Best Supporting Actress 1999

1998 through 2007

Best Supporting Actress 1999

Toni Collette - The Sixth Sense
6
13%
Angelina Jolie - Girl, Interrupted
3
6%
Catherine Keener - Being John Malkovich
12
26%
Samantha Morton - Sweet and Lowdown
1
2%
Chloe Sevigny - Boys Don't Cry
25
53%
 
Total votes: 47

bizarre
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Re: Best Supporting Actress 1999

Post by bizarre »

My choices:

1. Toni Collette, in "The Sixth Sense"
2. Lesley Manville, in "Topsy-Turvy"
3. Madeline Kahn, in "Judy Berlin"
4. Manal Afifi, in "The Closed Doors"
5. Li Yeding, in "Seventeen Years"
ALT: April Grace, in "Magnolia"
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Post by Hustler »

Sevigny
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Post by Cinemanolis »

Voted for Sevigny

My top 5
Lara Belmont – The War Zone
Thora Birch – American Beauty
Cate Blanchett - The Talented Mr. Ripley
Marisa Parades - All About My Mother
Maggie Smith - Tea with Mussolini
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Post by Uri »

Sevigny.
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Post by Sabin »

Late to respond. No choice but Sevigny, although Keener did such a great job as Maxine that it unpleasantly typecast her for a bit. She seems to be aware that her presence immediately announces her character as a bitch and is appropriately back-peddling.

1. Chloe Sevigny, Boys Don't Cry
2. Nicole Kidman, Eyes Wide Shut
3. Helena Bonham Carter, Fight Club
4. Sarah Polley, Go!
5. Cameron Diaz AND Catherine Keener, Being John Malkovich
(Runners up: Thora Birch, American Beauty; Jessica Campbell, Election; Vanessa Martinez, Limbo; and anyone from All About My Mother.)
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Post by The Original BJ »

'99 was a great year for movies and many categories, including this one. It's interesting that this field consisted of five first-time nominees, all of whom went on to continued success over the decade that followed -- whether on top-quality television, in notable independent films, or as the biggest actress on the planet.

Of the omitted, I thought Nicole Kidman in Eyes Wide Shut and Julianne Moore in Magnolia did some of their best work ever, which is saying a lot. And Cameron Diaz in Being John Malkovich was as good as she's ever been -- which I guess says a lot too, on a completely different level. I wish these women had been included, but none of the actual nominees were embarrassing.

I've never been much of a fan of Angelina Jolie, but I can't deny that she made an impression in Girl, Interrupted. Her performance didn't have much texture to it -- she was pretty much all crazy all the time -- but she was fairly entertaining in a role that had both power and laughs. There are much better actresses and better performances on this ballot for whom I'd rather cast my vote, but it's easy to see why she won.

I'm glad I finally loved Samantha Morton in The Messenger, because for a while she seemed like the coolest actress I'd never quite embraced. At the time I found her Sweet and Lowdown work rather overpraised by critics, and a recent reviewing didn't change my opinion. I think she's sweet and charming in the role, but not remotely revelatory. A lot of reviewers at the time seemed bowled over by the fact that she made such a strong impression without a line of dialogue, but I didn't see too much more there beyond the muteness. And there was also a slightly misogynistic aspect to this character, as Hattie so dotingly fawns over a man who is, quite frankly, a real jerk to her. Anyway, Morton is definitely an actress of talent and good taste, so I look forward to possibly rooting for her at some point in the future. But not this time.

I'm surprised Toni Collette has been so dismissed here. I think she's excellent in The Sixth Sense, and it took me more than one viewing to notice how great she is. In some ways, her role is supporting in the classic sense -- she doesn't actually have all that much to do with the film's main plotline, but she's in many ways the heart of the story. Collette is an incredibly resourceful actress, and she used her gifts to create a really complicated, very real portrait of a single, working-class mother. And that "Do I make you proud?" scene with Osment in the car is heartbreaking, and fantastically played by the actress. In a lesser year, she might have gotten my vote, but I like some other nominees this year even better.

I love Catherine Keener in comic bitch mode, and Being John Malkovich offered her a plum role to capitalize on her abilities. She has some of the film's best line deliveries. ("Who the f**ck is John Malkovich?" was one. "I got pregnant when you were in Malkovich!" by the side of the New Jersey turnpike was another. And I love the "I'm a puppeteer"/"Check, please!" exchange.) Maxine is a fairly nasty person, but Keener made her hugely appealing without softening her edge, and came up with a great comic creation in a cast full of them. I'd have been perfectly happy to see her win.

