Oscar nominations are about the narrative of the actors in question as much as the performance. JLC in particular is a good example, where she was getting pushed ahead of Stephanie Hsu, who had the better performance in the film.

I agree that his performance wasn't quite enough, but it's also not far off. If it was a bit bigger, and he didn't have Ke Huy Quan as a costar who's considered the biggest lock this year to win, I'm saying it's feasible.

With so much of the Oscars being the campaigning and glad handling, I think just his personality alone could get him close.