Random Noise

Oscar Time: Best Actress in a Supporting Role

Two years ago I began the annual tradition of ranking all the Academy Award nominees, in each of the major categories. My goal isn’t to pick who I expect the winners to be, instead I select who I would have voted for if I were an academy member.

This year, there were a total of 19 films nominated for the acting awards, best picture & best director. I had only seen a few of the films before they were nominated (Atonement, Juno, No County for Old Men) - so it’s been a mad scramble to try and watch all 16 other films. Although I still have a few to watch, I have finished a few categories. So let’s start out with my pick for best actress in a supporting role.

My selection, in reverse order:

#5 - Ruby Dee, American Gangster

Ruby Dee plays the mother of self-made drug lord Frank Lucas (Denzel Washington). She has very little screen-time in this film - Denzel Washington (Frank Lucas) & Russell Crowe (Detective Richie Roberts) dominate the picture, but her character plays a very important role in Frank’s life. Although Frank runs a heroin empire, he built his business on a foundation of family-first thinking and a strong work ethic. It’s evident that his mother is a very important figure in his life - she’s possibly the only person he actually respects & honors.

I imagine this must be a very difficult role to cast. Imagine looking for an actress that could command the respect & devotion of a drug-lord son played by Denzel Washington. In the end, Ruby did just that. In particular - while it doesn’t look it from the still above, she towers over Denzel with fiery emotion & conviction in that scene. But, in the end, her lack of screen time & importance to the plot mean she’s my #5 selection.

#4 - Saoirse Ronan, Atonement

Saoirse Ronan plays the role of 13 year-old Briony Tallis, the younger sister to Cecilia (Keira Knightley). Cecilia and the housekeeper’s son Robbie (James McAvoy) seem to have a ‘thing’ for one another. One night, Robbie asks Briony to deliver a note to Cecilia. He thought he gave Briony an apology note (for breaking a vase earlier in the day), but he accidentally gives her a sexually explicit love letter. Briony reads the note, but delivers it to Cecilia without a word. Later that night, she catches Robbie & Cecilia making love. Then, before the night is up she also finds her cousin being raped by someone who flees into the darkness. She tells the police it must have been Robbie and shows them the love letter as evidence of his ‘crazed sexual urges’. Robbie is taken from Cecilia, put in jail then shipped off to war. Only later does she realize she had jumped to conclusions and that Robbie was innocent. Much of the movie follows Robbie & Cecilia during this time, how they long for one another, and the guilt Briony feels for separating a couple in love.

Although I didn’t enjoy the film (I’ll save that commentary for my post on best picture nominees), Saoirse does a good job with this character. She makes it quite clear what an imaginative & active mind young Briony must have, writing screenplays, carefully analyzing others, and yet she remains somewhat of an introvert. However, if I were forced to make a best supporting actress selection from this film, I would have selected Romola Garai for her role as the 18 year-old Briony. I think the 18 year-old Briony was much a more emotionally conflicted & complex character.

#3 - Tilda Swinton, Michael Clayton

Tilda Swinton plays the role of Karen Crowder, a director of a large agricultural products company, U-North. U-North is the target of a multi-million dollar lawsuit, alleging that their products are actually toxic. When the lead lawyer representing the plaintiffs discovers a damaging internal U-North memo & has a mental breakdown, Karen tries to cover it up in an all out effort to save U-North and solidify her reputation as a top company official.

I’ve been a bit vague in my description, since I do not want to spoil anything for those who haven’t seen this movie. If you haven’t seen Michael Clayton, I do recommend it. As for Tilda’s role, it was quite good. Her character is put under tremendous stress given how important winning this case is to both her company and her professional reputation. As the tension in the movie escalates, I found it really interesting to watch her character push her personal comfort zone. It takes a unique skill to portray her character’s goal of outward confidence in the face of ever increasing internal distress when making decisions. In the end, these tensions clearly shake her character to her core.

#2 - Amy Ryan, Gone Baby Gone

Amy Ryan plays the role of Helene, mother to a child who’s gone missing. Casey Affleck plays a local private investigator (Patrick), hired by Helene’s sister to help find her niece. Ed Harris & John Ashton play detectives under the command of Morgan Freeman. The story has a fair number of twists and turns, following Patrick as he uncovers a tangled web of relationships between pimps, drug dealers & crack heads. The movie also presents many morally ambiguous situations which I imagine could spark much heated debate among viewers.

Amy’s role in this film was pretty amazing - she’s a selfish, low-income crack-addict of a mother. She’s so preoccupied with satisfying her own interests that she completely neglects her child. During the investigation into her daughters disappearance we begin to see this attitude shift — she begins to realize how much she loves & misses her daughter - yet in the end she returns to her old selfish ways. This spectrum of motherly devotion is what Amy delivered so well in this movie and makes her my #2 pick.

#1 - Cate Blanchett, I’m Not There

Finally, Cate Blanchett plays the role of Jude Quinn in I’m Not There. The movie is meant to show the different stages of Bob Dylan’s life. It does this by using six different actors, all playing different characters, all meant to portray a unique part of Bob Dylan. Not knowing this, the movie can be confusing to take in. I’m not a Bob Dylan fan, and I don’t know his history so it was even more confusing for me. While watching the movie, I was constantly trying to think about how these characters connected and how to make sense out of the film.

In fact, I had become so distracted by trying to sort out the plot and meaning of the film that I had forgotten to pay attention to the actors themselves. When I caught myself mid-film and realized that I had been watching Cate all along, I was taken aback. I had been so distracted that I hadn’t picked up that Cate was playing the role of a man. I was so completely sucked into the lifestyle, mannerisms and personality of her character that I hadn’t thought to evaluate the actress behind the character. I was even more amazed when I had a “wow” moment thinking about how she had been nominated as the best supporting actress for playing the role of a man. Overall, I was completely impressed by her acting in this film and she gets my pick for best actress in a supporting role.

Over the next few days I’ll post my picks in the other major categories. Hopefully I can finish everything before the big night - next Sunday, Feb 24th.