But I cast my vote for the performance that affected me most emotionally, and that's Chloë Sevigny in Boys Don't Cry. I thought she was nearly as good as Swank, in a less obviously challenging role, but one that was still quite dramatically taxing. Sevigny is slyly flirtatious in her initial courtship with Swank, heartfelt in her confusion as she struggles to believe that the man she has fallen in love with is actually a man, and, of course, devastating in the film's final moments. That final shot, of Lana's face as she drives, listening to her departed lover's voice, is a great, haunting, oddly hopeful coda. It's a close call, but I picked Sevigny in the end.
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Post by ITALIANO »

This is one of those cases when even just ONE foreign movie (All About My Mother) had three or four supporting performances which were easily better than the actual nominees. If a Marisa Paredes couldn't make this list - and they found a place for, say, Toni Collette in The Sixth Sense - it means that anyone who doesnt speak English won't, let's face it.

The winner, Angelina Jolie, is the worst here. The kind of performance that you'd expect from an hard-working but not very gifted acting student at an year-end exam, but certainly nothing of Oscar quality. But she was young, beautiful, a future star, the daughter of a former star... I mean, we know how it is. And we all knew she'd win.

Samantha Morton had the Giulietta Masina role, plus she played a mute person, plus she was in a Woody Allen movie... Never a terrible actress of course, but she's been better in other movies.

Toni Collette is a good actress, she has a personal approach to her characters that I like, and a lack of narcissism which is quite rare - so it's a bit sad that this is her only nomination (till now) and that she owed it more to the popular movie she was in than to her performance in it.

It's clearly between Chloe Sevigny and Catherine Keener. In Boys Don't Cry, Hilary Swank had the best role and the right face to play it, but Sevigny gave the best performance - very believable, very real, much more expressive than her one-note co-star, and I found her character's obvious need for love - and for giving love - quite affecting. Keener's role was the opposite - more on the grotesque side; unlike most here, I wasn't a big fan of Being John Malkovich, but I found her very funny in it. I know that I will vote for her again, but she's the kind of actress one can vote for more than once, so she's my pick for this year.
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Post by Reza »

Don't particularly care for any of the nominees.

Voted for Jolie here.

My picks for 1999:

Jessica Lange, Titus
Julianne Moore, Magnolia
Joan Plowright, Tea With Mussolini
Sissy Spacek, The Straight Story
Thora Birch, American Beauty




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Post by mlrg »

Catherine Keener - Being John Malkovich
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Post by Precious Doll »

Chloe Sevigny performance is head and shoulders above the other nominees. She pulls off a very difficult role (straight woman falling for a girl posing as a boy) to great effect.

I didn't care much for the other nominees. Toni Collette was good in a limited role and I much preferred Cameron Diaz over the abrasive Keener.

My choices:

1. Chloe Sevigny for Boys Don't Cry
2. Sissy Spacek for The Straight Story
3. Ellen DeGeneress for Goodbye Lover
4. Marisa Parades for All About My Mother
5. Antonia San Juan for All About My Mother

Other performances for note were Cameron Diaz in Being John Malkovich, Whoopi Goldberg in The Deep End of the Ocean, Shirley Henderson in Wonderland, Julianne Moore in A Map of the World, Brooke Shields in The Weekend & Tori Spelling (of all people) in Trick.




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Post by Damien »

A very even-keeled list. They are all good and I'd have no problem with any of them winning, even if none of them really blew me away. But Chloe Sevigny's raw emotionalism moved me the most, so she gets my vote.

My Own Top 5:
1. Nicole Kidman in Eyes Wide Shut
2. Anna Paquin in A Walk On The Moon
3. Joan Plowright in Tea With Mussolini
4. Jeanetta Arnette in Boys Don’t Cry
5. Jane Alexander in The Cider House Rules
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Post by Kova »

Jolie's performance was one of those that seemed to divide people: those who thought she was revelatory vs. those who had no idea what all the fuss was about. I was definitely in the latter camp. Her character is troubled, and she "plays crazy," but beyond that there's nothing very special here. Moreover, it's rare that such a runaway favorite in a supporting field comes from a film that had no buzz in any other category.

