Best Supporting Actress 2011

[flipp525]

Melissa Octavia Spencer- Don't get me started on this bullshit win... I'm going to leave it at this- A black woman playing a maid...... NOT A STRETCH, show me something new, something we already haven't seen a billion times- Hattie McDaniel, Oprah WInfrey, Whoopi Goldberg, and in her own way Cicely Tyson in Sounder... been there done that, stop rewarding people for the same performance... she comes in 4th for me

I think your reading of Octavia Spencer's character (and the performance) is incredibly facile, negating decades upon decades of critical theory on the subversion of stereotype within the African-American community in literature, film and even photography. Does Minny fit a certain black archetype, that of the "Sassy"? Yes, of course, she does. What Spencer does to elevate her performance beyond mere subscription to stereotype is (as The Original BJ hints down-thread) to demonstrate that Minny's sassiness, her jokiness, her quips are all a kind of coping mechanism for her survival and an antidote for an inherent bitterness held towards her station in life. Why that kind of character is often the object of derision in the past was because she was not seen as someone who had feelings beyond the comical artifice. She existed only to entertain white people with her funny ways and her delicious pies. She was not, in any way, supposed to be viewed as a human being with actual feelings, a backstory, a family.

And, by the way, it's not like Octavia Spencer somehow specializes in sassy black maids. She's played small roles in a legion of films throughout the years, many of which could've been played by an actress of any race.

[mojoe92]

Melissa McCarthy has my vote here, she should of won the Oscar

Berenice Bejo- I'm not one to point fingers but why the hell was she even nominated? The Artist itself was an awful movie so winning Best Director, Picture, Actor really pissed me off last year. Best picture should of been Tree of Life, Terrance Malick should of won Director, and Demian Bichir should of won Best Actor, but I will get to that later. There were so many better Supporting performances this year and I feel like this nomination was like Bonham Carter's in 2010- it was just to show the love of the film. She isn't anything special in the movie. I would of rather seen Vanessa Redgrave for Coriolanus, or Cicely Tyson from The Help. She is my last place choice for the win

Janet McTeer- She was great yes, but in any other year she could of won. There were two big factors here for her knowing right out the gate that she was never going to win. 1- Albert Nobs was a bore of a movie and wasn't very financially successful and no one saw it. 2- Her campaign never kicked off as it was all about "Octavia Spencer", but I'll be getting to her later. Janet is not an "in demand" actress, which is sad because she is an amazing one. Hell, her first nomination was lead actress in 1999 for TumbleWeeds and she didn't even become an Academy Member until last year... she comes in 3rd place for me

Melissa McCarthy- She should of won. Hands down. No questions asked, nor if, and's or but's. Here's why- Comedy is so much harder to do than Drama- it is harder to make someone laugh than cry. I could tell you that I ran over you kid and his head popped off from the impact and right away you will start to shed a tear, but to get you to laugh is a lot harder, and I don't think the Academy, at least the older members understand that. I feel like her nomination came from the younger crowd of members, because lets face it, who can picture Lauren Bacall, Angela Lansbury, or Klaus Maria Brandauer voting for a sex comedy.... not gonna happen. I was hoping she would pull a Marisa Tomei, or Helen Hayes, or Anna Paquin and take it... unfortunately no =(

Octavia Spencer- Don't get me started on this bullshit win... I'm going to leave it at this- A black woman playing a maid...... NOT A STRETCH, show me something new, something we already haven't seen a billion times- Hattie McDaniel, Oprah WInfrey, Whoopi Goldberg, and in her own way Cicely Tyson in Sounder... been there done that, stop rewarding people for the same performance... she comes in 4th for me

Jessica Chastain- An amazing performance and surpasses Octavia's by miles. I feel like her Nomination was the win for having a great year, but I wish she would of been nominated for her amazing turn in The Tree of Life, or Take Shelter. She will win in the future.. she places runner up to the Oscar for me though

[FilmFan720]

Octavia Spencer was standard.

Jessica Chastain was good in Taking Shelter and fine in the insufferable Tree of Life. I haven't been able to make myself see The Help; so I can't judge her performance here.

If you haven't seen The Help, how can you judge Octavia Spencer?

[FilmFan720]

Jessica Chastain gave the best supporting performance of the year, but in Take Shelter, not The Help. Along with The Tree of Life, Jessica Chastain has a very well-documented strong debut year. What isn't really pointed out, though, is how different those three films are and how diverse her performances were. When people have these sort of breakout years (such as Edward Norton in 1996), they tend to announce themselves in a familiar character...with Chastain, though, you have three very different types of characters and a wide acting range. It was quite the accomplishment.

