Scarlett Johansson

[lordofthefries]

Agreed, aibohphobia. I think there's no impetus to give Renée a second Oscar as she's done nothing of note since her last one. If there was any competition, she'd be losing. The only performance and film strong enough, however, is Scarlet in Marriage Story, but she's shot herself in the foot and has lost the narrative and critical support that would get her there.

[Carolina]

Jan 13, 2020 12:21:49 GMT -4 lordofthefries said:

Agreed, aibohphobia. I think there's no impetus to give Renée a second Oscar as she's done nothing of note since her last one.

Hillary Swank didn't do much of note between Boys Don't Cry and Million Dollar Baby and they gave her a second Oscar, in spite of Annette Bening being considered due by many. Personally, I think it should have gone to Imelda Staunton for Vera Drake.

[kateln]

How do I put this, and not sound like a bitch?

I feel like I've seen Marriage Story and her performance in it, before. She did great work with the material, but it wasn't anything new. It was said in her thread, but I would have loved to have seen Lupita Nyong'o get nominated for "Us" instead because it was a genuinely tough, creepy, original performance and stuck with me for days.

Meh.

ETA: Ladybug said this better in the Lupita Nyong’o thread.

[Smilla]

I'm with you, kateln; Marriage Story and ScarJo's performance in it fell flat for me.

[Alexis Machine]

I prefer this version of Marriage Story.

[pachengala]

I like this one.

[technicolor]

Apart from any real/perceived dislike for Johansson in parts of the industry, IMO Laura Dern's awards run also works against her. Dern is getting the "lifetime achievement award/we always loved her" nom/win this time with "Marriage Story", so the focus shifts away from Johansson.

Also, some stuff inherent in the movie also works against her. Baumbach delivered a great script in many ways, but IMO there's a central weakness that works against the whole premise. That kid is a cutesy prop, not an actual person that reacts to his parents tearing each other to pieces. Because the moment the son would display any actual trauma/upset related to his parents' actions, the whole premise would shift away from "basically decent people who still care about each other fall into hurtful, but understandable bad behaviour while divorcing" into "selfish monstrous narcissists don't give a damn about their kid and treat him as prop in their war against each other". And so to keep that possibility out of sight, I feel the script goes weak and dishonest. And IMO at some level as an audience you feel that something is just too neat there and react against it.

I also feel the script has a lot of sympathy for Nicole, but a bit more empathy for Charlie. Which is understandable, I guess. And all the central performances are great, but I feel that Driver is better than Johansson and able to give his character more of an inner life and nuances. So even though Charlie probably contributed more to the demise of the marriage (while Nicole behaves worse in the divorce proceedings IMO), there's an extra level where I felt for him even when he was behaving atrociously. While Johansson was very good, but had more moments of "look at me, I'm acting!".

Overall, great movie, though.

[Binky]

The movie was based on Baumbach’s divorce. I definitely thought Driver’s role was more empathetic (despite the character being openly dickish in some ways) and fleshed out, perhaps because Baumbach never completely understood his wife’s motives/behavior. Also, his actual son was an infant at the time, with less agency than the elementary aged kid in the movie. I thought Johannson was great, but the role wasn’t a full character and as a result was more performative. I think Baumbach understood himself and her lawyer better, and as a result those are the better roles.

I actually thought Black Widow’s arc in the last Avengers movie was more fully realized than her character in Marriage Story

[Carolina]

ScarJo in custom Armani at the SAG awards.

[MrsOldManBalls]

Great colour on her.