Monday, February 27, 2023

I Managed To See The SAG Awards Last Night. Here's My Reactions (And I'll Throw In the Image Awards for Free)

 


Relatively speaking, it was actually easy to find the SAG awards on the Netflix channel on YouTube. I have no idea how many other people made the effort one way or the other, but I personally had my usual good time.

First, most of the predictions I made on Friday did not prove out to be correct. That was the case last year and I was fine with it then, and I was all things considered, mostly fine with it now. I was dead on when I predicted that Abbott Elementary would win best Comedic Ensemble (as we shall see, Quinta Brunson and her cast actually had better luck at a different awards show last weekend.) I was not entirely surprised that Jean Smart ended up taking the Best Actress in a Comedy award, considering her track record this year, and given her condition a worthy proxy was there: her co-star Christopher McDonald, a worthy actor in his own right. Reading a speech that she sent via text, Smart paid tribute to the guest cast on the series, some of whom received Emmy nominations, some of whom didn’t.  Considering it is unlikely Hacks will complete shooting in time to be eligible for this year’s Emmys, I’m fine with Smart taking yet another prize, and its not like she didn’t deserve. Jeremy Allan White continued his streak by taking the Best Actor in a Comedy for The Bear, and at this point, I’ll be stunned if he doesn’t take the Emmy.

I was somewhat surprised (but no less delighted) to see Jennifer Coolidge prevail for her superb work on The White Lotus and honestly, much as I really wanted Better Call Saul to prevail for its last season, given the category its really hard to argue The White Lotus didn’t have the Best Ensemble this year, full stop. I was further charmed when F. Murray Abraham, one of the most undervalued great actors of all time, was allowed to speak for the cast and gave a fairly charming speech about how this was the greatest cast he’d ever worked with (probably not an exaggeration) how much fun he’d had shooting the series, and his more than due shoutouts to the fighting in Ukraine, the survivors of the Turkey earthquake, and his final cheer for the union. Hell, as much as I wanted Bob Odenkirk to win, I can’t even work myself to get that upset Jason Bateman took the Best Actor in A Drama series for Ozark  Bateman has always been one of my favorite actors and among his fellow cast members he seems to have been lacking the recognition among the awards group that Julia Garner has gotten. (The Golden Globes did not nominate him this year.) I think he was entitled to take a bow for Ozark as it ended. It might well be an overrated series, but my feelings do not extend to the cast.

I was overjoyed by Jessica Chastain’s victory for Best Actress in a Limited Series or TV Movie: I thought she was more than deserving but I was certain that Amanda Seyfried or Niecy Nash-Betts would prevail. Chastain now moves slightly ahead in the race for Best Actress in a Limited Series this fall, and I hope that the Emmys can find room for Michael Shannon. And I don’t think anybody – certainly not Sam Elliott – expected him to take the prize for Best Actor in a Limited Series for his work in 1883. But Elliott, like Abraham, has been one of the most undervalued great actors who has worked in Hollywood and has received almost no recognition from any awards show for it. Do I think he has a realistic chance of winning an Emmy or even being nominated? Honestly, no. But I would love to see him up there in some form, nearly as much as I’d like to see Chastain.

As for the awards themselves, they remained as they always are: light, fluffy and usually hysterical. There were so many wonderful presentations throughout the night that it’s hard to pick a favorite. Aubrey Plaza and Jenna Ortega came out, remained dead silent for ten seconds before both muttering in what was their trademark deadpan: “I don’t know why they sent us out here together.” The Parks and Recreation reunion when Amy Poehler and Adam Scott came out and Poehler in her trademark fashion needled Scott for being too elitist ‘now that he’s working in the dramas.’ Or Jenny Slate and James Marsden coming out there to present Best Ensemble in a Drama and Slate continuously mocking every aspect of Marsden’s presentation. Really makes you want other awards shows to continue to process of pairing actors and actresses together; the SAG awards really seem to have turned into an art form.

And while I do not usually comment on the film awards part of it, I was overjoyed by so many of the wins that Everything Everywhere All At Once got. Jamie Lee Curtis’ speech was incredible, particularly when she told them about wearing a wedding ring her parents once wore: “They hated each other at the end, by the way”, acknowledging that she was that proud term ‘nepo baby’ and utterly saluted Michelle Yeoh. Yeoh’s win brought almost as much gratification to my soul, as I’ve loved watching her in almost everything she’s done and I really hope she wins Best Actress.

