The Academy likes a performer who takes a swing. Someone who comes in and puts something unexpected into a role is much more likely to stick in voters’ minds. Audiences and voters alike look for the “Oscar Moment,” the moment in certain performances where it’s clear this is what will really cement that performance’s bona fides. However, plenty of performances operate on subtlety and do not have that specific moment. They are so consistently brilliant that they can be overlooked because they’re not doing anything to draw attention to themselves, just being effortlessly stunning.
There’s at least one performance (so far) this year that I feel could be overlooked and shouldn’t be. Julia Louis-Dreyfus is so versatile and affecting in Tuesday. She’s known so distinctly for her incredible comedic television work, but she is an actress who can utterly surprise you. In Tuesday, she plays a mother who is in denial that her teenage daughter is dying. Within that scope, Louis-Dreyfus can balance her biting wit with a deep emotional resonance. She shows how raw she can be if given the right material. She runs the emotional gamut but is also genuinely funny in an emotionally difficult movie. She has the expert timing for the laughs and the tears.
A performance like this just has to make it to the right eyes, and the right eyes just have to be willing to go on a journey. Tuesday isn’t an easy film to get into. It begins on a macro level before embracing the micromusings of this small family unit. The concept of death is strange, and the film takes you to unique places. The film as a whole isn’t for everyone.
The hard thing about loving a certain performance is that it doesn’t exist in a vacuum. The performance exists within the context of something larger than itself. It doesn’t mean a nomination can’t happen for that performance. It’s happened several times in the last 25 years for first-time nominees. Diane Lane was the sole nominee for Unfaithful, as were Keisha Castle-Hughes (Whale Rider), Catalina Sandino Moreno (Maria Full of Grace), Ruth Negga(Loving), Andra Day (The United States Vs. Billie Holiday), Vanessa Kirby (Pieces of a Woman), Ana de Armas(Blonde), and Andrea Riseborough (To Leslie).
Most of these films hinge on their lead actresses. Most of them, like Tuesday, deal with some harsh reality for their protagonists. It’s easy to single out one piece of a film when that piece is as prominent as a performance. These performances are the soul of their films, like Julia Louis-Dreyfus’ performance in Tuesday. They capture our attention and keep us focused on nothing else.
There’s always hope that a small film with a terrific performance can break through. In fact, it adds to the drama of the statistics. If this performance is within the top five for a full year of films, it’s got a shot at catching people’s attention and getting some votes. In a contentious year, that singular type of performance may be the tiebreaker that takes home the trophy.
