10 Oscar-Worthy Recent Performances The Academy Will Ignore
3. Florence Pugh - Midsommar
This one is about a 50/50 split of being justified, and to make up for one of the worst Oscar snubs of all time.
In 2018, Ari Aster released the family drama/horror masterpiece Hereditary, wherein Toni Collette gave, unarguably, the greatest performance of the year. Having already been nominated for a horror movie nearly two decades prior (The Sixth Sense), the win was a shoo-in. Sadly and infuriatingly, not even a nomination was given.
More than likely, the movie was a little too abstract for older-aged Academy voters to endure, and that will surely be the same issue when Pugh misses out on a nomination for Midsommar.
Audiences are begging for more female leading roles, especially in horror, and not only does Aster write them, but he casts actresses who bring his words to life in breathtaking and upsetting fashion.
Pugh's role is authentic, and in a
truly disturbing way. We see the young woman go through travesty after travesty
and she reacts as any person would.
The things on screen were hard to watch, but Pugh’s reaction to them was the true horror. I don’t know if a nomination for the 23-year-old would make up for Collette’s snub, but hell, it’s worth a shot.