In a parallel universe, these Oscars 2023 nominations could have won

ONE of the biggest upsets in this year’s Oscars happened before any envelope was opened: the nomination of Andrea Riseborough in the Best Actress category for her turn in To Leslie.  Almost no one expected an overlong low-budget melodrama whose domestic box-office receipts are just under US$32,000 – yes, there are only five figures there – to yield an acting nomination for “Andrea who?”.

But the enthusiastic campaigning of A-list actors praising her performance eventually tipped the scales in her favour: Amy Adams called it “remarkable”; Jennifer Aniston described it as “beautiful”; Kate Winslet said it was “one of the greatest performances I have ever seen in my life”. And that upset a whole lot of people who felt that Black front runners Viola Davis (The Woman King) and Danielle Deadwyler (Till) were pushed out of the category as a result.

Is Riseborough’s performance all that good? Well, yes, it actually is – although the film itself is rather mediocre.