Anna Karenina: For Your Consideration- Matthew Macfadyen for Oscar Nod

The Playlist has an interesting article about 5 supporting performances that deserve an Oscar nod. Matthew Macfadyen's stellar performance in Anna Karenina is among those 5.

Matthew Macfadyen - "Anna Karenina"

Too divisive to get Academy traction in anything except craft categories, "Anna Karenina" is positively stuffed with performances that could have made it to this feature: Domhnall Gleeson as the lovelorn Levin, Alicia Vikander as the pure, lovely Kitty, Jude Law giving one of his very best turns as Anna's cuckolded husband. But for us, the pick of the bunch is a somewhat unlikely one, Matthew Macfadyen, as Anna's brother Oblonsky. Reuniting with his "Pride & Prejudice" director Joe Wright in an entirely different kind of role, Macfadyen is something of a revelation; buried underneath a walrus moustache, he's a boisterous, vibrant man of enormous appetites, and Macfadyen positively relishes the chance to seize a man with so much carpe diem (particularly when put in contrast with the brooding, repressed Mr. Darcy). Oblonsky's kind of a shit, unapologetically and repeatedly cheating on his doting wife (Kelly Macdonald), but Macfadyen's so endearing in the role that you can't help but like him. Which helps when it comes to the end; his final appearance, after his sister's suicide, is heartbreaking, a beautifully simple and silent bit of acting from the performer, showing a man who has always been so broad and vivacious suddenly subdued and broken. The complete lack of awards buzz for Macfadyen has killed whatever slim chance might have originally existed, but he's certainly worth a second look.