Collette's nod came out of nowhere. She's certainly better than other coattail nominees from this decade(e.g. Quinlan, Tilly), but I found her big scene a tad overperformed. I typically like her in everything she does, though, and I'm glad she has at least one nod under her belt.

Morton earned a great deal of buzz when Sweet and Lowdown was initially released, but seemed to be largely forgotten by the precursors. I was happy she was included: this is her most endearing, original performance. She is funny and perfectly cast, and doesn't entirely rely on that "ethereal" quality that she has phoned in for other roles. Penn's nomination for Best Actor was far more surprising, but still welcome.

The two Oscar worthy turns here are Sevigny's and Keener's. These are two incredibly different performances and I'm not sure how to choose between them. Sevigny generates a remarkable amount of sympathy for herself and for Swank's character--it's a great supporting performance in every sense of the term. Keener, though, has the trickiest role. She has mastered the art of sophisticated daffiness, and only that quality can help pull off her character's transition from ice queen to smitten lover. She's a fabulous comedic actress, and it's sad that Hollywood hasn't exploited her full potential in the genre.

Keener it is.
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Post by Mister Tee »

So is Antonia San Juan -- who gives my favorite supporting performance of the year, in All About My Mother -- a man in drag, a transsexual, or natural-born woman? (Somehow doubt the last one) You'd think this would be discoverable, but I spent a while Googling, and gave up after encountering one coy evasion after another. Anyway, wonderful performance, and if his/her gender classification allows, my choice in this category.

With all the attention American Beauty got, I found it odd its supporting cast went unmentioned. Thora Birch was especially good, but I liked Mena Suvari as well.

The Julianne Moore supporting perfomance I liked most from that year was the one she gave in A Map of the World. Not a big role, but full of feeling.

I never got the enthusiasm for Cameron Diaz in Malkovich. I couldn't escape the feeling people were mostly impressed she let her hair go frizzy.

To the actual nominees:

Samantha Morton is perfectly fine, but, yeah, you have to figure it's the mute thing that got her this nomination.

I like Toni Collette well enough, but I don't view her character in Sixth Sense as particularly memorable. She seemed carried along by her best picture-nominated vehicle.

I'd really liked Angelina Jolie in some of her earlier vehicles. In Gia and -- what was it called? Playing by Heart? -- she wasn't a good actress, exactly, but she had an incredibly dynamic presence that seemed to leap right off the screen. Girl Interrupted sort of leeched off that dynamism, but in the process diminished her as a performer. Her role was such routine stuff -- especially in later reels, when she turned into the evil queen bee -- it seemed a waste of what she had to offer. And, since then, she's not been nearly as interesting as she was in those early vehicles, so maybe it even had long-lasting effects.

Catherine Keener does the stone-bitch thing very well -- she made me laugh quite often in Malkovich. But this didn't strike me as a major performance.

The only one of the nominees to truly reach me was Chloe Sevigny -- a good actress overall, and Boys Don't Cry gave her what's still probably her best screen role. She's as emotionally open as any actress I can think of, and the easy choice for me here.




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Post by Eric »

Melinda Dillon, Magnolia
Catharine Keener, Being John Malkovich
Nicole Kidman, Eyes Wide Shut
Cleo King, Magnolia
Mindy Sterling, Austin Powers 2: The Spy Who Shagged Me
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Post by anonymous1980 »

Haven't seen Morton's.

I'm gonna rule out Angelina Jolie. She was good but over-the-top. If anyone was Oscar-nom worthy in Girl, Interrupted - and I've said this before - it's the late Brittany Murphy.

Catherine Keener was a delight in Being John Malkovich but I can remember slightly preferring the snubbed Cameron Diaz (her career-best performance, IMO).

So it all comes down to Chloe Sevigny and Toni Collette for me. Sevigny gave Boys Don't Cry its heart. Hilary Swank's Brandon Teena would not have been as heartbreaking if it weren't for Sevigny's performance.

Haley Joel Osment, Bruce Willis and the Twist may have gotten all the press from The Sixth Sense but Collette's performance grounded the film. The car scene may have clinched her the nomination but she does great work althroughout: The scene where she and her son tell each other an idealized story of how their day went is another example. She gets my vote.
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