2014 Road to the Oscars: Supporting Actor

          It has been an extraordinary year for male acting, and the race for Outstanding Supporting Actor is close. Barkhad Abdi played Tom Hanks' pirate tormenter in Paul Greengrass's Captain Phillips, Bradley Cooper played a bargaining FBI agent in David O. Russell's American Hustle (you have to love saying that), Michael Fassbender played a nasty slaveowner in Steve McQueen's 12 Years a Slave, Jonah Hill played Leonardo DiCaprio's ridiculous associate in Martin Scorsese's The Wolf of Wall Street, and Jared Leto played a tantalizing drag queen in Jean-Marc Vallée's Dallas Buyers Club.

          Barkhad Abdi was believable in Captain Phillips, and his story of going from being a chauffeur to starring next to Tom Hanks in a major motion picture is nice, but he should not win. A good number of people in Hollywood are rooting for him, probably because they remember the struggle of wanting to be in the business. In reality, Abdi had no aspiration of becoming an actor. Put his lack of acting experience on top of that, and you would think other actors would hate him.

          Bradley Cooper was certainly better in American Hustle than in Silver Linings Playbook (although too many people thought he was terrific in that, I thought he was average), but he still did not give an Oscar performance. He was light-hearted with a touch of depth, but you cannot say that no other actor could have done what he did with the part. He was not crucial to the success of the film as an art, though he surely enhanced its performance at the box office.

          Michael Fassbender was gritty in 12 Years a Slave, but I did not feel the intensity of his role. I think I am to blame for this, since I enjoyed his performance in Fish Tank immensely. At the same time, going with the replacement theory of Cooper in American Hustle, I do not think Fassbender was special. There have been other actors in similar roles who have truly        killed it and ran down my spine. Last year's snubbed Leonardo DiCaprio in Django Unchained, for example, was unpredictable and deceiving. Fassbender was good, of course. I do not mean to say otherwise. But in comparison with the other nominees and the standards which I hold for Oscar winners, he does not excite me.

          Jonah Hill was unbeatable in The Wolf of Wall Street. He mixed his comedic genius with great character acting to create a guy entirely his own. His physicality was completely transformed into Donnie, from the way he moved his hands to the way he set his jaw. Jonah Hill was always completely dissolved in Donnie; Donnie always came first. Hill has said that he got so into the role that he would feel bad about Donnie's actions on set after a day of shooting. It shows.

          Jared Leto was sensational as drag queen Rayon in Dallas Buyers Club. He gave it everything he had and was unafraid to push boundaries. After taking a few years off from acting to pursue music, he really reinvented himself for this role. It is a large accomplishment that he was able to hold his own and then some alongside Matthew McConaughey in his greatest year, especially given that it was Leto's first year back.

          It is hard to say who deserves the Academy Award for Supporting Actor this year. Do you give it to the guy who returned to cinema in a boundary-pushing role and nailed it? Or do you give it to the hardworking comedy guy who is proving to be a great actor in general and nailed it in his movie? It is truly a tough one. Unfortunately for Hill, the Oscars tend to reward the dramatic actor over the comedic one. But then again, this year was huge for movies fitting into multiple genres, The Wolf of Wall Street and Dallas Buyers Club being two of them. Rayon was a witty character, so the playing fields could level out. However it is more than likely that Leto will take this one. And that is fine by me.