Ranking the Oscar Nominees: Best Actress

And the nominees are:

Sally Hawkins – The Shape of Water

Hawkins got her first Oscar nomination for her solid, if unspectacular, performance as essentially a Stella Dubois archetype in Woody Allen's Blue Jasmine, but The Shape of Water marks the first time she's been nominated in a leading category at the Oscars, although in the past she's been nominated for slews of awards for her prominent leading roles, not least for Mike Leigh's Happy-Go-Lucky which she won the Golden Globe for. Hawkins has undergone an interesting career trajectory from a minor player in various big and small film productions, to her breakout in Happy-Go-Lucky, which then led to a slew of character actor roles and the occasional leading role, and everything from Paddington to Made in Dagenham to Godzilla. 2017 has been a banner year for her, in addition to The Shape of Water she had a great success in Paddington 2 and gave another phenomenal performance in Maudie.  

Frances McDormand – Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri 

This is McDormand's first nomination in over a decade, having previously been nominated in the supporting category for Mississippi Burning, Almost Famous, and North Country, and won in the leading category for Fargo. A frequent collaborator with her husband and brother-in-law, Joel and Ethan Coen, in recent years she's been keeping a relatively low profile in terms of film work, with the role of Mildred Hayes being her most substantial one in quite some time.

Margot Robbie – I, Tonya

Robbie's rapid ascension into Hollywood stardom has been particularly impressive, as she went from international unknown to next big thing in 2013 with The Wolf of Wall Street, and has never looked back since. Interestingly, while a few of her films have either been slight box-office disappointments or critical disappointments, her star power has remained fairly consistent throughout, though I, Tonya is easily her most meaty role to date, and her performance in Mary, Queen of Scots alongside fellow nominee Saoirse Ronan definitely screams 'Oscar' too.

Saoirse Ronan – Lady Bird

At the tender age of 23, Ronan is already a three-time Oscar nominee, previously nommed for her excellent work in Atonement, and her phenomenal work in Brooklyn which with every passing day I'm increasingly tempted to shift my 2015 Lead Actress win to. The Irish starlet has consistently impressed Hollywood with her dazzling range and array of accents, and paired up with Greta Gerwig created one of the most universally beloved films of 2017 (even Armond White loved it).

Meryl Streep – The Post

Meryl Streep in anything = prospective Oscar nomination. Meryl Streep + Steven Speilberg = guaranteed Oscar nomination.  This is the 'highly overrated' Streep's 21st nomination, is it deserved, well let's see.

Ranking the nominees:

5. Meryl Streep as Katharine Graham in The Post

This is a great lineup, and thankfully, unlike Florence Foster Jenkins last year Streep's nomination does not stick out as being the 'token Streep' nomination. The film itself is Speilberg at his most standard and straightforward, serviceable political procedural and journalism biopic but little more beyond that. It's effectively divided into two halves, one being the All the President's Men/Spotlight side of journalists of the Washington Post scrambling to get information on the Pentagon papers, which is fine with some good intense moments, albeit a bit uninspired, and the other half involves Streep's Graham, the owner and publisher of the Post, and her struggle to make her voice heard against the male patriarchy. This is probably the part of the film I found more intriguing, but is also the more problematic half in many regards, as too many characters become something of straw men to Graham personal journey, and the editing of it does kill some of the momentum of the procedural side, particularly in the third act.

Having said that, while I found faults with the way her story was told, I never found the depiction of Katharine Graham lacking in any regard, largely due to Streep's performance. I found she disappeared into the role rather well with her slight accent and tremulous voice that brings life to her character's uncertainties and meek resolve, that gradually grows in strength throughout the film. I really liked her gradual growth of the character into the more confident, assertive individual we get by the end of the film, and though there are a few wobbly steps along the way she always navigates them with supreme ease. She brings the most out of the plight of the character and is particularly great in the scenes where she asks Bruce Greenwood's sleazy but concerned Robert MacNamara for advice, and her internalized, powerful decision to publish the papers. Stellar work in a flawed film.

4. Saoirse Ronan as Christine 'Lady Bird' McPherson in Lady Bird

As expected, Ronan is great, when is she ever not great? This is the character who out of the nominees encounters the least dramatic 'stakes' in her personal journey, yet I nevertheless found that journey vividly realized every step of the way. First and foremost, she once again disappears into another role, where she was shy rose waiting to blossom in Brooklyn here she's a brass, slightly crass, self-aware teenager who's a bit aggravating yet very lovable, all within the same package. I usually take a disliking to characters like Christine, I mean 'Lady Bird', McPherson, but I loved every moment we spent with her in the film. This is on the surface a deceptively 'simple' performance that relies on the actress' inherent charisma, which Ronan has of course in spades. She's just compelling to watch going through her 'dull' life and really invests the viewer in her desire to see more, feel more, learn more. You feel the real weight of each of her friendships, relationships, and the dynamic with her mother which of course involves another great performance, but Ronan is essential to making every side of Lady Bird work perfectly. I have particular affection for her scream of joy at having her first 'boyfriend', her heartbreaking reaction to the unfulfilling 'first time', her hilarious singing, her hapless attempts at trying to be one of the 'cool' kids.

