Javier Bardem: Before Night Falls
Tom Hanks: Cast Away
Russell Crowe: Gladiator (winner)
Ed Harris: Pollock
Geoffrey Rush: Quills
What’s Missing
In the final year of the millennium, the nominations for Best Actor were interesting, and naturally could stand some improvement. I’d love to suggest someone from Traffic, but it’s one of those movies where pretty much everyone is a supporting player. Beyond that, as usual, I’ll start with the roles that would never get nominations because of the predilections of the Academy. These include Christian Bale’s amazing turn in American Psycho (because of the topic of the movie) and Jason Statham in Snatch (because Jason Statham). Jared Leto could have possibly swung a nomination for Requiem for a Dream, but might be more supporting. I would have loved to have seen a nomination for Sam Neill for the underknown and underloved The Dish. The two biggest surprises for me are George Clooney for O Brother, Where Art Thou? and Guy Pearce in Memento.
Weeding through the Nominees
5. I didn’t like Quills at all, and that’s going to affect my opinion of Geoffrey Rush. This is such a reprehensible movie in so many ways. I suppose if I’m going to be entirely objective that it’s a good performance. Rush manages to inject a little bit of nuance into a role that doesn’t really lend itself to any sort of nuance. But I dislike the movie so damn much that it’s difficult for me to get beyond that. I want to respect the performance more than I do. I just can’t because of how vile the movie is.
4. I have the opposite problem with Before Night Falls. This is a movie that is more or less genetically programmed to force people to like it, since the main character is both gay and fighting an oppressive government. Not wanting to appear homophobic or in favor of tyranny, you have to say you like the movie. Because of that, it feels like Javier Bardem was nominated because of the role and not because of his performance. Bardem is a damn fine actor and he’s earned a bunch of nominations. I’m just not convinced he earned this one.
3. Russell Crowe’s “Are you not entertained?!” would have become a meme had it happened in a movie ten years later. It remains one of the most memorable moments in a film that seemed destined to win a whole bunch of awards. In truth, this is one of Crowe’s better performances in a career that has a couple of good ones. I want to like the movie more than I do, but the truth is that whenever I think about it, I tend to think more of Joaquin Phoenix than I do Russell Crowe, and that’s not a good sign.
1. I don’t really like Cast Away that much as a movie, but I’m hard-pressed to think of someone in this list of nominations who went more all-in for the role. Tom Hanks has to carry a huge amount of the running time of this movie entirely on his own, assisted only by a painted face on a volleyball. The truth is that Hanks alone on the island isn’t the entire running time of the film, but it’s the only part anyone remembers. Hanks by himself is better than Hanks with other people in this movie, and that says everything. He’s not my ultimate winner, but he is my winner from these nominations.
My Choice
There are two possible winners here, and in a way, I’m happy that I don’t actually have to choose between them. The first is Guy Pearce, who is absolutely magnetic in Memento. Pearce is often very good, but this is his best work. The second is Christian Bale for American Psycho, who I think would win six or seven times out of ten from me. He’s just so good.
Final Analysis