Image via Complex Original
On January 14th, members of the Academy woke up bright and early to announce their Oscar nominees from 2015. While most of this year's nominees were pretty expected, from Brie Larson in Room to Leonardo DiCaprio in The Revenant, that doesn't mean there weren't some major people and films left out. Jacob Tremblay was cheated. Carol was cheated a Best Picture nomination. Bel Powley and the screenplay for Diary of a Teenage Girl were completely ignored. There's alsoCreed.
Sure, it was certainly a jam-packed year, especially for women, but it's revolting that this this year's acting race forgot so many powerful performances. Not to mention, that not one person of color was nominated in an acting category, a huge step backwards from last year. Anyway, to honor those who should have been acknowledged by the Academy, we've put together a list of our favorite performers (and one major director) who were snubbed this year.
Michael B. Jordan & Tessa Thompson
Just last week Michael B. Jordan seemed like a possible dark horse in the Oscar race. For his work in Creed, where he played Adonis Creed, the son of Apollo Creed in Ryan Coogler's Rocky reboot, he was named Best Actor by the National Society of Film Critics. It's a tremendous performance, one that not only exemplifies Jordan's physical dedicated (dude really bulked up), but his miraculous ability to play vulnerable, stubborn, and even violent. What could have been a simple movie about boxing became much more.
Joining Jordan was Tessa Thomspson, the standout from last year's Dear White People. Thompson's role in Creed could simply be reduced to "love interest," but she adds dimensions to her character, gives her ambitions and desires outside of her burgeoning relationship with Jordan's Adonis. While she stands on the side lines to support her man, you're fully aware that she's her own person, an up-and-coming Philly singer with demons to face. There's never a moment where she feels like anything less.
At least Sylvester Stallone was considered.
Nicholas Hoult
For all its brilliance—and Mad Max: Fury Road is pretty brilliant—it's a pretty cold, distant film. As Max, Tom Hardy is pretty dry, and even Charlize Theron's role as Furiosa is stony (no matter how great it is). Nicholas Hoult, who doesn't necessarily have the showiest role in the film, still manages to give the warmest, sweetest, and perhaps most moving performance in the action film. As Nux, a sick War Boy who really just wants Max's blood, he ends up along for Furiosa's escape ride, first as an antagonistic, a comedic figure, but then as someone who deeply cares about Joe's wives. While it's not the last we'll see of him, Hoult made Nux one of the strangest and most lovable antihero in a role that's not immediately one you're looking out for.
Mya Taylor & Kitana Kiki Rodriguez
One of this year's greatest surprises was Tangerine, a tiny indie that went directly from Sundance to our hearts. The film, a true Christmas movie, follows the day in the life of Alexandra and Sin-Dee-Rella, two black trans women who are sex workers. Newcomers Mya Taylor and Kitana Kiki Rodriguez were found by director Sean S. Baker specifically for the film, and their performances are not only naturalistic and comfortable, but they never ask the audience to pity them. Rodriguez, who plays the foulmouthed Sin-Dee is a revelation as a jealous girlfriend who finds out that her trashy boyfriend has been cheating on her with a cis-gendered woman, "a fish," she calls the girl. Taylor, the quieter of the two, is an ambitious singer, and her attempts to leave the world she's in for something bigger are more moving than anything else this year.
Emory Cohen
There's no doubt that Brooklyn is Saoirse Ronan's film. She steals every scene, and is the main reason why the film is nominated for not only a Best Actress Oscar, but a Best Picture one too. Overlooked, however, is Emory Cohen, a newcomer who had a small, but substantial role as tough kid in The Place Beyond the Pines. In Brooklyn he's the polar opposite, playing a goofy Italian boy who immediately falls in love with Ronan's Eilis after she emgirates to the United States from Ireland. With his earnest smile and intentionally cheesy accent, Cohen really makes his character someone we believe Eilis loves, which gets all the more complicated when she's called back home. It's certainly a supporting role, but in a way, but Cohen gives one of the warmest performances of the year.
