I just want to make a point of Emelia Jones; Emelia Jones is basically playing a unicorn in CODA, and, to prepare for this one role, she had to take 9 months of sign language, and learnt the basics of operating a fishing trawler, all while already working on her TV show Locke & Key. Then she had to sing, and combine all that to make it appear like she’s been this person her whole life. It’s not unusual for actors to have to prepare for roles, but hers is a huge effort, and she’s only 20 years of age! It makes me tired just thinking about it.
Welcome to the second annual Slice Awards! The official Today Junior selections for award season, 2021 and beyond. Right here, we don’t announce winners, in fact we don’t announce winners at all, but we do recognise each nomination with a piece from the same proverbial pie, acknowledging their contribution to cinema for 2021-22, March to March. At first, I thought this year’s placeholders was going to be relatively easy to name, but catching up on the last few movies, released in Australia over the past few months, some of these categories got really difficult – I will discuss my process after the announcements. And of course, I didn’t get to every movie throughout this period, and there’s a couple big movies making the rounds in other award ceremonies that I didn’t get to see for myself, so they are omissions here (Drive My Car, Parallel Mothers and Licorice Pizza are the bigguns). But now, await no further, as the selections for this year’s Slice Awards lay ahead:
.
BEST DIRECTOR
Denis Villeneuve – Dune
Edgar Wright – Last Night in Soho
Kenneth Branagh – Belfast
Maggie Gyllenhaal – The Lost Daughter
Steven Spielberg – West Side Story
Zack Snyder – Zack Snyder’s Justice League
.
BEST ACTOR
Andrew Garfield – tick, tick… Boom!
Benedict Cumberbatch – The Power of the Dog
Denzel Washington – The Tragedy of Macbeth
Javier Bardem – Being the Ricardos
Nicholas Cage – Pig
Will Smith – King Richard
.
BEST ACTRESS
Andra Day – The United States vs. Billie Holiday
Emelia Jones – CODA
Kristen Stewart – Spencer
Lady Gaga – House of Gucci
Nicole Kidman – Being the Ricardos
Olivia Coleman – The Lost Daughter
.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTRESS
Ariana DeBose – West Side Story
Jessie Buckley – The Lost Daughter
Kathryn Hunter – The Tragedy of Macbeth
Nina Arianda – Being the Ricardos
Olga Merediz – In the Heights
Rebecca Ferguson – Dune
.
BEST SUPPORTING ACTOR
Ciaran Hinds – Belfast
Jamie Dornan – Belfast
Kodi Smit-McPhee – The Power of the Dog
LaKeith Stanfield – The Harder They Fall
Mike Faist – West Side Story
Troy Kotsur – CODA
.
BEST ENSEMBLE
Don’t Look Up
Dune
Nightmare Alley
Spider-Man: No Way Home
The Harder They Fall
Zack Snyder’s Justice League
.
Well, what do we think? I’ve got time for a discussion.
The Best Actor category took care of itself – I agreed with the Academy’s five, and got to add in Nicolas Cage for Pig with my sixth and extra spot. For me, the Best Actress category was easily the hardest to whittle down – I could have filled nine spots, and remembering that I didn’t see how potentially fantastic Penelope Cruz was in Parallel Mothers, perhaps I could’ve had ten true contenders. I’m not cheating by recognising Andra Day, as The United States vs. Billie Holiday wasn’t released in Australia by the time of last year’s award ceremonies, and she has to be included, which meant Jessica Chastain for The Eyes of Tammy Faye gives way, by my calculations 😢 I also couldn’t find room for Frances McDormand for The Tragedy of MacBeth, or Rebecca Hall for The Night House 😭
For Best Director, I really wanted to add in Guillermo del Toro for Nightmare Alley, and similarly, I just didn’t have a seventh spot; it was a really tough decision! Although I didn’t adore that movie, there’s a signature of quality that exists all the way through it, and my decision went down to the final hours, where I ultimately couldn’t ignore Steven Spielberg and West Side Story. Leaving out Jane Campion for The Power of the Dog, on the other hand, may be a snub… I still don’t understand why people love that movie, and it’s so annoying hearing everyone go on about it – like, have these fans never had sad assholes in their lives before? – although it’s surely well directed. And as for Last Night in Soho; where’s the talk of the tone and creativity of that movie? I haven’t heard enough people talking about it, so here’s my chance to honour it.
I’ve varied drastically from other award shows with my picks for both Best Supporting’ categories. I haven’t thought it’s been a particularly strong year for either of those categories, besides a few, and I ended up asking myself questions like, ‘which of these performances is going to be most memorable to me in years to come?’ and ‘which characters came to life due to these actors?’ to get the job done. I almost included Awkwafina for Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings because I love that character, but of course, the clincher has always got to be justifying the performance. Aunjunie Ellis just didn’t not pop out to me when I was watching King Richard, but I’ve heard praise for her from multiple sources, so perhaps she is one I’ve missed. But I do think there’s standouts in both these categories, and even though these names may not be notable in casual discussions of Hollywood’s best today, these roles may prove a solid foundation for these actors and actresses success in the future.
And in the end, I’m so glad I don’t pick winners, because Best Ensemble is a monster this year, and picking one of them over the others, would be near impossible. Only having six selections doesn’t even begin to showcase how great many of these vast casts were in the past year. So, well done everybody!
Overall, I’ve recognised 21 movies over 36 nominations. Who do you think was amongst the best performances of 2021 and beyond? Who did I miss, and who do you agree deserves recognition? There’s a reply box below, please have your say!
Leave a Reply