She gives a fully rounded portrayal of what is really a realistic sort of teenager, which is remarkable given the particular style of dialogue she has to work through that's very much Greta Gerwig-y, as well as the balancing of tones. I loved every scene of her reacting to her burgeoning maturity, as well as the many pitfalls along the way - in so many scenes of reacting to other characters she could have overplayed, or tried to hard to make an impression, but instead she always plays the role in a way which only amplifies her co-stars' work. I loved her chemistry with Metcalf, her dynamic with every member of the family, every friend is so fully realized. This may not be the most complex turn ever, and it's only in the final few scenes of hers which we get truly 'showy' scenes, but that's the point of the performance I think. It's unfussy, incredibly entertaining work that can make you laugh and cry depending on what the film needs.

3. Sally Hawkins as Elisa Esposito in The Shape of Water

As writte, Elisa in The Shape of Water is not the most subtle or original character, the mute oppressed Elisa Esposito, a janitor who finds affinity in the outcasts of society. Del Toro's direction and Hawkins' performance ensure that it achieves greater heights than one might expect. First and foremost Hawkins does the incredibly difficult job of verbalizing so much without saying a single word. Her face can convey such a multitude of emotions with just a look, a smile, and her acting with hands in a language she presumably had to learn for the film, are all spectacular examples of silent, nuanced acting. Hawkins does not lose a single bit of her usual charisma and luminosity in the role, and you grow to love her character from the outset as she goes about her daily business. I particularly love the energy Hawkins gives to Elisa's romantic inclinations, her curiosity about the world around her, and her adorable love for her friends Giles (Richard Jenkins) and Zelda (Octavia Spencer). She makes it so convincing how she can warp them into an increasingly dire and dangerous situation by her sheer will of force and constant positive light that brightens their dreary existence. She's equally great in her scenes opposite Michael Shannon's nasty government official, managing to be quite hilarious in her subtle manipulation of the man, but also her fear at his uncontrollable rage and vicious nature.

The highlight of her performance, of course, is the central romance, which even with the amazing technical work of makeup, costuming and visual effects for the fishman, plus Doug Jones' performance, could have fallen flat if Hawkins wasn't up to task. Well she is, and she makes the romance work beautifully in her kinship with the sexy fishman never feel goofy, and only ever truly heartwarming. One particular scene that's stuck with me ever since I watched the film for the first time is the scene picture above where she teaches her new boyfriend the meaning of 'friend' and so wonderfully conveys how much the creature means to her, and also the scene where she imagines the two of them in a musical together, before the film heartbreakingly cuts to her croaking in vain the song as the creature aimlessly stares away from her, bringing in the harsh potential reality of the fact she might be fantasizing everything. The sex scenes between the two characters could have come across as a bit yucky, but instead they come across as incredibly sweet, and build up to the film's powerful, magical conclusion beautifully. A phenomenal performance on which the whole film hinges upon wonderfully.

2. Margot Robbie as Tonya Harding in I, Tonya

This is an absolute knockout of a performance that ran the risk of the hype train derailing it for me, since it is the last of the nominated performances which I saw, and moreover a hugely risky performance to boot. Four years after The Wolf of Wall Street, Robbie gets her own chance to shine in a juicy, real-life controversial figure who despite her notoriety and media attention, remains something of an enigma. The film itself could be said to be a Scorsese knockoff, yet I'd argue that the more I think about it, it may well be the stronger film of the two - though I'll need time to ruminate on that point. Robbie's performance is tied with the outstanding editing as MVP, and is a true 'starmaking' performance. While her previous roles had put her on the map, her performance here is the first time we've gotten to see her move beyond the limitations of those characters.

Tonya Harding is a character built upon ambiguities, as are many of the facts about the incident involving one of her fellow Olympic skaters, Nancy Kerrigan. Rather than try to simplify the overall story like The Disaster Artist - which I should note is still a film I like a great deal - we get all the juicy details packed into a narrative which frequently addresses the audience through the fourth wall, through the motif of a sort of pseudo-documentary merged with recreations of the events before our eyes that may, or may not be true. Robbie, from the first moment she appears onscreen in the 'interview' segments of the film, is spectacular. She conveys the weariness and cynicism of the character with aplomb, and disappears into the role of essentially her take on the older Salieri, which is particularly great when compared with her portrayal of the younger Tonya. She delivers each biting breakdown of society's hypocrisies and her own mode of thinking where she's never to 'blame' for anything, in an uncouth, entertaining, pathetic yet sympathetic fashion.

