accustomed her. Condon returns the oxymoronic inspiration that characterizes woman’s actions and feelings through a heightened expressiveness, all in the huge eyes and plaintive accent that make every minute he walks the screen memorable.
Choice from Alessandra Vignocchi.
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