Best Supporting Actress 2011

[Mister Tee]

As I finally crystallize my take on 2011 (a few titles left to polish off), I find myself in the atypical situation of preferring a non-nominee in pretty much every acting category. Usually at least one of my favorites manages to slip into Academy contention, but this year was a bust (I do better under best picture, with the expansion-to-ten giving my favorite, Tree of Life, the spot).

Carey Mulligan in Shame is my bar-none choice as the year's best. I was in the middle ground on Mulligan's breakthrough work in An Education -- deeply disagreeing with those who hated the film and (mostly) her, but also short of those ready to crown her best actress 2009. Here, though, I thought she was outstanding...taking a character type that's often a pain, and infusing her with a heartbreaking vulnerability.

I'd also endorse Shailene Woodley -- another victim of Oscar's aversion to adolescence -- and maybe Vanessa Redgrave, though I wonder if she looks better in context because she, unlike many of her co-actors, was brought up on Shakespearean verse.

I don't have any strong favorite of the five the Academy slated...nor any poisonous antipathy, either. Berenice Bejo is undistinguished but pleasant enough -- which is actually about what I'd say describing her film. Melissa McCarthy isn't any glorious comic gem, but she's agreeable enough in a movie I'd never have put within a mile of the Oscars. (Parenthetically, why do we think Bridesmaids got Oscar attention -- not just here, but in screenplay -- where equally praised and successful comedies like Knocked Up failed? Was it a uniquely barren year in original screenplay? Or did the female slant give it a boost from women voters unavailable to Apatow?)

Jessica Chastain is certainly a talent, and she'd good enough in The Help, but I''d have cited her more full performance in Take Shelter. Octavia Spencer's work alongside her is fairly standard and crowd-pleasing, but she doesn't make it an embarrassment. I can certainly understand her winning, and in fact expected it from late summer on.

Like many, I end up in Janet McTeer's camp, though basically by default. McTeer certainly gave off a jolt of energy that Albert Nobbs sorely needed. But I never found her terribly convincing as a man (except when she and Close went walking in dresses -- suddenly McTeer looked like a truck driver). In the kingdom of the blind, however, the one-eyed man is king. So, McTeer it is.

[Bruce_Lavigne]

McCarthy gets my vote by virtue of being the only nominated performance that I thought made an already-good movie even better, which is a major factor for me in determining my supporting winners. The others are all varying degrees of good, but their good work is being done in films to which I just didn't respond.

I knew McCarthy would be my pick of the nominees, but I was surprised when I finally got around to posting my "shouldabeens" that she was my pick for the year overall. With several great performances to choose from, though, I found her the most memorable. Go figure.

My ballot:
1. Melissa McCarthy (Bridesmaids)
2. Vanessa Redgrave (Coriolanus)
3. Shailene Woodley (The Descendants)
4. Carey Mulligan (Shame)
5. Charlotte Gainsbourg (Melancholia)

[bizarre]

I've seen all but Bejo. Not a good lineup.

First to go is Melissa McCarthy. This role is a bundle of gags given a name, the punchlines in numerous skits that could have been assigned to any other actor in the film without hurting the narrative one bit. Ditching her would have helped the film really, because as it stands McCarthy's role and performance are a distraction. There's nothing to this part that requires her to be anything other than funny, and she's not funny, so I'd say she fails here. Another supporting actress from the film who skilfully blended humour with pathos was Rose Byrne.

Jessica Chastain is next. Her unfunniness doesn't detract simply because she's such a good-humoured presence anyway, and The Help is such a Bosch painting of kitsch and type, so she doesn't stand out in a bad way. But I remember when those six (six!) films hit multiplexes there were cries of 'the next Streep!' - and if her acting here is indicative of her type of talent those exclamations may be correct. 'Click, click, click' indeed... a death knell in a comic role and generic in dramatic scenes. But, if I'm not overanalysing, pleasant.

Next is Janet McTeer. I think she stands out so much because she's the only thing offering a tangibly human presence in the musty waxworks of Albert Nobbs. That isn't to say she's good - her joie de vivre and motherly concern are very repertory theatre. She's quality relative to her film but she falls short of Oscar standard.