Robbie is equally great in embodying the younger Tonya, who though worn down by her incessant, cruel mother's (Allison Janney) yammering, finds that spark within her to compete and be the very best. I will say that though the mother-daughter dynamic is an interesting component in the film, it's perhaps my least favourite due to the slightly repetitious nature. That's nothing against Robbie's work as she steals pretty much every scene, as she shows how her mother's awful behaviour both gives her the drive to break through her 'curse', and contaminates her in a way that will prove to be her downfall, and their last onscreen scene together is fantastic. With her deadbeat loser boyfriend (a brilliant Sebastian Stan), the dynamic the two strike up is even more compelling as we get a subversion of the usual 'supportive relationship' biopic, as they create such hilariously awkward warmth, that soon turns into disturbing, darkly comic and heartbreaking show of a truly toxic relationship. Robbie is great at showing how this relationship hinders her drive, and yet how her inherent desire for love and attention keep bringing her back to it.

As great as Robbie is playing off of the various characters of a uniformly strong ensemble, I'd say the best moments of her performance are her standalone ones. Some of the silent scenes in the film are the best, like her reaction to finally achieving the 'triple axel' jump where her face shows such rapturous, uplifting joy, her hilarious yet uncomfortable verbal beatdown of a snide judge, her poignant scenes of reacting to defeat, her incredulous reactions to the Nancy Kerrigan case, and of course the scene everyone talks about, where it's just her and the camera as we watch her apply makeup to her face, teary-eyed yet forced to put on a smile. I'd say the final 10 minutes or so of her performance are the peak of a spectacular performance, and I'm glad to say that this is a brilliant portrayal of a flawed, multi-dimensional character by Margot Robbie.

1. Francis McDormand as Mildred Hayes in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri 

As the local priest puts it, the townspeople of Ebbing, Missouri are all with McDormand's Mildred Hayes on finding the killer of her daughter, but ‘no one is with you on those billboards’. One of the most genius masterstrokes of Three Billboards is it presents this conflict between the crusader for justice against the town in a High Noon-esque conflict before slowly revealing the cruel, disturbing and powerful vulnerabilities that lie beneath this dynamic. As the film opens, we see Mildred passing by the titular billboards and internalizing a decision, wordlessly, to make use of them, and in her first few scenes see her pounce upon her decision with such a blunt, abrasive incisiveness that only McDormand can bring. McDormand fits the role like a glove, that's for sure, but there's more to it than just perfect casting.

As she lashes out as the authorities for their inability to follow up any leads, coaxes the local billboards salesman into staying on her side, or sardonically mocks her ex-husband's daft young girlfriend she's a firebrand comical delight, and one striking monologue she makes about the crips and the bloods, comparing it to the Catholic Church, is particularly scintillating, while her interactions with the dumb policeman Dixon (Sam Rockwell) and the more astute policeman Willoughby (Woody Harrelson) are great as she so subtly curses and delivers biting remarks to them that are consistently a comical delight. . McDormand’s lifetime of collaborations with the Coen Brothers – who also have a penchant for writing difficult but sympathetic main characters – have more than prepared her for this challenge. In her juiciest role in a while, McDormand takes it by her biting wit and acidic tongue, and devours it with aplomb. Whether it's a more casual 'quick 'aint you Welby', a biting 'fuckhead', or telling Willoughby very bluntly why she put up the billboards despite knowing he had cancer, her little rocking of her swing at the end just to cap it off, everything about her performance in this regard.

However, it is the darker side of Mildred where she truly excels. Like Marge Gunderson in Fargo, Mildred desires justice, and she is far less concerned for the feelings of others. What I love about her performance is that she blends these darker undertones with the comical side of the character, for example the scene where she explodes against the priest is underlined with a sadness she tries to repress, her barbed insults to Willoughby while he's interrogating her turn into motherly concern when he shows signs of illness, her playful scene of impersonating two bunny rabbits with her slippers segues into virulent hatred, her darkly comical indifference to her dinner date (Peter Dinklage) soon descends into an uncomfortable examination of a bitter woman. She doesn't even need words to suggest this terrible state, she can just bow her head down in shame and that alones peaks more than a thousand words in explaining her character's overwhelming grief. In the scenes where we get the whole load of her grief, she's spectacular, like in the scenes where she ruminates over her troubled relationship with the deceased daughter, her heartbreaking intensity of fury and sadness at seeing the billboards burning, and her spellbinding interaction with an admittedly poorly CGI-ed doe, where she brings such power to her fond recollections of her daughter and tenderly reveals the sense of loss in the character which she struggles with day by day. This is a phenomenal performance that I have to say is pretty easily my favourite of the nominees, and I might as well say it now easily my favourite Lead Actress performance of the year.