Last night I stayed up ’til 1.30am (in Sydney) to catch a live date with Anne Hathaway (in Los Angeles). Only I missed her by 10 minutes, and had to wait for the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Science’s IT crew to replay our virtual, one-sided date. Yes the Oscar nominations came out yesterday morning and just right before I had the time to finish and publish my predictions for Lead and Support Actresses. I focus on these 2 categories as they are my specialty. So now, I will give you my thoughts on the nominees and an extra early prediction on who should/will win.
Best Actress in a Leading Role: admittedly, the category this year is such a dud. The 5 nominated were no big surprise, all 5 had appeared on virtually every pundits’ predictions: Bullock, Mirren, Streep, Mulligan and Sidibe. Most gave mediocre, substantial but unexciting performances in, again, mediocre-substantial but very unexciting films. What is ironic, however, is that last year this category was so jam packed that even certain ‘locks’ and ‘frontrunners’ were shut out of the race, with the 5 nominees still being incredibly strong without them. We had: Kate Winslet in The Reader (and Revolutionary Road), Anne Hathaway in Rachel Getting Married, Meryl Streep in Doubt, Melissa Leo in Frozen River and Angelina Jolie in Changeling, with the exclusions of Berlin Silver Bear recipient Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky), Cesar-nominated Kristin Scott Thomas (I’ve Loved You So Long) and critics favourite Michelle Williams in Wendy and Lucy.
What is even worse about this year is that all the really WOW performances were in small-budget, independent films which haven’t received the campaign-ridden attention as that of The Blind Side, Julie and Julia, Precious, An Education and The Last Station. I would have loved to see:
Abbie Cornish nominated for her impeccable turn in Jane Campion’s Bright Star: Miss Cornish proves that Ryan Phillipe has good taste in actresses for wives/girlfriends, and undoubtedly paired up with the much more talented one out of the two, despite whatever the Oscars thought. (I’m sorry Reese, but you was campaignin’ against my gurl and I know you gots lots o’ monies but I’ma gonna get my whole ‘hood to root for my homegirl… Okays!).
Or for Cesar-winning actress Yolande Moreau to be nominated for Seraphine, this undervalued French actress even gained the attention of the National Society of Film Critics and the Los Angeles Film Critics Association, unfortunately she didn’t fare well with the Academy.
Or Tilda Swinton nominated for arguably the most searing and compelling performance of her luminous career in Julia.
Or Charlotte Gainsbourg nominated for her Cannes Film Festival Best Actress winning turn in Lars von Trier’s Antichrist. Apparently, for some stupid reason or another, it isn’t in contention because it premiered on Pay-TV or something like that.
I was really hoping for one of these 4 women to have a surprise nomination and break apart the mediocrity that has now become the line-up for Best Actress…
…or maybe I’m being too harsh.
I do support Carey Mulligan’s nomination, she was utterly charming and adorable in An Education, but considering most of the acting work was achieved through her stylist and English background, I don’t think she should win. Moreover, remembering that one of the best (British) actresses of our time only won her Oscar last year after 5 nominations and 13 years of waiting, I think Carey will survive a few more years, or even a decade, without one.
Gabourey Sidibe is searing in Precious and basically has to endure the (von Trier-like/Charlize Theron-like/Boys Don’t Cry-like) abuse that is hurled at her. She is a gem and the inherent understanding, interiority, emotional resonance and spirit that she enacts in her performance conjures up the likes of Hilary Swank in Boys Don’t Cry, Charlize Theron in Monster, Cher in Mask, Bjork in Dancer in the Dark, Emily Watson in Breaking the Waves and Keisha Castle-Hughes in Whale Rider – all the aforementioned women were either not respected or known actresses prior to their breakthrough performances, and regardless of their prior limited acting successes and visibility in the industry, they were able to show the general public the amount of emotional reserve and psychological depth/intelligence that they had secretly possessed (regardless of years of acting training or no acting training whatsoever); such raw and pure energy, which no matter how many years of acting classes an actress attends will she ever be able to imitate – you either have it or you don’t. Sidibe’s screen presence and intensity reminded me of Melanie Laurent’s brilliance in Inglourious Basterds. A win would be pretty cool, but I am generally against young, unestablished actors winning over older, established actors. Your prize is the nomination, treasure that. I’m very ageist in that way. But with the precious Ms. Sibide, I may make an exception.
