Best Actress 2008



My oh my. The line-up for 2008 has been announced this week. We had 3 locks (Meryl, Angie & Anne), an unfortunate suprise (Melissa) and almost a shocker (Kate's Reader). I was so sad to see that the best performance by an actress for 2008 didn't even get a nomination: of course, Sally Hawkins for Happy-Go-Lucky.

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Melissa, you bitch, how could you take Sally's spot??!! :(
I won't comment now on Kate's messy situation, though I did hope she'll get the nom for Revolutionary Road, instead of The Reader. So the 5 ladies that Oscar has chosen for 2008 are:



from left to right, I have the pleasure to introduce:

• Angelina Jolie, for Changeling
• Meryl Streep, for Doubt
• Anne Hathaway, for Rachel Getting Married
• Melissa Leo, for Frozen River
• Kate Winslet, for The Reader

I don't have a favorite yet, though I kinda know for sure who is not winning my love. I'll just take each performance, one at a time and talk about it. I'll do the ranking at the end and decide my winner. I'm really looking forward to be surprised by the choice I'll make.

Final Conclusions - Best Actress 1977

A year with at least 3 excellent performances must count for a good year. And it's a good lineup, no doubt about it. Though, as I said months back when I started 1977, a spot should have been kept vacant for Gena Rowlands fabulous performance in Opening Night (probably kicking Bancroft or MacLaine off the list).

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Again, there are nominees who dominated their films appearing in almost every scene (Jane Fonda in Julia) and others that could have somehow been consider more leaning towards supporting (like Anne Bancroft in The Turning Point or Diane in Annie Hall).

Anyway, a memorable year. And here's how I scored these ladies (based on the analysis made in previous posts) and a small recap:

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1. Marsha Mason, The Goodbye Girl

She’s the heart of the most romantic film of all times. You just wanna go there and hug her. Her portrayal of a normal woman struggling to raise her daughter is one of the best you’ll ever see. Her character arc is wonderful; the writing is magnificent, offering Marsha a nice mixture of drama and comedy. It’s a fabulous underrated performance.

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2. Jane Fonda, Julia

It’s fascinating to watch an actress at the top of her game, who knows exactly when to look, when to smile, when to hold back or when to cry. Jane plays various aspects of the character with incredible restraint and talent: she’s the writer, the lover and the friend and she has different acting perspectives for each of them. I love her shyness when she’s near Julia, her delicate side; and the ending… oh… heartbreaking.

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3. Diane Keaton, Annie Hall

It’s her obligation to take Annie’s suffocating joy and transform it into a lovely charismatic delicious girl that represents the center of the film. Her smile is contagious; she’s quirky, fun, a singer and an undeniable fashion icon. A performance as natural as it gets.

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4. Shirley MacLaine, The Turning Point

She knows when to bring fierce in the game and how to build up the frustration of the character. Deedee is a rather trite woman, and although uncomfortable in character at first, Shirley manages to adequately show us the internal battle that has troubled Deedee for years.

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5. Anne Bancroft, The Turning Point

Her aging ballerina is played with a quiet despair. It’s better for the performance, and for most of it it’s Bancroft expressive face that does all the work. I liked her arrogance as an artist and we all know she has the chops for big & loud scenes. It’s good work, but not excellent and probably not even leading.

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Shirley MacLaine, The Turning Point

I have previously talked about The Turning Point, a film with 2 nominees in the Best Actress category. Anne Bancroft was the first. And the lovely sweet classy actress Shirley MacLaine is the second, a somewhat surprise nominee back then, though it’s pretty obvious that she is the real lead of the film. Even if she doesn’t do a single dance, this is probably the best performance of the film…

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approximately 45 minutes and 6 seconds

38.8% of the film

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Shirley MacLaine as Deedee Rogers

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I went through the film’s plot back when I analyzed Bancroft’s performance. It’s a ballet movie built around two women: one who put career over family (Bancroft) and the one who chose the family, forever quitting her career (MacLaine). Shirley plays Deedee Rogers, a middle age woman, married, mother of three, including Amelia, a promising ballerina. Deedee seems to live a happy life, yet there’s a question that’s been troubling her for the past 20 years: did she make the right choice choosing the kids and husband and not the career?

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Reencountering her old colleagues makes her happy at first, especially seeing Emma again. Her emotions and excitement are sincere, and MacLaine does a nice job creating the adequate reactions of joy, Deedee’s nervousness but also the restraint or regret from her eyes when confronted with what she once declined.

What’s like to be you now?, Deedee asks Emma, with a drop of envy in her eyes. MacLaine portrays Deedee as a straightforward woman, and she doesn’t hesitate at one point to admit of dreaming to be in Emma’s place. The entire performance is built upon Deedee’s incapacity of leaving the past behind her. Though it’s the dominant part of the character, it’s not what totally defines her.

It wouldn’t be fair to say that Deedee does not love her children and husband. However, this encounter makes her wanna get closer to the theatre world again and an opportunity emerges when her daughter Amelia is wanted in New York to rehearse with the ballet Company. So Deedee, her daughter and her son move to NY for the summer, and though exciting at first, Deedee finds herself with lots of free time on her hands.

