The Whale - 3 nominations

Best Achievement in Makeup and Hairstyling Adrien Morot Judy Chin Anne Marie Bradley

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role Brendan Fraser

Best Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role Hong Chau

Charlie is an online University teacher, an estranged father, and basically a shut in who never leaves his home and never interacts directly with anyone except for his best friend.  His heart is broken (literally and figuratively) because his partner died, and is also broken because he is in congestive heart failure.  Visually, his defining characteristic is that he is extremely morbidly obese, and emotionally, his defining feature is that he sees the world of possibility, he yearns for honesty, he believes in the goodness and kindness of people.  His greatest ambition is to repair his relationship with his daughter who he hasn't seen in 8 years, and she is willing only if he will pay her.  His illness is severe and his best friend and nurse Liz begs him to go to the hospital, but he declines wanting to save his fortune to bequeath to his daughter.  Fundamentally, Charlie doesn't believe himself worthy of anything because of his size - not the love of the people around him, not the respect of his students (and he keeps his Zoom camera off while he teaches), not anyone who could share his life and ease his burden.  He is repeatedly visited by a young Christian missionary who wants nothing more than to bring him back to Jesus - this is never going to happen because his partner died by suicide over the church's guilt for being gay.

This film is good.  It is touching. It has garnered plenty of controversy for gratuitously leaning into Charlie's size, and making every element of his fatness grotesque. But the universal praise for Fraser's performance is there too, and I'm thrilled to have him back in the mix.  Brendan Fraser is a brilliant actor and he squeezes this role for every bit of raw emotion he can find.  The performance alone is worth it, and I found the film to be worthy, as well.  It's a little schlocky, to be sure, but for me, still worth seeing.  If you only have time for 3 of this year's nominated films, this is not the one I would choose. But if you've got the time and inclination, I enjoyed it and I might have even shed a little tear.