Spencer has been neglected on this board as she is the only one of these four who actually gives a great performance. Viola Davis and Octavia Spencer do something very clever and interesting that makes them stand out from their plastic milieu. Given the most stock of African-American stock characters - the noble and the sassy - they intellectualise the stereotype and explore what kind of real conditions and real behaviour would have informed the essence of the 'stock'. Stereotypes are based on truth, after all, and in these two (magnificent) performances we can see the truth. Spencer is saddled with a role that somehow manages to be the most overwritten and the most underwritten of the film - she is given numerous big scenes, a role in most of the subplots, yet her own story strands, ones that should be intrinsic to the character, are ignored by the plodding narrative progression. But she makes the role cohere, which is a feat in itself, and she provides the most interesting take on the 'SHUG' type (Sassy Helpful Urban Girlfriend) I've seen in ages by showing how Minny's 'sass' is a way of eking out some sense of power from a powerless social situation. She's presesnted as comic relief, but her delivery of her 'laugh lines' have a double-edge of fear and barely mustered-up courage. The best example of the subtlety of the dramatic notes she plays is her one fantastic scene with Jessica Chastain near the end of the film. Sporting bruises from her unseen husband's beating, she lets herself be nursed by Celia. This is the first and only time in the film that we see Minny 'being taken care of' and, after Celia tells her of the violence she should be prepared to give back to her husband, Spencer is given one long, silent closeup where she just looks absolutely lost. Its a shattering moment and the keystone to a great and surprising characterisation.

Closest to a nomination would have been Shailene Woodley (The Descendants) - I remember being surprised that McCarthy made it over her. After that, probably Carey Mulligan (Shame) - gap - then Jessica Chastain for one of her other films (Take Shelter would have been my pick for an upset, but there was also The Tree of Life), Vanessa Redgrave (Coriolanus) who was viewed as a frontrunner from her film's Berlin premiere and then failed to hit any precursor targets whatsoever. No one else was really in the running although there was some early buzz for the likes of Elle Fanning (Super 8), Evan Rachel Wood (The Ides of March), Judy Greer (The Descendants) and Anjelica Huston (50/50). Sareh Bayat (A Separation) could have been the tastemakers' choice. I remember being surprised that Allison Janney didn't develop any buzz for a well-done variation on the kind of role that used to get nominated all the time in The Help.

My nominees:
1. Sareh Bayat ... A Separation
2. Octavia Spencer ... The Help
3. Adèle Haenel ... House of Tolerance
4. Alice de Lencquesaing ... Polisse
5. Jeannie Berlin ... Margaret

[Reza]

Voted for Janet McTeer.

My picks for 2011:

1. Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
2. Sareh Bayet, A Separation
3. Viola Davis, The Help
4. Jessica Chastain, The Help
5. Carey Mulligan, Shame

The 6th Spot: Vanessa Redgrave, Coriolanus

[Cinemanolis]

My top6

1. Carey Mulligan - Shame
2. Vanessa Redgrave - Coriolanus
3. Sareh Bayat - A Separation
4. Jessica Chastain - The Help
5. Janet McTeer - Albert Nobbs
6. Shailene Woodley - The Descendants

[Big Magilla]

I thought we were going to do lead actress first, but OK.

My initial choice was Jessica Chastain, who is quite wonderful in The Help, but then I saw Janet McTeer in Albert Nobbs who I thought was just as good, if not even better. Now, however, I've come to the conclusion that Viola Davis gave the year's best supporting performance in The Help, easily the best portrayal of a domestic smiling through heartache since Juanita Moore in Imitation of Life but I keep wavering between placing her in lead and support . Any one of those three, however, would have been a good choice.

Octavia Spencer is the comic relief of The Help and as such does a decent job, but her wins have mostly been in tandem with Davis in lead. With Davis nominated in support, she would not have won. Bereniece Bejo is along for the ride.

Melissa McCarthy I don't get. She's a competent enough actress, but her Emmy last year was a fluke. Her Oscar nomination is to me a total head-scratcher.

I voted for McTeer but on another day might have voted for Chastain.

[ksrymy]

What happened to the poll for Best Supporting Actor 2011?

Magilla suggested we do it last since we did the other three races before Supporting Actor.

[Reza]

What happened to the poll for Best Supporting Actor 2011?

[mayukh]

Bejo I found totally miscast (anachronistic and not charismatic enough), Chastain never organic, Spencer lacking imagination (and her performance was not grounded enough with the requisite anger that could have made this character rich). McCarthy was at least inventive, but her character's cheap attempt at complexity rang hollow. McTeer stands head and shoulders above the rest for her forceful work.

[Sabin]

I don't dislike this lineup. It only features one nominee I myself would cite and that is Janet McTeer (an actress I never really expected to see much of again following Tumbleweeds) for Albert Nobbs, a very middling film I didn't care for that was hobbled by a very misguided lead performance and some very poor directing. But then McTeer stealths in from time to time with such a fascinating character that just ups everyone's game. Glenn Close is actually quite good in the scenes with McTeer because her very presence challenges Nobbs' every decision. Easy call for me. Still stunned she or anyone involved with Albert Nobbs was nominated.

