Why Barry Keoghan is the real Best Supporting Actor
A case for this year’s superior actor in a supporting role. Contains spoilers for ‘The Banshees of Inisherin.’
On the very eve of the Oscars, I want to make a case for Barry Keoghan’s devastating supporting turn as Dominic in ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’; a nominated performance that will lose to Ke Huy Quan’s sweet, comeback performance in ‘Everything Everywhere all at once’. To me, clearly Barry’s is the best supporting performance this year. He manages to shatter the audience’s heart, primarily in a single scene of just over 2 minutes, and make his character one from a grand tragedy. An extraordinary and superior performance.
Of course the Oscars often don’t go to the most worthy, and how can performances in different movies even be compared? So I’ll just make the case for Keoghan’s brilliance.
In ‘The Banshees of Inisherin’ Barry Keoghan’s Dominic initially appears as the friend of Colin Farrell’s central character Padriac. He is a jester, a rabble rouser, a young man with little impulse control and ability to censor what he says. Some have described him as the village idiot but he is far from this in his ability to see and speak the essential truth especially in the central falling out between Padriac and Colm (Brendan Gleeson).
