The Runner-Ups: Mia Wasikowska in "Stoker" (2013)

Scene from Stoker

Every Oscar season, there are a handful of actors who get tagged with the "snubbed" moniker. While it is always unfortunate to see our favorites not honored with at very least a nomination, there's another trend that goes largely unnoticed: those who never even got that far. The Runner-Ups is a column meant to honor the greats in cinema who put in phenomenal work without getting the credit that they deserved from The Academy. Join me every Saturday as I honor those who never received any love. This list will hopefully come to cover both the acting community, and the many crew members who put the production together.

Review: "Stoker" is an Eerily Wonderful Coming of Age Story

Mia Wasikowska

With the unfortunate revelation that there isn't any movie even worthy of speculating Oscar Buzz this week, I have decided to finally write a review for director Chan-wook Park's Stoker, a film that I heavily have endorsed on this blog, but never have specified why. It is a marvelous film, and one that is bizarre enough to not be considered for some sort of award. This is notably thanks to Park, whose catalog includes the much buzzed about and easily deserved praise for Oldboy. In his English-language debut, he tackles a coming of age story in one of the weirdest, most surreal ways possible. What makes his approach more authentic than any of his competitors?