From major blockbusters like Top Gun: Maverick and Avatar: The Way of Water to dramatic features including The Fabelmans and The Banshees of Inisherin, 2022 was a year in which various films garnered several Oscar nominations this awards season, including best picture.
To Leslie is a small independent drama that wasn't viewed by many audiences, but the film's star, Andrea Riseborough, earned what many viewed as a surprise Academy Award nomination for best actress. Andrea's role as an alcoholic is raw, emotional, and reminiscent of powerful dramas like Leaving Las Vegas, The Wrestler, and Barbara Loden's Wanda. It's a performance and a film that shouldn't be missed.
Who is Andrea Riseborough?
Andrea Riseborough may not be the biggest or most popular actress in the world compared to Cate Blanchett or Margot Robbie, but she is an English actress who has several credits in film, TV, and theater. She made her film debut in the comedy-drama feature Venus, where the late great Peter O'Toole received his eighth and final best actor Oscar nomination. Andrea has starred in notable British comedies and dramas including Happy-Go-Lucky and Made in Dagenham, and portrayed Margaret Thatcher in the BBC TV film The Long Walk to Finchley (which landed her a BAFTA nomination).
Andrea has also starred in several American films, including the sci-fi actioner Oblivion with Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman, as well as the Oscar-winning best picture Birdman with a large ensemble led by Michael Keaton. She gained more prominence in 2017 as the love interest of Emma Stone's Billie Jean King in the sports biopic Battle of the Sexes, and the daughter of one of the most ruthless dictators in history in the satire The Death of Stalin. Andrea also starred in a few horror features such as the 2020 reboot of The Grudge, and Possessor (directed by Brandon Cronenberg, the son of celebrated filmmaker David Cronenberg) where she plays a killer who controls the bodies of other individuals to eliminate her targets.
What is To Leslie About?
To Leslie is an independent drama in which the title character is a single mother and an extremely troubled alcoholic living in West Texas. Leslie wins the lottery with a jackpot of $190,000, but all that money is wasted on alcohol and drugs. Years later, Leslie is shown struggling from place to place with very little luggage and barely any cash to pay rent at a motel. She is unable to stay with her son James and her mother Nancy (Allison Janney) due to her alcoholic addiction.
However, Leslie is offered a job by a motel owner named Sweeney (Marc Maron), who agrees to pay her for cleaning each room and washing the bedsheets. Despite feeling depressed about herself and being separated from her family due to her actions, Leslie tries hard to quit drinking and work diligently at her new job to make an honest living. Leslie and Sweeney also become close friends, engaging in personal conversations and understanding each other's struggles and hardships.
To Leslie is a throwback to old-fashioned dramas about alcoholism and depression (every version of A Star Is Born, Barfly, and Sideways are among several examples). Andrea Riseborough's role as Leslie is physically transformative and deeply poignant, and the supporting cast (especially Maron and Janney) also rises to the occasion. Maron is especially effective because he's generally known for his stand-up and comedic work, but as Sweeney, he provides the film with a sensitive and compassionate performance that compliments his chemistry with Andrea's Leslie.
The use of country music (including songs from Dolly Parton and Willie Nelson) and the original score by Linda Perry perfectly accompany the film's setting not only for Leslie's story but also for the representation of the small, lower-class community around her. Almost everyone in town either knows Leslie or has interacted with her in the past.
What is the Controversy Behind Andrea Riseborough’s Nomination?
While Andrea Riseborough's performance in To Leslie was heavily praised by several film critics and spectators, many were also shocked by her Academy Award nomination for best actress. The film's director, Michael Morris, and his wife (actress Mary McCormack) organized a campaign in which celebrities (including Gwyneth Paltrow, Edward Norton, and Charlize Theron) hosted special screenings of the film, while others like Jane Fonda and Liam Neeson provided support on social media.
This celebrity-backed campaign caused many in the movie industry to raise questions about whether their campaigning strategies violated Academy rules since it forbids individuals from giving their personal pleas to watch a film. The film's distributor, Momentum Pictures, also didn't fund advertisements for a conventional awards campaign compared to other nominated features. However, after conducting a review, there were no reports of unauthorized campaigning for the film, securing Andrea's best actress nomination.
Andrea's nomination is, without question, worthy of consideration due to her powerful work in the film (which some may argue is the best of her career). However, the problem is with the Academy since it failed to nominate any actresses of color, including Viola Davis for The Woman King and Danielle Deadwyler for Till. These performances and films had more viewership, more advertising campaigns, and more nominations throughout the awards season, but were shut out of the Oscars (the biggest film award).
For a little over a decade, the Academy extended the best picture award from five nominees to around eight to ten (since many thought The Dark Knight was heavily snubbed in 2009). Perhaps the Academy can do the same with the acting and directing categories so that well-deserved filmmakers and actors of color can be nominated and fairly recognized as well.