Welcome to the 2022 SiftPop.com Sifties!
This year, the SiftPop writers came together to nominate five ensembles for Best Film Ensemble. An acting ensemble is often an important ingredient to a successful film, and we wanted to recognize that with this award!
2022 brought us many great ensembles at the movies. Between the diverse populace of Gotham City, a group of self-dubbed disruptors, a group of rich restaurant patrons, a family unit trying to understand each other, and the people of a small, Irish island, there was a wide variety to appreciate. The SiftPop crew nominated five casts for Best Ensemble: Everything Everywhere All at Once, The Menu, Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, The Banshees of Inisherin, and The Batman. Here’s how the voting played out:
Before The Batman, exclusively in live action, we have seen SIX Batmen, four Alfreds, four Gordons, three Catwomen, two Penguins, one Falcone, and one Riddler. That’s not including the animated films, TV shows, video games, and other forms of media; many of these characters are dangerously close to feeling stale. Yet, each of these actors brings something new to the table and works to an ultimately great Batman film. It is fair to say that most of the cast, consisting of Robert Pattinson, Collin Farrell, Paul Dano, Jeffery Wright, Zoe Kravitz, Andy Serkis, and John Turturro, are considered A-Listers, and it is easy to see why here. Even though the movie is long, we don’t want a shorter version because we just love the cast so much.
The Menu lives and dies by the buy-in of its ensemble. It’s a cutting satire of the ultra-rich, and it only works with each and every performer being committed. There are the finance bros, Rob Yang, Arturo Castro, and Mark St. Cyr, all of whom bring the perfect amount of cockiness; there’s the rich couple without any appreciation for the lifestyle they get to live in Reed Birney and Judith Light; John Leguizamo plays a phony, down-on-his luck actor who lives to lie to his two-timing assistant, played by Aimee Carrero; Janet McTeer plays a pitch-perfect restaurant critic, with Paul Adelstein as her spineless yes-man; and Nicholas Hoult is an entirely oblivious snob. Add Hong Chau’s no-nonsense attitude, Ralph Fiennes menacing demeanor, and Anya Taylor-Joy’s sympathetic service industry worker, and you have one of the absolute best casts of the year!
Colin Farrell and Brendan Gleeson are understandably getting lots of acclaim for their performances in The Banshees of Inisherin, but that doesn’t mean the rest of the cast should be ignored. Because if anything, this is an ensemble showcase. Farrell, who had a great year overall, is excellent as Pádraic, who slowly becomes disillusioned with everything he once thought; Gleeson’s stubbornness and subtle empathy can never be overlooked; Kerry Condon’s Siobhán is the film’s moral center; and Barry Keoghan is perhaps the heart of the entire film, further showing how capable he is as a character actor. And you can’t discount the contributions of the rest of the people and animals on Inisherin, all of whom help make this film’s heart beat.
You know you have a good ensemble when your two lead actors give two of the best performances of the year, period. In Everything Everywhere All at Once, Michelle Yeoh is finally being recognized for a magnificent, decades-long career. She brings the action, comedy, and most of all, the heart to this performance. Ke Huy Quan, meanwhile, returned after getting just sparse acting work over the last few decades, and he gives the performance of a lifetime as Waymond, where he’s the emotional core of the film. Stephanie Hsu also broke out with this film, and she gives one of the most diverse, eclectic, entertaining, and moving performances of the year. And then you have the supporting cast, which includes the likes of James Hong, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tallie Medel, and Jenny Slate. The Daniels hit a home run with each and every performer.
The best part of both Knives Out and its sequel, Glass Onion, are the casts that Rian Johnson assembled. Sure, the stories are also both great, but the cast in a murder mystery is just as crucial as the plot itself. Each of the cast is supposed to feel larger than life; people who are this dependent on Edward Norton’s Miles Bron would be. In a film filled with Bron, Daniel Craig’s Benoit Blanc, and other industry-leading people (Kate Hudson, Dave Bautista, Kathryn Hahn, and Leslie Odom Jr., to name a few), the audience is more akin to Jessica Henwick’s Peg, who sees things for what they are: room full of fake people (and one eccentric detective). Each of the cast plays their role perfectly, and the standouts are Crag and Janelle Monáe’s mysterious Andi.
Make sure to check out the previous 2022 Sifties winners, and don’t forget to check back on Monday for the winner of Best Audio Experience! You can also listen to the SiftPop writers’ top five movies of the year on the SiftPop Writers’ Room Podcast!