Best Actress in a Supporting Role 2015: Kate Winslet in Steve Jobs

Kate Winslet received her seventh Oscar nomination for her performance as Joanna Hoffman in Steve Jobs. 

Steve Jobs is a rather interesting although a bit flawed portrayal of its titular character that takes place at the backstage of three different product launches. I appreciate the movie's original structure which makes it different from any other biopics, but still there are a few problems in it: the first two acts are actually quite great but the third one, although still watchable, is a true letdown as it is at the same time rushed and a bit cheesy. Same goes for Aaron Sorkin's screenplay: great, actually quite brilliant in the first two acts, rather problematic in the last one. Seth Rogen and Jeff Daniels are both good in their roles although both feels rather underused and their subplots are left somewhat unresolved.

Kate Winslet plays Joanna Hoffman, Steve's assistant and best friend. A few people have pointed out that Winslet's Polish accent in this movie is uneven and unconvincing, but I personally don't find it that much of a problem. I personally am not one who pays too much attention to accents, of course a very well done accent can make a great performance even greater, or a badly done accent can make a bad performance even worse, but I don't think that the accent alone can make a performance great or bad. Even if an accent is not perfect, I'm not bothered by it unless it is particularly uneven or distracting but I didn't feel this was the case with Winslet at all. She may have a few line-deliveries that sound a bit off but for the most part I thought her accent worked. 

My problems with the performance don't quite come from Winslet but from the role itself: Joanna Hoffman is one of those roles that is truly supporting and supportive - its main purpose is really to provide a support for the leading performance while the role itself is not particularly complex or challenging. But even if she doesn't get too much to do, Winslet thrives with what she has. Her chemistry with Michael Fassbender is nothing short of amazing: even if Steve and Joanna rarely talk about it, they create a deep, moving friendship and affection between the two characters that is always visible even when the two are arguing. Speaking of their arguments, in those scenes the actors are just dynamite and they pay off each other just incredibly well. Aaron Sorkin's screenplay is kind of a double edged sword: it gives an actor the opportunity to be truly brilliant, but it's not easy to get it right. Although Winslet may not be as great at it as Fassbender and Daniels, she still pulls off the tricky dialogue very well. 

Joanna Hoffman serves as the moral center of the movie: she quietly witnesses Steve's cold and distant behavior towards his daughter and she tries to make him do the right thing - even if, most of the time, it is to no use. Winslet serves this purpose extremely well and it would be correct to say that she truly is the emotional crux of the movie. She is great at being the subtle conscience of the movie for the first two thirds of the movie and she builds up incredibly well to her big emotional scene in the last act. In this scene Winslet is actually amazing: again, it's quite a tricky monologue dialogue-wise but she delivers it flawlessly and she is just heartbreaking in portraying the suffering of this woman who, through her whole life, has witnessed Steve's questionable behavior and can't keep it all inside anymore. The scene is particularly moving because of how well Fassbender and Winslet realized Steve's and Joanna's relationship before, and what I love about Winslet is that even as Joanna threatens to quit her job and leave Steve forever her genuine affection towards him is never in question.  

It's a performance I probably don't quite love as some people do because, as I mentioned before, I think her role is a little bit too limited to let her truly shine, but it's still a performance I definitely appreciate a lot. Winslet makes the most of her role and thanks to her fantastic chemistry with Michael Fassbender, her ability in pulling off the tricky dialogue and her emotional honesty that makes her the heart of the movie she leaves a very lasting impression on the viewer's mind. 

4/5