Best supporting actor

With his role as Edwin Epps in “12 Years a Slave,” Michael Fassbender gives a ferocious, outsized yet highly believable performance as a Nietzschean superman of the bayous, from whom money, power, lust and whiskey have stripped all morality. While I’m not remotely suggesting that we should feel pity for this monstrous character, Edwin Epps puts me in mind of Robert E. Lee’s revealing (if profoundly racist) remark that slavery, in his judgment, was ultimately more damaging to whites than to blacks. Debased and demoralized as he is – and even forced to perform unspeakable cruelties — Solomon retains some human dignity, some aspirations for a better future. In the end, it is Fassbender’s character, rather than Solomon, whom the institution of slavery has reduced to the level of an animal.  Attempting to portray this morally ambiguous character looks hard on paper, and it is even harder in real life.  However, because of Fassbender’s performance, we are able to see this dynamic yet disgusting character pour his morals and psyche onto the table.

Honorable Mentions: Chris Pratt for “Her”, Paul Dano for “Prisoners”, Will Forte for “Nebraska”