Berenice Bejo is perfectly lovely in The Artist, and while I don't begrudge a nomination here, it feels like carry-over love for the movie.

Melissa McCarthy is funny in Bridesmaids, and is an actress I have always adored since Gilmore Girls. I am happy that she has broken through in such a strong way in the past year, but I thought Rose Byrne was the much stronger performance in the film and I found McCarthy's performance a little too one-note to make it on my list.

I agree with those who think that Octavia Spencer goes beyond the stereotype of The Help. Like I said about Viola Davis, The Help is pretty straight-forward writing that has a real layer of depth added by the exceptional cast. Spencer is wonderful in the role.

The best nominated performance, though, is Janet McTeer. She plays the tightrope-like balance of her character perfectly, making you believe that she is always a man but with just enough of a smattering of femininity to remind you of the truth behind her character. Not only that, but she brings such life to a film that greatly needed more life. In the end, she gets my vote.

Of the also-rans, I was always shocked that Helen McCrory in Hugo never gained any traction at all. I found her the real heart of that film.

My top five:

1. Jessica Chastain, Take Shelter
2. Helen McCrory, Hugo
3. Shailene Woodley, The Descendants
4. Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
5. Gianna Giachetti, Certified Copy

[mayukh]

I owe The Help a revisit. I look forward to seeing what becomes of Spencer's career, because she seems very perceptive based on interviews, but I didn't think she invested her character with the requisite rage so many here seem to have seen. Unfortunately, I remember thinking that the film's structure, and specifically Taylor's tone, muted her potentially complex approach to the role.

On Chastain – one commenter on Nathaniel's site stated the following about her performance in the Malick very eloquently:

I think that embodying a concept sometimes seems very very difficult. You have to act not to reach the variations of an arc, but to sustain a state and represent that state. It seems easy, but I don't believe you can just look at camera dressed in something nice and look angelical. It's a very soulful type of acting, in which you have to deconstruct your acting, to empty it, instead of build something from the screenplay. You empty yourself and let the pure concept emerge from you. Not every concept is easy to reach, like being the muse or the terminator...

I say this shall not easy because a lot of actors do it that way. See for example Monica Vitti and Jeanne Moreau in a lot of movies. They are not playing parts. They are sustaining them. And they still incredible. For a recent example, look at Juliette Binoche in The Red Balloon, or The English Patient, or Blue. She is not playing these women. She is what these women represent. I don't know, but Chastain work never seemed that easy. It's not like you can put any actor in her place and they'd be the divine grace in such an arresting way, like she does. She is grace and she sustain it brilliantly. I think it's a hell of a performance.

Also, I agree with those who mentioned Elle Fanning. Divine.

[Sabin]

You see, that's where I disagree with you. I don't think the actors are at odds with the script. If they were at odds with the script, the film would feel genuinely strange. Which it isn't. It's very simple and palatable, which is by design. The script is simple, straight-forward, unimaginative...and designed for these actors to invest pathos into these roles. I don't think they're struggling against the script because that implies that everyone involved with making the movie wasn't on the same page. I think they all were.

As I've said before, this is not a movie about the problem of racism, but rather racist white women. By constricting the focus to something everyone in the audience can root against, the film ultimately reveals itself as a crowd-pleaser. And while that's unfair to the legacy of Medgar Evers, you were engaged, bizarre, and I was engaged. As far as Oprah movies go, this one's pretty good.

[bizarre]

Yeah, I don't get the hate. If someone was just to say "I just don't like The Help and anyone in it." that Inwould understand. There are some films where it's just impossible for a performer to rise above. Octavia Spencer's role is condescending in the way that pretty much every role in the film is. Nothing in The Help holds up to much scrutiny. It may not be tailor-made for Oscars but it is tailor-made for mass consumption. What I take from these negative comments is a combination of saying that this kind of role shouldn't win and as an actor she doesn't deserve an Oscar. Which is problematic, but to hate The Help and watch it potentially steamroll towards multiple-Oscar victories, that's something I experience year after year.

The Help is a really strange film. On the one hand you have this almost Waters-y kitsch, plasticine visual design, a horrendous political whitewash and a script that can't control its huge cast of characters and sideplots. But I found it immensely entertaining and that mainly had to do with Taylor's control of pace and his direction of actors, all of whome - Bryce Dallas Howard aside - are unimpeachable. They're all at war with the script but most of them win out - even the blandest roles like Emma Stone's audience surrogate are enlivened in scenes such as the confrontation with the Janney character re: the family maid, and in bit roles actors like Aunjanue Ellis and Cicely Tyson give rich characterisations. It deserves some props at least for recycling Disney tropes in a way that actually engaged me for 2.5 hours rather than having me roll my eyes endlessly.