She reconnects with Emma, who has a lot of faith in Amelia’s capacity in becoming a star. I think she’s gonna do it for you, Deedee, Emma tells her. MacLaine does a good job in expressing without words Deedee’s mixed feelings about it: on one hand, it’s her daughter and she loves her and she’s happy for her success; on the other hand, it’s like Deedee is being replaced and her daughter’s success does nothing else but to remind her of the career that she could have had.

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It’s also here in NY that Deedee has an affair. But it’s not that what troubles her; it’s her daughter’s harsh reaction, and the accuses that Amelia brings to her mother. It’s a big scene for MacLaine and she carries it nicely as she tries to ask for Amelia’s forgiveness and more of it: her understanding of loneliness.

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The big ballet show at the end gives Deedee the courage she needs to accuse Emma of plotting against her and advising her to choose family over career so that she would step ahead. It’s a conflict fuelled during the entire film, which reaches its peak in the big catfight scene. It’s probably MacLaine’s best scene, as she mixes rage with frustration and gives a big speech, perfect to justify the fight, the conflict and the resent between the two women. There’s also jealousy there, not only on Emma’s career, but also on her attempt of getting Amelia on her side; You keep your God damn hands off my daughter, Deedee tells her.

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Shirley MacLaine gives a natural portrayal that she’s gotten us used to during her entire career. Her face is very expressive and her strongest points are when rage, fury or envy is in the mix. Shirley’s performance as Deedee is so adequate that you almost take it for granted. I’m not sure if she could have done more. Maybe it’s the character that’s not that interesting. Though a solid performance, if put in the history of movie acting it would probably go under the radar. It’s actually a 3.5, but I’m going for , just because I gave Diane Keaton just 4, and Diane is better :)

Special:

Penelope Cruz, in Vicky Cristina Barcelona

As I still have a couple of movies to see, I’m not sure if this is my favorite 2008 supporting actress performance. What I can say is that I had high hopes for Marisa Tomei (The Wrestler), Taraji P. Henson (The Curious Case of BB) or Kathy Bates (Revolutionary Road) and I was quite disappointed.
That’s why I went back to Vicky Cristina Barcelona and started to give more credit to Penelope Cruz for her much appreciated, solid, perfect fit performance as crazy Maria Elena, a hot blooded Spanish woman who’s got some… well… love issues.

It would probably be some kind of a cliché to say that it takes a European like me to really understand and connect to such a European character as Maria Elena or even with Woody’s most non-American film that VCB is. The first thing I noticed and appreciated about Penelope is how comfortable she feels with this character, how well she embraces the spirit of Maria Elena and how nice it must be to create a character so close to home (Spain) in a film that will be noticed worldwide.

Though not a leading character (she appears onscreen 50 minutes into the film), we hear about Maria Elena early on from her ex-husband Juan Antonio and we get an idea about her, a very colorful poignant perspective. Before we meet her, we already know that she stabbed him with a knife, that she’s very beautiful, strong-minded, all the fire and music that characterize a Spanish woman. All that’s left for Penelope is too live up to the expectations :) and she does…

Penelope portrays Maria Elena as a fine mixture of crazy and fragile, a free-spirited woman whose life and actions are dominated by her unfiltered instincts. Her big love story with Juan Antonio is also her biggest failure; they’re made for each other, yet there’s a missing ingredient (Cristina, as we’ll later find out) that starts up the destructive part of love.

I loved her especially in the first part, when she gets to meet Cristina (Scarlett Johansson) and to act all superior around her. The breakfast scene is very memorable; without any effort, Maria Elena manages to subtly banter Cristina and to show the audience and Juan Antonio that, despite recent frailty, she’s still got the bone to face anyone. Yet, Cristina isn’t even serious competition; Maria Elena is so bored and blasé that she can’t take her seriously.

I loved the chemistry between Penelope and Javier Bardem, nothing fake there. I liked her powerful voice when calling him by his name (JUAN ANTONIO!), her lack of hesitation when calling him a hypocrite and her naturalness with Spanish language (of course) and the way of pronouncing some English words demonstrating the unfamiliarity of the character with this language (her clumsy pronunciation of “genius”).

There’s also lots of comedy, usually coming from her direct way of speaking, without hesitating: when she simply tells Cristina How could I be sure you were not gonna hurt me? After all, I have thoughts of killing you. :))

Crazy has rarely been so much fun. Yet, the big thing with this performance is that is also has lots of heart and Penelope knows when to let the drama (the real one) come out: her last two appearances in the film are very relevant. Maria Elena is helpless when discovering again that her love story if falling down. Her desperation feels honest; fortunately, though, for the tone of the film, these moments of tension usually end in something funny or ridiculous (the gun scene).

Penelope’s Maria Elena represents both the heart and the balls of the film. Comfortable in her character, Penelope easily manages to create her 2nd best performance to date (making us forget some of her past failures) and will mark the comeback of Woody’s girls in Oscar history.