Re: Best Supporting Actress 2012
Posted: Sun May 26, 2013 2:24 am
I'd definitely have included Nicole Kidman; despite finding The Paperboy a hugely unpleasant experience, I think Kidman, as usual, proves she's one of our gutsiest and most exciting actresses with her fearless work here. I'd also note a performance that got basically zero attention: Isabelle Huppert's brief but incisive work in Amour. And I liked Ann Dowd, but she struck me as pretty clearly the lead in her movie.
Given how often big names are getting nominated for big roles in support these days, I like the fact that a genuine character actress like Jacki Weaver was recognized for work that legitimately exists on the sidelines. And it's not like she was anything less than good in Silver Linings Playbook. But the part is pretty minor, and I already voted for her for Animal Kingdom, so I move past her pretty quickly.
I was iffy on Amy Adams's chances up until she landed the nomination, simply because I didn't think her part was nearly as dominant as her costars. But I was glad she held on to the spot. Paul Thomas Anderson used her trademark naivete in a very fresh way, as a cover for far more duplicitous attitudes beneath the surface. In a way, she's almost like the Lady Macbeth of The Master, quietly controlling the lives of the men who surround her. I don't know if she ever had a moment that tipped her into win territory for me -- even her big scene is more noteworthy for the ickiness of the content rather than the acting force -- but she's consistently good throughout.
The only problem I have with Helen Hunt's nomination is that it came in the wrong category. She should have been a Best Actress nominee, and I honestly don't think she has any less to do in The Sessions than, say, Jennifer Lawrence does in Silver Linings. I think what I like most about Hunt here is the way she manages to inject a lot of humor into her role WITHOUT making her character seem like a punchline. She's a very real, sensitive person, and Hunt recaptures a lot of what I liked about her in As Good As It Gets -- this blend of heart and humor -- that has been missing in much of her work since then. I agree that she struggles with the accent, but I guess I got used to it pretty early on in the movie and it didn't much bother me after that.
In semi-defense of Anne Hathway, I will say that she was at least up to the challenges of her role, which isn't something you can say for some of her costars, who really struggled with the whole acting and singing at the same time thing. And so in that regard, I do think "I Dreamed a Dream" stands out as the high point of the movie, and the actress delivers the number with power and effective vocals. But...after the song was done, my friend and I both turned to each other and simultaneously uttered, "That's it?!" Given the hype, I expected a tour de force on par with, say, Liza Minnelli's Cabaret finale. What Hathaway delivered was...solid, but the entire number is performed at basically the same level, without all that much range of emotion. I don't think this was entirely the actress's fault -- by staging the number simply in one close-up, Tom Hooper literally gives Hathaway nowhere to go, and so the first verse comes off as basically the same as the last. I wasn't bothered that she won the Oscar -- as I said, I found her one of the more tolerable aspects of her movie -- but I didn't find her number to be so transcendent that I felt she deserved a clean sweep of awards. Or my vote...
...because I thought Sally Field showed WAY more colors in Lincoln. I did a research project on Mary Todd Lincoln for a history class in school, and I thought Field captured so many elements of this very complicated and troubled woman. Field found a lot of humor in Mrs. Lincoln's role as the country's ultimate hostess, particularly in that scene where she tells Tommy Lee Jones that people will never love him as they love her husband. She was fiercely maternal in those touching moments with her boys, and captured the intensity of Mary Todd's mental anguish in her fights with Day-Lewis. I can see why the performance would be somewhat divisive, and I know people in my real life who strongly disliked her work for being so unhinged. But, by all accounts, Mary Todd Lincoln WAS totally off the rails, and I felt Field plumbed the depths of her character's biggest fears (that her husband did not love her, and that she would continue to watch her children die) to strong effect. I can't say I was necessarily rooting for her to win a third Oscar -- I definitely didn't think she soared to that level -- but in literal terms, I think her work is the most impressive and well-rounded of this batch, so she gets my vote.
Given how often big names are getting nominated for big roles in support these days, I like the fact that a genuine character actress like Jacki Weaver was recognized for work that legitimately exists on the sidelines. And it's not like she was anything less than good in Silver Linings Playbook. But the part is pretty minor, and I already voted for her for Animal Kingdom, so I move past her pretty quickly.
I was iffy on Amy Adams's chances up until she landed the nomination, simply because I didn't think her part was nearly as dominant as her costars. But I was glad she held on to the spot. Paul Thomas Anderson used her trademark naivete in a very fresh way, as a cover for far more duplicitous attitudes beneath the surface. In a way, she's almost like the Lady Macbeth of The Master, quietly controlling the lives of the men who surround her. I don't know if she ever had a moment that tipped her into win territory for me -- even her big scene is more noteworthy for the ickiness of the content rather than the acting force -- but she's consistently good throughout.
The only problem I have with Helen Hunt's nomination is that it came in the wrong category. She should have been a Best Actress nominee, and I honestly don't think she has any less to do in The Sessions than, say, Jennifer Lawrence does in Silver Linings. I think what I like most about Hunt here is the way she manages to inject a lot of humor into her role WITHOUT making her character seem like a punchline. She's a very real, sensitive person, and Hunt recaptures a lot of what I liked about her in As Good As It Gets -- this blend of heart and humor -- that has been missing in much of her work since then. I agree that she struggles with the accent, but I guess I got used to it pretty early on in the movie and it didn't much bother me after that.
In semi-defense of Anne Hathway, I will say that she was at least up to the challenges of her role, which isn't something you can say for some of her costars, who really struggled with the whole acting and singing at the same time thing. And so in that regard, I do think "I Dreamed a Dream" stands out as the high point of the movie, and the actress delivers the number with power and effective vocals. But...after the song was done, my friend and I both turned to each other and simultaneously uttered, "That's it?!" Given the hype, I expected a tour de force on par with, say, Liza Minnelli's Cabaret finale. What Hathaway delivered was...solid, but the entire number is performed at basically the same level, without all that much range of emotion. I don't think this was entirely the actress's fault -- by staging the number simply in one close-up, Tom Hooper literally gives Hathaway nowhere to go, and so the first verse comes off as basically the same as the last. I wasn't bothered that she won the Oscar -- as I said, I found her one of the more tolerable aspects of her movie -- but I didn't find her number to be so transcendent that I felt she deserved a clean sweep of awards. Or my vote...
...because I thought Sally Field showed WAY more colors in Lincoln. I did a research project on Mary Todd Lincoln for a history class in school, and I thought Field captured so many elements of this very complicated and troubled woman. Field found a lot of humor in Mrs. Lincoln's role as the country's ultimate hostess, particularly in that scene where she tells Tommy Lee Jones that people will never love him as they love her husband. She was fiercely maternal in those touching moments with her boys, and captured the intensity of Mary Todd's mental anguish in her fights with Day-Lewis. I can see why the performance would be somewhat divisive, and I know people in my real life who strongly disliked her work for being so unhinged. But, by all accounts, Mary Todd Lincoln WAS totally off the rails, and I felt Field plumbed the depths of her character's biggest fears (that her husband did not love her, and that she would continue to watch her children die) to strong effect. I can't say I was necessarily rooting for her to win a third Oscar -- I definitely didn't think she soared to that level -- but in literal terms, I think her work is the most impressive and well-rounded of this batch, so she gets my vote.