As I said before Davis' and Spencer's performances were most interesting in that you could see the approach taken to the character - "if this is a stereotype, why is it a stereotype and what would the psychological basis for these stereotypical behaviours have been in this place and time?"

If the film forgets that Minny and Aibileen could be in legitimate physical peril after the film's closing scenes, Davis and Spencer make it their job to remind us.

[Sabin]

Yeah, I don't get the hate. If someone was just to say "I just don't like The Help and anyone in it." that Inwould understand. There are some films where it's just impossible for a performer to rise above. Octavia Spencer's role is condescending in the way that pretty much every role in the film is. Nothing in The Help holds up to much scrutiny. It may not be tailor-made for Oscars but it is tailor-made for mass consumption. What I take from these negative comments is a combination of saying that this kind of role shouldn't win and as an actor she doesn't deserve an Oscar. Which is problematic, but to hate The Help and watch it potentially steamroll towards multiple-Oscar victories, that's something I experience year after year.

Sarina Farhadi is heartbreaking in A Separation. Possibly too old but that's no matter. I just don't have room for her. I already have two other of her costars in that category alone. I would prefer to see her nominated over all the nominees except McTeer. Or maybe Spencer also if I'm being honest.

[flipp525]

The unfunny one was Octavia Spencer. Her version of the sassy, oppressed maid is old hat. I can only picture the Academy jumping, whistling, and cheering when she let out her "Eat... mah... sheeeit." Her role consisted mostly of condescending looks at other people, pouted, sassy lips, and frank dialogue that I found tiresome. To be fair though, her film was not good.

I find this to be a rather shallow interpretation of Octavia Spencer's performance. Like others on the board, I thought she succeeded in subverting the role of "the Sassy" and presented a character much richer and in control of her world than I think it appears on the surface. And this all done, by the way, against a script that gives her a very limited interior life. I also thought that the clip for her during the Academy Awards presentation in which Minny laments that the children she helps rear simply grow up to be their mothers, was easily the best of the five that were shown.

Personally, I was thrilled with Spencer's breakthrough last year having been a fan of hers since her cameo in Being John Malkovich.

[ksrymy]

Sarina Farhadi was good, but she was way too old to be a convincing eleven year old.

That was a casting issue, not a performance issue.

I didn't say there was anything wrong with the performance itself. This is obviously a case of daddy wanting to cast his little girl.

[bizarre]

Sarina Farhadi was good, but she was way too old to be a convincing eleven year old.

That was a casting issue, not a performance issue.

[ksrymy]

Sarina Farhadi was good, but she was way too old to be a convincing eleven year old.

[bizarre]

bizarre wrote
I think Moaadi is the only lead. Hatami's role "makes sense" as the lead but she's barely in half of the film. Bayat has a dominant role for most of the film but the film shifts to other perspectives in the third act.

This is true. Juno Temple gets the bump.

I hope you're considering Sarina Farhadi, too, who missed my ballot by a hair.

[The Original BJ]

Oh, one more thing I wanted to respond to: Mister Tee's question about why we think Bridesmaids scored those Oscar nods.

Nathaniel Rogers made an interesting point on his blog while reviewing The Dark Knight Rises, in which he argued that the recent "blockbusters MUST be nominated" edict, at some point, is going to have an effect on things. I tend to agree, though I certainly don't think the Academy is suddenly going to start nominating stuff like The Avengers for Best Picture. But, I do think it's going to start putting more off-Oscar hits in the conversation, and from time to time, depending on the year & field, some of these entries might pop up somewhere.

Of course, you could say, Bridesmaids and Harry Potter didn't make it in Best Picture last year, so voters are clearly refuting this meme. But I think the fact that both movies were even considered in the mix -- resulting in two major nominations for the former -- isn't insignificant.

The fact that a lot of similar commercial faves, whether comedies (There's Something About Mary, Legally Blonde, The 40-Year-Old Virgin) or action hits (Men in Black, The Matrix, the Spider-Man films, the Bourne films, even Nolan's own Batman Begins) got not a WHIFF of serious Oscar consideration in years past, yet popular blockbusters are now often discussed in Oscar terms these days, suggests a change in mentality.

I think it's more of a change in BLOGGER mentality than VOTER mentality, but the more the Internet (and, honestly, the press) keeps beating this drum, the more likely it's going to have SOME influence somewhere.

[Sabin]

bizarre wrote
I think Moaadi is the only lead. Hatami's role "makes sense" as the lead but she's barely in half of the film. Bayat has a dominant role for most of the film but the film shifts to other perspectives in the third act.

This is true. Juno Temple gets the bump.