With the release of the Golden Globe nominations comes the yearly opportunity to talk about the stupid, shitty snubs that make the Globes a joke.
High atop this year’s WTF? list would be the snubbing of one Jake Gyllenhaal for some of his career-best work in Stronger, the story Jeff Bauman. Bauman lost his legs to the asshats who set off bombs at the Boston Marathon—and he managed to get a glimpse of one of the attackers before the explosion.
At the time of the marathon, Bauman was sort-of on hiatus from on-again, off-again girlfriend Erin Hurley (Tatiana Maslany). In an effort to win her back, he promised to show up at the finish line to cheer her on as she completed her great personal journey. What should’ve been a triumphant moment wound up being a terrible tragedy.
Directed by David Gordon Green, the film is a story of strength and love, endurance and determination—and being just plain pissed off about being permanently injured. Gyllenhaal’s warts-and-all depiction of Bauman resonates in a way that feels real. It’s the kind of performance that deserved recognition.
Let’s see what Oscar has to say about this.
Stronger is available via online sources including iTunes and Amazon.com.