I’m sure Dame Helen Mirren is superb in The Last Station, and she is one of my favourite actresses of all time, so I am rooting for her. But I have heard that she is a bit too over-the-top in the film and isn’t doing anything spectacular that we haven’t seen before.
Talking about silly brings me to MERYL STREEP (as Sophia Loren so awkwardly stated last year at the ceremony, her name symbolises “unmatched excellence”, you know, just in case you didn’t know…). Julie and Julia is just not a serious film, the kind that I’m into. I didn’t mind it but wasn’t blown away by it. Her performance is substantial, she is after all Meryl Streep. Admittedly, I’m not American nor am I into cooking, so how the fuck was I to know who Julia Child was prior? Even through all of Streep’s metamorphic, mimetic performance, I just can’t get away from (a) Nora Ephron talking about late-aged people having sex on The View and (b) Meryl sticking her tongue out and simulating the noise of a fart. And if that was really what the real Julia Child was like, gee, she was one sophisticated lady.
But in all truth, I love Meryl, and am in the camp which believe that she should already have 3 Oscars if not 4. At least 2 Best Actress Oscars to tie with the likes of Hilary Swank, Sally Field, Jodie Foster, Luise Rainer and Glenda Jackson. And I am not discounting those 5 actresses’ talents, careers and amazing incarnations, but in parts of their careers they have been very flat, one-note and even embarrassing: e.g. Swank in PS I love You, Field in Not Without My Daughter and Brothers and Sisters, Foster in Flight Plan. I just feel that it is so disappointing to be giving Meryl her prized 3rd Oscar for such an unremarkable performance in such an unremarkable film. I would even have liked it better if she had ‘stolen’ Kate Winslet’s Oscar last year for Doubt. If only Meryl had won for A Cry in the Dark (for which she won the Best Actress prize at the Cannes Film Festival in ’88), or The Bridges of Madison County or Adaptation, we wouldn’t be in this situation now.
Of course, the worst is Sandra Bullock. Some say her winning will top the nightmare that is Julia Roberts winning Best Actress in 2000 for Erin Brockovich over Ellen Burstyn in Requiem for a Dream, Laura Linney in You Can Count on Me, Juliette Binoche in Chocolat and Joan Allen in The Contender. I say: “No it won’t! Julia Roberts will always be the nightmare.” At least Bullock is charming in her comedic roles. At least Bullock doesn’t take herself too seriously. At least Bullock isn’t a bitch who think she’s a really “great” actress with an “amazing” repertoire behind her, when really she’s not. At least Bullock knows how to get into her characters’ mindsets. At least Bullock doesn’t encourage prostitution like Roberts does in the heinous Pretty Woman. At least Bullock isn’t deluded. At least Bullock can sort of act in her nominated role. At least Bullock doesn’t have an undeserved Oscar on her mantle… (meaning that hopefully, as much as I love Sandra Bullock, the comedic actress celebrity persona, she won’t win.) And if she does win, can’t we all just pretend it was for her rich, deeply-complex and understood supporting performance in 2005′s Crash? Moreover, I feel that there is a lot of momentum for Bullock, especially since she has shown just as much appreciation and gratitude for her Razzie nom as with her Oscar nom; showing that she doesn’t take herself too seriously.
Best Actress in a Supporting Role: I personally found the nominees here to be even more worse than the leading line-up. The leading line-up was not a surprise – I’d would have gladly bet my mortgage on Bullock, Mirren, Mulligan, Sidibe and Streep. But the Best Supporting Actress category, which this year was the strongest than it’s ever been, was ultimately reduced to a garden path that has Mo’Nique’s name at the end of the line. OK, so let’s see who we have:
- Mo’Nique, who will certainly win with her portrayal of a sadistic mother: she basically ghettoizes all of cinema’s worst mums into one: a bit of Shelley Winters from A Patch of Blue, some Piper Laurie from Carrie and a lot of Jennifer Hudson from Dreamgirls (Hey, Effie White refuses to work and support her daughter because all she can do, apparently, is sing and she refuses to engage in a lesser employment because she believes that God put her on this earth to sing, and if her endeavour to sing fails and this leaves her daughter hungry and out in the cold, then so be it; in my books, that very much constitutes a bad mother!). Her performance is visceral and leaves an impression, but I have a problem with African Americans basically acting like themselves – shouting and being all loud and ghetto, being yourself doesn’t constitute acting. Also, in the future, Mo’Nique will have a career just as bright as her fellow Oscar-winner sista J.Hud, as I really cannot see her in another dramatic or comedic role that isn’t Big Mamma’s House IV. I’m sorry but I feel that an Academy Award winning actor should be more versatile than that. I found Mo’Nique to be very one-note, and wasn’t able to reveal and interiority of that character – maybe a script problem, but who knows? I thought she didn’t seem committed to her performance, and it just seemed like she was just “acting”. Unlike her co-star Gabourey Sidibe, there seemed to be a sense of lack, a spark missing from her villain, of which Christoph Waltz, Javier Bardem, Heath Ledger, Tilda Swinton, Louise Fletcher and Anthony Hopkins possess in their Academy Award winning, or soon to be winning, portrayal of their respective villains.