Jada Pinkett Smith
It's hard to standout in an ensemble, especially one like Magic Mike XXL, wherever every guy's body is better than the last. Still, as Rome, the owner of a strip club, Jada Pinkett Smith gives the best performance in the film and of her career, most probably. Rome's the most put-together character in the film, easily the one with the most power. She's someone able to resist Mike's charms, and is honestly the scariest, but greatest presence in the comedy-drama. And when she comes back at the end...
Paul Dano
While they picked up steam when Love & Mercy first hit theaters in the summer, Paul Dano and Elizabeth Banks evidentially were forgotten by the Academy. Dano was nominated for a Golden Globe for his role as a young Brian Wilson, whose begin to suffer from some mental health issues while working on Pet Sounds. Dano captures Wilson's genius, his excitement, and his love for his friends and family, but also the darkness that was hiding right under the surface. As the pressure and fame begin to wear on him, Dano portrays a real intense unraveling.
Todd Haynes
Not one director this year was more deserving of an Oscar nomination than Todd Haynes, whose masterpiece Carol was also cheated from a Best Picture nomination. With films like Far From Heaven and Mildred Pierce, it's obvious that the director has been building to this, and he slays it. An adaptation of the Patricia Highsmith novel about two women who fall in love during the Eisenhower era, Haynes direction is stunning, shot to shot. Carol could easily fall into the sentimental, but Haynes creates a healthy distance, shoots it with a coldness that exemplifies the rigid era these two women live in. His film is less about what is said than what passes between two pairs of eyes, subtle gestures that speak more about love than any outright declaration. You'll fall apart, and it's all because of him.
Kristen Stewart
There was a moment where we thought Kristen Stewart would make her way into the Oscars for her understated, but entirely grounded performance in Olivier Assayas's Clouds of Sils Maria. Stewart plays Valentine, the assistant and confidante to a has-been actress who's looking to make a comeback. Valentine runs lines, puts her to bed, and challenges her with conversations about the way the world used to be and the way it is now. It's a huge step away from what was expected of the actress, but there's something assured about her performance here that's unforgettable. We want more.
Greta Gerwig & Lola Kirke
Upon first watch, Mistress America isn't as memorable as the last collaboration between Noah Baumbach and Greta Gerwig. But the comedy, which feels even more slapstick-y than Frances Ha, eventually sticks with you. Like in Frances Ha, Gerwig stars as clusmy, bubbly, but lost New Yorker. She's a little more earnest and deluded here as Brooke, a woman in her late twenties who lives in Times Square and has idea after idea for her life. The problem is she never does anything. But Mistress America is more concerned with Tracy, Brooke's to-be step-sister played by Lola Kirke. Tracy starts school at Columbia and is immediately lonely, but after hanging out with Brooke a ton not only does she begin to figure things out, but she also starts to understand what having someone in your life and using them for your art may mean. Gerwig is reliably masterful, hitting every comedic beat and awkward interaction. Kirke, who stars in Motzart in the Jungle is equally as captivating as a young woman who goes from timid, to confident, to unsure of herself once again. They are a fascinating pair.
Elisabeth Moss & Katherine Waterston
One of this year's most underrated films is Queen of Earth, an Alex Ross Perry chamber piece about two lifelong friends who spend a week at one of the friend's vacation home. Perry's film is a classic melodrama, and as the week goes on, the friendship between the women falls apart. Elisabeth Moss shows that she doesn't need Mad Men to stand on her two feet with her role of Catherine, a woman who loses her father and boyfriend (to a break-up) in the same year. She's insecure, slightly violent, and as the film goes on it becomes a sick pleasure to watch her derail and lash out at the people around her. She has a monologue that's one of the books. Then there's her friend Ginny, an icy woman from a wealthy family who doesn't do much, played by Katherine Waterston. Waterston's sneers, snide comments, and jogging suit are enough to make her performance legendary. It becomes hard to see how these two troubled women were ever friends.