dws1982 wrote:But that Christie is a sure shot nominee and contender for the win, while Pinsent doesn't even have a chance at a nomination reeks of star-ism.
I've seen very little, but I think that Ashley Judd in Bug is the Best Lead Actress of the year.
Count me in on the disappointment if Christie doesn't win side, but only due to the slew of likely nominees- I think she gave a very good supporting performance that is better than those who are likely going to be nominated for lead in the category with her, and I also think she's a fine actress and I like her in general....
but she gave a performance that paled in comparison to Gordon Pinsent's and Ashley Judd is a whole different story, getting her lost in the shuffle this year is at least as criminal as losing Casey Affleck somewhere out there
dws1982 wrote:But that Christie is a sure shot nominee and contender for the win, while Pinsent doesn't even have a chance at a nomination reeks of star-ism.
I adore Christie and her performance in Away From Her (and think she should run away with the prize), but I completely agree with this statement as well. Pinsent absolutely should be a sure-fire nominee: his is a lovely performance.
I've known people with Alzheimers, and Julie Christie's performance is certainly better than Judi Dench's in Iris (the nadir of Oscar-baiting disease performances). Christie still has a movie-star's charisma, which is what the role requires, and she does her best, like the rest of the cast, with some of the director's terrible ideas (That final moment of clarity--"Don't they remember Vietnam?"; the nurse who apparently has nothing to do but take smoke breaks and listen to the life stories of resident's family members). But that Christie is a sure shot nominee and contender for the win, while Pinsent doesn't even have a chance at a nomination reeks of star-ism.
I've seen very little, but I think that Ashley Judd in Bug is the Best Lead Actress of the year.
Damien wrote:Excellent points, Flipp. I also think what adds to the extraordinary quality of Christie's work -- and what sets it apart from someone ina Lifetime disease movie -- is how she is able to convey the self-awareness of the character and her not-always-likable toughness -- she never sentimentalizes the character.
Plus there's that extraordinary Christie charisma which has been an anchantment for over 40 years.
And that haunting, luminescent smile that's there in the character even when there's nothing behind it. Great instinctive acting of the highest order. I can't imagine actors not voting for this performance.
Flipp, you explained Christie's mystique in Away From Her perfectly.
Damien, you're right about Cotillard beign a second-rate Susan Hayward. While her performance may be technically proficient, it doesn't come close to the hights of Hayward's impersonations of Jane Froman, Lillian Roth and the thinly disguised Dixie Lee in (Bing Crosby's first wife) in Smash-Up.
Excellent points, Flipp. I also think what adds to the extraordinary quality of Christie's work -- and what sets it apart from someone ina Lifetime disease movie -- is how she is able to convey the self-awareness of the character and her not-always-likable toughness -- she never sentimentalizes the character.
Plus there's that extraordinary Christie charisma which has been an anchantment for over 40 years.
"Y'know, that's one of the things I like about Mitt Romney. He's been consistent since he changed his mind." -- Christine O'Donnell
dws1982 wrote:I guess it's as good a time as any to come out and say that all of the Julie Christie hype this year is beyond me. I don't dislike her in Away From Her at all, and I think she's better than the material, which felt very much like a first-time filmmaker's job to me. It's a good performance, and I couldn't gripe with a nomination (considering they nominate--and award--"actresses" like Charlize Theron and Halle Berry, and considering how few worthy contenders I've seent his year), but the idea that she should be some unquestioned frontrunner sweeping the critics awards is something that I just don't get.
I think what made Christie's performance so exceptional was the way she completely endeared you to the character. Not only did Fiona Anderson seem like a real person, she was a different person from the beginning of the film to the end, yet still managed to stay true to that special spirit Gordon Pinsent's character was so obviously attracted to and infatuated by. Christie also was very subtle in portraying the descent into Alzheimer's. It was a real tightrope of a performance. She created a person that you wanted to know and even when she wasn't on the screen, the spectre of her presence was palpable through all the other characters. It's a lovely, moving performance in a beautiful film and I can see why she'd be considered a frontrunner. It also a performance that really stays with you.
For the record, I thought that Marion Cotillard was excellent as well.
Edited By flipp525 on 1197320075
"The mantle of spinsterhood was definitely in her shoulders. She was twenty five and looked it."
I wonder if There Will Be Blood will be this year's Thin Red Line?
As for Away from Her, I actually felt Chrisie's role felt more a Supporting Actress one than a lead. Although she plays Gordon Pinsent's wife, she really feels secondary to Pinsent, who I almost prefer to Christie in the film. Christie is definitely good, but I don't think she's the head-and-shoulders-above brilliant that was Helen Mirren last year.
Wesley Lovell
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." - Benjamin Franklin
"As for There Will Be Blood, about which you will be reading much more in the pages of the Weekly over the coming weeks, I will say only this: There are great films (like No Country For Old Men) and then there are films that send shock waves through the very landscape of cinema, that instantly stake a claim on a place in the canon. Often, such vanguard works fail to be fully understood or appreciated at the moment they first appear, as some of the initial reviews that greeted Psycho, 2001 and Bonnie and Clyde attest. There Will Be Blood belongs in their company, and I consider myself fortunate to belong to a group with the foresight to recognize it in its own moment."
dws, thank you for bringing up the senseless idea of Julie Christie's performance being the defining work of an actress this year. This somewhat reminds me of the praise that Sissy Spacek received for "In the Bedroom." She was good, but I believe her co-star Tom Wilkinson was the class act of that film. The same goes for Gordon Pinsent's performance in "Away from Her," which should be a frontrunner for the Best Actor category along with Daniel Day-Lewis and others.
