*HERE BE SPOILERS: the capsules for these awards occasionally discuss significant plot points, so be aware.*
That's right, everyone, it's time for the 8th Annual Jarmo Awards! For those who are new to the site, the Jarmos are like the Oscars, but with a few different categories and significantly less hoopla. This year features plenty of noteworthy achievements, some that will be familiar and some that have gone unheralded throughout the awards season. These are my personal favorites from 2017, based on what I viewed, so feel free to chime in in the comments and tell me why I'm completely wrong.
And...look, I know I say this every year, but if any of the winners want to come claim their reward, let me know and I will put something together for you. No one has done it yet, so come be the first! It's exciting! You'll have a bullshit entertainment award that no one else has!
BEST ACTRESS
That's right, everyone, it's time for the 8th Annual Jarmo Awards! For those who are new to the site, the Jarmos are like the Oscars, but with a few different categories and significantly less hoopla. This year features plenty of noteworthy achievements, some that will be familiar and some that have gone unheralded throughout the awards season. These are my personal favorites from 2017, based on what I viewed, so feel free to chime in in the comments and tell me why I'm completely wrong.
And...look, I know I say this every year, but if any of the winners want to come claim their reward, let me know and I will put something together for you. No one has done it yet, so come be the first! It's exciting! You'll have a bullshit entertainment award that no one else has!
BEST ACTRESS
Saoirse Ronan, Lady Bird
Runner-up: Gal Gadot, Wonder Woman
Finalists: Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water; Jennifer Lawrence, mother!; Daisy Ridley, Star Wars: The Last Jedi
Saoirse Ronan is very easily among the best actors working today, which she proves with her wondrous performance in Greta Gerwig's directorial debut Lady Bird. Ronan has been turning in great work for years now, going back to her surprising Oscar-nominated turn in Atonement ten years ago. But Lady Bird McPherson is sneaky-best performance to date; I note "sneaky" because Ronan makes it look so effortless. Ronan makes all of Lady Bird's glorious contradictions come to life: a headstrong attitude that is as performative as it is honest, from her insistence that everyone call her "Lady Bird" (for no reason other than it's what she wants to be called) through her slippage between the theater kids and the popular girls. Ronan absolutely sells the idea that this is a young girl who thinks she knows exactly who she is yet constantly tries on different personas; she is, in other words, a teenager on the precipice of adulthood. And Ronan embraces that messiness in her performance. It's hard to believe Ronan is only 23; there are so many more great performances ahead of her.
BEST ACTOR
Daniel Kaluuya, Get Out
Runner-up: Hugh Jackman, Logan
Finalists: Timothée Chalamet, Call Me By Your Name; James McAvoy, Split; Kumail Nanjiani, The Big Sick
Horror performances, in general, don't get enough respect: too often characterized as just screaming and panic, the best reveal layers of character that aren't on the page and create a palpable sense of dread that the character might not make it to the end of the film (Jamie Lee Curtis in Halloween and Mia Farrow in Rosemary's Baby immediately come to mind). But even among great horror performances, Kaluuya's work in Get Out stands out as one of the genre's best. As Chris, the boyfriend brought to his white girlfriend's (Allison Williams) home to meet her parents, Kaluuya never overplays his character's incredulity at the barrage of microaggressions he weathers from Rose's seemingly well-meaning parents (Bradley Whitford and Catherine Keener). It's a performance that many people of color have called completely relatable, and Kaluuya wisely lets those moments sit on their own. Once the third-act reveal shifts the dynamic of the guest and his hosts, however, Kaluuya's performance maintains everything we already know about the character while shifting into his new role as "Final Girl" (to borrow Carol Clover's infamous term). Kaluuya, previously magnetic in small roles in films such as Sicario, fully deserves more leading roles in the future after earning his place in the Horror Acting Hall of Fame.
More winners after the jump.