But the best came for last. It came as a surprise to no one that the film won Best Ensemble, but the acceptance speech, which started out in tandem, eventually became a tributed to arguably the most successful Asian-American in history James Hong. And Hong was incredible: he started out by speaking in Chinese. Yeoh started to translate, but then Hong said that he was just doing in case they saw it in Hong Kong. He then pointed out just how hard it was for Asians to earn roles when we was getting started in the business, being very clear to point out just how cringeworthy The Good Earth looks in hindsight “because Asians could not command box office. But look at us now!” He then said he was thrilled to be in an all Asian cast, then saluted Curtis by saying “Jamie Lee is a good Chinese name’, said he hoped to be here when he turned 100, and then paid tribute to Yeoh by quoting her the last time they tried to play her off stage: “She can kick your butt.” It was a glorious speech for a superb movie and moment, and few will object when the inevitable triumph for this movie comes.

The only person who might have been disappointed by last night’s events was Angela Bassett. Her Golden Globe and Critics Choice Awards for Black Panther: Wakanda Forever almost made her triumph for an Oscar inevitable until Curtis’ victory. But it’s not like her weekend was all bad. The previous night, she had been basically the guest of honor at the NAACP’s Image Awards, and it was her night to shine. Not only did she win Best Supporting Actress and Entertainer of the Year (over Quinta Brunson) but she also managed to upset Zendaya by taking Best Actress in A Drama for her work on 9-1-1. I’ll admit I was slightly surprised by this, not because Bassett’s performance isn’t superb, but because it’s the type that doesn’t generally earn awards or nominations any more. But there are going to be some vacancies in this year’s Best Actress in a Drama category (Zendaya and Laura Linney will not be eligible, for one) Maybe Bassett will have a chance.

It probably won’t come as a shock that Abbott Elementary utterly dominated the Comedy Awards, taking Best Comedy, Best Actress for Brunson, another Supporting Actor prize for Tyler James Williams, and a Best Supporting Actress prize for Janelle James, instead of Sheryl Lee Ralph this time. It also prevailed for Best Teleplay, while Best Directing went to Atlanta which I don’t mind one bit.

The big winner for Dramas turned to be Starz’ P-Valley, which took Best Drama, Best Actor for Nico Amman and Best Supporting Actress for Loretta Devine. Method Man prevailed for Best Supporting Actor for his work in Power Book II Ghost. Sadly despite their excellence, it is highly unlikely any of these series will be at the Emmys, along with the soon to conclude Snowfall. Still, I am grateful for the wins given to Women of the Movement for Writing and Giancarlo Esposito for Directing Better Call Saul.

As I expected Niecy Nash prevailed for her work on Dahmer and is likely to continue this parade to an Emmy this fall, though whether they rank her as Actress (as they did at both the SAG Awards and here) or Supporting (as she did when she triumphed at the Critics Choice) remains for her and the Academy to determine. The major winner in Limited Series was The Best Man which took Best Limited Series, Best Actor for Morris Chestnut and Best Supporting Actress for Nia Long.  I think the series has little chance of prevailing at the Emmys this fall, though again I have to give a lot of credit to any awards show that acknowledged    Women of the Movement and Ptolemy Gray. Seriously Emmys, try to do better?

Black Panther dominated the movie awards, taking Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor and Best Supporting Actress (like I said Bassett had a great night) Another major winner was the overlooked The Woman King which took Best Director and gave another prize for Viola Davis, who already managed an EGOT this year. Incidentally, despite all of the controversy due to Slapgate Will Smith still won Best Actor in A Film for Emancipation, which did very well at the Images. Perhaps if Will had kept his seat last year…

Unfortunately because the Images are spread out over several nights, most of the awards had already been given before Saturday’s broadcast. Which is a great pity because I liked a lot of what I saw: Damson Idris and Method Man arguing about who’s sexier; the cast of The Best Man bickering over who fans were most exciting to see back (and Harold Perrineau joking about how none of the cast still knows how to pronounce his last name) and Issa Rae teasing Jonathan Majors about his astrological sign. Queen Latifah remains a superb host who I wish Hollywood would use more often. And by the nature of the Images this maybe the only awards show where political grandstanding is basically encouraged by the people running it and it was hard not to cheer for Brittney Griner’s appearance with her wife on stage or Gabrielle Union and Dwayne Wade’s being recognized for their advocacy work for the LGBTQ+ community. This is the rare awards show that I think was far too short, I would have been overjoyed to see as many awards, presenters and acceptance speeches given as possible.

In any case, we’re done with awards involving TV for at least the next three to four months. I’ll be back to talk about that most likely in June when some of the other major critics groups start giving nominations. By then of course, the landscape will have changed significantly but we’ll deal with that when we get there.

 

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