The Long Shot Ladies Of Sundance - Awards Outlook
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Awards analysis is provided by Sean from @MathTeacherMovies.
The Long Shot Ladies Of Sundance
Movies from the Sundance Film Festival don’t often cross paths with those that end up at the Oscars ceremony. But there is the notable and occasional exception, most recently being CODA with the Best Picture win and Whiplash’s JK Simmons having such an impactful performance that he skated his way right to an Oscar with the film itself getting a Best Picture Nomination.
This year’s Sundance Film Festival showcased several different films and performances worthy of awards but there are three female standouts that, while unlikely, would make sense to receive nominations… even though the release dates and popularity of the films create a challenge.
The movie A Thousand and One was a huge hit at Sundance and this was mainly due to Teyana Taylor’s breakthrough performance leaving all of the emotion out on the table and while it was not a popular film or attention seeking performance, this could get a surprise nomination.
Julia Louis-Dreyfus and James Gandolfini both received light Oscar attention from Nicole Holfcener’s previous film Enough Said and her new film You Hurt My Feelings is definitely getting attention from this year’s Sundance. While the film is definitely another fairly unpopular film aside from critics, Julia Louis-Dreyfus is plenty popular and, while she is a champion of the Emmys, she is still due for an Oscar nomination. This could be her time to get it. However, this film and Enough Said are comedies and those are often disliked by the Oscars. However, while they do not often frequent the Oscars, comedies are most frequently honored in the category for Best Actress which could help out Louis-Dreyfus.
The film that is both a Sundance stand out while also having the most Oscar Buzz at this time of year is Past Lives with a new comer director and another breakthrough performance from Greta Lee. While Lee does not have the name recognition of some of the other actresses there is a very solid chance this film does the best in the Oscar race and therefore if the film overperforms there is a chance she deservedly rides in on its coattails and deservedly so.
The title of this article says it all. These three performances are definitely long shots for a nomination, but there have always been past situations that have led to movies and performers like this getting nominated so those patterns could occur again.