And then...everyone else is in Fourth Place for me. The best I cans ay about Bejo is that actresses married to their directors are either guided to brilliant performances or incredibly lifeless ones. Bejo is very amusing.

When I first saw Bridesmaids, I was pretty disappointed with how badly structured the film was. I hadn't seen Mike & Molly so I didn't know that McCarthy was quickly becoming an industry darling. I just thought that McCarthy was incredibly funny in a very strange way that deviated from anything that anyone else was doing in the film. She's not playing a lesbian. She is a confident overweight damaged heterosexual woman that wants to climb you like a tree. Her act of scene-theft does undermine much of the film. It's likely not worth saving though.

I liked The Help more than I thought I would. It's not a good movie, but it's likely the best possible Oprah Version we were going to get. I had never seen Octavia Spencer before so I had no idea her role was going to be so dominant in the film. I thought she had an incredibly funny look and would likely be relegated to being the most amusing part of the margins in every scene. And then her story took off, and she encountered Jessica Chastain whose presence (like McTeer's in Albert Nobbs) challenges everything this woman is about. So for me, there is an element of happy surprise that I associate with their performances in The Help. Chastain is adorable but it's not an Oscar-worthy role. It's an Oscar-worthy year. And even still, I don't feel passionate about her work in The Tree of Life to include it in my top five. She has a beautiful presence and she's likely going to do some great work. I don't think she has just yet. Octavia Spencer is going to end up a pretty obscure winner in the annals of this category. To put into perspective Octavia Spencer's win for me, just ten years prior this category was in the midst of an incredible marathon of boring winners. Jennifer Connelly, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and Renee Zellweger. Basically to win in this category, it just had to sound like an Oscar-worthy role and be discussed a few months prior. She's the beneficiary of a weak year.

I hate the shit joke angle. Not funny in the least. That's not her fault. She didn't write it.

My Choices
1. J. Smith-Cameron, Margaret
2. Sareh Bayat, A Separation
3. Mary Page Keller, Beginners
4. Janet McTeer, Albert Nobbs
5. Leila Hatami, A Separation

[ksrymy]

One of the shittiest lineups ever. Literally.

Two of the nominees both dealt with feces.

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.

But there was one great thing about The Help: Jessica Chastain. Even had she only been in this film this year, she'd have been nominated so her spectacular year doesn't factor in. She was also nominated for the proper film. Her Tree of Life work can hardly be considered acting. She was only a presence. Her Take Shelter work was good, but she hardly had a role as Michael Shannon towered over everyone since the story was exclusively his. Celia Foote is a great character and her miscarriage scene is leagues beyond anything that Spencer accomplishes in her role.

The other shitty nominee was Melissa McCarthy. I don't really like Bridesmaids. I laugh at it, but I don't enjoy it. Kristen Wiig is funny as always, but I found Ellie Kemper and Wendi McLendon-Covey the best supporting performances of the film. I was really hoping McCarthy's traction wouldn't pick up, and I remember grumbling about her nomination on my walk to work that morning.

These last two actually deserve nominations.

I think Bejo is nominated in the proper category. The film does not call for a female lead. The relationship, at least during the film, is almost entirely platonic. There are large portions of the film where Bejo isn't present either. Bejo is a delight in her dancing scenes and she is so gorgeous to watch move about. She has wonderful chemistry with Dujardin and her coatstand scene is unforgettable.

But she pales in comparison to Janet McTeer. Albert Nobbs is certainly a shaky film, but it is McTeer's performance and Glenn Close's presence that really get the film off the ground. McTeer is not an actress I expected to see at the ceremony ever again, and I was very happy for her come nomination morning (fully aware she would not win). McTeer imbues Hubert Page with humanity and subtlety that all the other actresses nominated could never accomplish even though their roles did not necessarily call for it. The only time I ever felt like she wasn't a man was when I wondered how breasts as large as hers could be held down to look so flat.

I don't care to fight over whether Viola Davis is lead or support only because I wouldn't nominate her either way.

The Academy's aversion to young actors snubbed Shailene Woodley of a deserved spot and their refusal to acknowledge supporting performances in foreign films led them to overlook Sareh Bayat who had the best film miscarriage of the year in A Separation (not that I normally rank things like this...).

My picks
_________________________
1. Sareh Bayat - A Separation
2. Shailene Woodley - The Descendants
3. Janet McTeer - Albert Nobbs
4. Bérénice Bejo - The Artist
5. Charlotte Gainsbourg - Melancholia

6. J. Smith-Cameron - Margaret