the young people's professor

Oscarigloo.com, one of the few “oscar prediction” websites that even the New York Times and the Associated Press keeps tabs on, is listing three African American men as early favorities for the five available nomination seats in this years Academy Award “Best Actor” race.

Forest Whitaker, a veteran method actor known for his subtle and soft-spoken performances, is being hailed as the early top pick for the Best Actor nod with his chilling portrayal of former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in Kevin Macdonald’s The Last King of Scotland (playing at select art-house theatres here in Manhattan, including Quad Cinema in the West Village). Critics across the board are hailing Whitaker’s performance as thunderous, icy, and manipulative---quite a far cry away from the “good guy” roles we are used to seeing him take on.

Also among the early list of top contenders is the young Derek Luke who burst onto the scene years ago with his spirited performance alongside leading man Denzel Washington in Antwon Fisher. Luke’s dramatic performance in Catch A Fire as an anguished South African man dealing with the terrors of Apartheid-era South Africa is being called one of the year’s finest breakthrough performances.

Then finally you have what is being called yet another surprise performance by Will Smith in the somewhat sappy yet inspirational forthcoming drama The Pursuit of Happyness.

Critics are still waiting for the film to be released before they’re willing to put their money on a for sure “Best Actor” nod, but from the looks of things from this early position, Smith’s character’s easy-going, nice-guy persona will give the academy a chance to recognize a performance thats contrasts the stark and serious men being portrayed by some of the other primary Oscar contenders. Smith of course is no stranger to the sharing the stage with other black men in the nomination department, he was nominated for “Best Actor” for his performance in Ali (which while solid, was still much too premature) the same year Jaime Foxx took home the grand prize for Ray. If you ask me, Smith’s best performance to date is still his impressive (though much overlooked) debut as Paul in John Guare’s dramatic masterpiece Six Degrees of Separation.

In the end, we’ll have to until January 23, 2007 for the official Academy Award nominations to be announced, but until then, word on the critic’s street is that Black men are leading the “race” early on.

Posted by the young people's professor on 11/15/2006 at 10:31:00 PM | Permalink