- Vera Farmiga and Anna Kendrick in Up in the Air, both these girls, like their film, are charming and delightful but missing a WOW factor in their performances. Farmiga oozes her mature sex/sensuality and seduces us like she does Clooney. Meanwhile, Kendrick has a bit more meat and bones with her role as she has to do more of the ‘acting’ and has got more of the precarious dramedy scenes which either make or break the film. In most, Kendrick slides through them successfully. Also, Kendrick’s is a kind of “a performance within a performance”-type role, which the Academy tends to go gaga for in this category. Kendrick, also has the special honour of being the only actress to win a major precursor (National Board of Review) over Mo’Nique. But I feel the Academy will be torn between the two: Farmiga has less to ‘act’ in this, but has a substantial career and body of work behind her; while, Kendrick does more of the ‘acting’ but has Twilight in her repertoire.
- Maggie Gyllenhaal-Sarsgaard: her surprise nomination is the stuff that I stay up late for. Many see this nomination as an apology for ignoring this brilliant young actress’s work in Sherrybaby, Secretary, Donnie Darko and World Trade Centre. I am rooting for her to win, and maybe she possibly has what’s needed to dethrone Mo’Nique reign (despite a lack of precursor critics or industry buzz [but considering she was able to nab a nomination away from the many other richly/equally talented actresses that were in serious contention earlier on proves that maybe she is the miracle worker]).
- Penelope Cruz: (NB: I adore, respect and ‘love’ Penelope Cruz, ever since I saw her in All About My Mother and Volver, and rooted for her Oscar win last year with Vicky Cristina Barelona but…) I hate this fucking bitch for stealing a precious nom away from Julianne Moore, Samantha Morton, Melanie Laurent, Sigourney Weaver, Natalie Portman and Diane Kruger. All non-Oscar winning actresses who gave far better performances in far better faring films. Nine was atrocious! Penelope Cruz was mediocre in it. She plays her typecast role of the seductress, the kind of role which completely flattened her career when she first started out in Hollywood. So why the fuck is the Academy now rewarding her for it? Penelope was fantastic in Almodovar’s Broken Embraces, and with that role she was able to (a) communicate properly (b) communicate emotions (c) play the temptress but in a way that is multidimensional, fascinating and ever-so-alluring. Why wasn’t she nominated for that performance, since the Academy felt so strongly to honour her again. Why this nomination for her in Nine? It doesn’t make sense to me. It’s not like she’s got a chance of winning – in its history, the Academy has only ever had 5 back-to-back consecutive wins, and Cruz is no Luise Rainer, nor a K. Hepburn, nor a Jason Robards, nor a Tom Hanks or Spencer Tracy. I need to rewatch her films with Almodovar and Allen to remind myself that I ‘love’ her.
I would have so wanted Julianne Moore to have been nominated a 5th time for A Single Man and win it. Or the evanescent 2-time nominated Samantha Morton (The Messenger) to pull a coup with her 3rd. Or Melanie Laurent:, who’s in Inglourious Basterds for approx. 41 mins which is shorter than Waltz’s screen time, Tarantino’s finest heroine. I would have thought that only one of these 3 women would’ve had the audacity to kick Mo’Nique to the curb.
Out of the nominees, I’d give Best Actress to Helen Mirren and/or Gabourey Sidibe, and Best Supporting Actress to Maggie Gyllenhaal.
But if I was a member of the academy, I would have voted for and given the two awards to:
Best Actress: either Tilda Swinton in Julia or Yolande Moreau in Seraphine (a Cesar Best Actress winner last year).
Best Supporting Actress: hands down to Melanie Laurent in Inglourious Basterds.
Yet, I am betting on: Meryl Streep to win Best Actress and Mo’Nique to win Best Support Actress. I think the voters will suddenly remember that Sandra’s got a Razzie nom and discount her.
